Another Bucket of Dirt

I was so glad to hear that Mom had called saying she needed another bucket of dirt. That is a good sign. She must be getting back to her old self. She has been poorly for awhile. I think a lot of it was due to the season keeping her couped up in the house, that brought her down. When she can't be outside, she has so much extra time to worry about her aches and pains, which I know she is entitled to, at her age of 84,but it seems we all dwell on our aches and pains,when we're idle.Mom has never been one to mess with flowers or gardening. She did do a little gardening over her lifetime, but I truly think it was out of necessity. With 9 hungry kids to feed, you must do what you have to in order to keep them fed. And we never went hungry. Now that she is older, she tends to the yard and a few flowers out of necessity. She does a lot of what she does out of the need to stay active, not because she loves doing it. Mom has never been able to truly be herself and do what she wanted to do, for most of her life, and now that she has the opportunity to do so, her age and health, hold her back.Her church life is first and foremost in her activities, but even that has slowed, with the age of her group being a factor. That's why several of us daughters try to share the responsibility of keeping her busy, doing a few things she likes and wants to do.I guess we will be working in the flowers today, after her mammogram appointment.(A mammogram appointment at 84? I thought surely there was a cut off date for that)Well, I'm off to spend the day with Mom, and whatever that may bring. Have a Good Day!

Well, I spent the day with Mom. We stopped by the post office to mail a couple of her bills. She worries if she doesn't get them in the mail, the day after she gets the bill.Then off to the drug store to get a prescription filled. Then a quick stop at WalMart to pick up pictures of the Coke Museum.Couldn't wait till we went to do our shopping.Then to the hospital for her mammogram. Stopped by Captain D's for a quick lunch. Then back to WalMart to get our groceries.Then back to Mom's for our 1 hour nap.(Gee, that was a quick hour, but I heard her stirring after an hour, so I pretended I had enough of a nap and got ready to go again.)We ate a quick bowl of ice cream with a very tiny piece of pecan pie that we couldn't hold at lunch.Now for the heavy work. Mom has a Redbud tree that has dropped seeds in her flower bed, so she wanted it dug and replanted(here's where the dirt comes in)in an old decaying stump. I asked "Why there?" Her comment was, she liked to give folks something to talk and study about.Oh well, I try to comply with her wishes. She is 84, you know.We planted and watered the tree, then off to the tool shed. She has so many big gardening type tools in her teensy shed, she wanted them organized and hung on the wall, so my sister who does the mowing on a regular basis, would have better access and more area for storing her mower.That was a job in that hot little room, but after about an hour, we had it done. I had brought her a 4X8 sheet of plastic latis board that she had been wanting, so we proceeded to remove the old wooden latis board from her garbage storage area, and replace it with the new. That job completed,I filled 2 of her bird feeders with some of my birdseed I had just purchased for my birds. She likes watching the birds when she's idle and resting on the porch between jobs.There was one job left on her list for me to do, that I didn't get to. It was getting late and I really needed to get home.She wanted to cut the older latis sheet into 4 equal parts, and make a surround for her peony. That would keep it up off the ground to where Rita could mow up under it better, and keep them standing up pretty and tall when in bloom.

She didn't let on, but I left her home today, exhausted. I'll bet she went in for another quick nap after I left. I wouldn't blame her if she did. I could use another myself. And now, maybe you will believe me when I say she can still work circles around me.I am beat. My work at home will have to wait till another day.Later!