Dear John,
My book is due at the library tomorrow, so I need to finish it. But instead, here I am writing a note to you.
First, the dog. Poor Eddie is 13 and having a really rough year. He got attacked by the neighbor's dog. Then he got diabetes. Then his cataracts bloomed and he lost vision practically overnight. Now he's got glaucoma in one eye. That dog is costing me a ton of money, which is why you would never have approved of having one. I felt so bad for him when it became obvious that he couldn't see. Then, with the glaucoma, the vet said it may come down to removing his eye. I don't want that to happen - he has spent all of his time watching me since I got him, and it would be the most difficult thing for him to lose one of his big brown eyes. So far, the medicine is working, though, so I hope it will be stable enough. Meanwhile, he can't see, and apparently has no memory of the floor plan, so he's wandering around bumping into things. It's so sad. I ordered him an apparatus to help him detect when he's close to the walls and stuff, but I suspect he'll hate it.
Second, it's time to rearrange the bedroom. There was an incident this evening and it involved a cricket (trigger warning for my friend Mel who hates crickets). I was going into the bedroom and I saw something black on the floor right by the door. So I turned the light on to see what it was. It was a cricket. This is about the 3rd one I've seen in the house this year. I retreated to the kitchen to grab a paper towel to grab the cricket and smash it. I went back, grabbed, smashed, checked the paper towel for cricket remains, and there were none. So, I closed the door to see if it was behind there. Your mom gave me some maps of Iraq that your dad made when you were stationed there the first time (I wonder if he was supposed to take those home with him - one would think they were being used in the conflict at the time. But I don't know how Defense Mapping worked, so maybe it was fine?) - I kept them behind the door. I moved the maps, and the cricket was there. Along with a companion. They were very slow crickets, so I was able to smash and grab them both. But I saw the dust on the baseboard, and now I have to move everything and clean it thoroughly. So I might as well rearrange things. It's been the same way for 20 years, so it's probably time for a change. The dog is going to be confused.
Third, your daughter asked me to visit your grave and leave flowers for you. She was pretty pleased when I made 2 bouquets from the one I bought - one was her school's colors; the other was the remaining flowers. Not sure what was behind her request, but I was happy to accommodate her. And you should also be subjected to all the school spirit stuff that she's very into right now. On the school front, she's finally adjusting to being there. She's getting good grades. But the big news is that after not even 2 months, she's decided to rent an apartment with her friends. I don't know how that will work out for her. I told her that I would give her as much as I'm paying for her room and board this year. Anything above that will be her problem. (Anything less will be refunded to me. 😂😂😂) I guess it will be good for her. It will definitely be more space. She'll have to learn to feed herself. She'll get more privacy. I told her to reach out to one of your sisters - she laughed at me because we really don't talk to that sister (K) much. But K had some crazy roommates in college, so she would be a good resource.
Fourth, I started a pollinator garden. The dead pine tree got removed, and the grass they planted was a terrible mix of things that mostly appear to be crabgrass. There were a lot of bare spots. So, I decided I'm going to throw a bunch of wildflower seeds out and see what pops up. I got some fake rock edging - I wanted real stone, but since all the electric and cable wires run through there, I didn't want to dig. I don't know how it will hold up. Maybe by the time the plastic wears out, it will be S's problem. I bought some milkweed and other wildflower seeds from LiveMonarch.com. I hope we'll eventually get some Monarchs to stop by and maybe drop some eggs. I also took out all the seeds we collected over the years. I put most of them in the dirt, so I hope they will sprout in the spring. But I have some that I will plant in seed starter and transplant out there next spring. It will be a project. It was good for me to haul all that dirt, though. Enforced exercise. S's boyfriend is supposed to come by with a chainsaw this weekend. The cherry tree in back has some dead limbs that are a little too big for the sawzall. I cleaned up the flower beds in front a little too. I really need to move to condo where yard work is someone else's problem. But I'm too cheap to pay monthly HOA fees. Sigh...
Aside from that, not much else is going on. I'm transferring Super 8 movies to digital files. I've made it to 1968, so I have a couple more years to go. The fam seems to be enjoying the things I've posted on FB. We had a lively discussion about the dogs we had over the years today too, as a result of things I saw on one of the films. No idea what's going on with your family. I guess I'd better get back to my book. I've got quite a bit to finish before tomorrow.
Love,
A
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