Mom has passed away

Today, May 19th, about 6:20 Pacific time, Mom left this earth and moved to Heaven. She will make her permanent residence there. Someday I will move there too (she just beat me to it).

A new chapter in our lives is beginning - one without Mom. We'll miss her but we're happy for her. She is finally set free from her many limitations and lives in the land without corruption.

Do you know the lyrics to "I Can Only Imagine"?

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me

I can only imagine
I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory,
what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence
or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah,
will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You

I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Bocce and first glimpse of our backyard

Today was the second annual Handball Bocce party (the "Handball" part of that title means it was the group that Larry plays handball with 3 times a week. Larry picked a date earlier in the year because last year, in early June, it was 100 degrees! This year we were hoping we didn't get rained out. There was a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms.

It turned out to be a wonderful day with plenty of clouds, some humidity, warm temperatures and no rain... until after the whole event. Then it poured. Good timing!

Last year, when everyone came over I was very embarrassed about my yard. There was no grass, only dirt and dead weeds. There was the outlined planter area but very few plants. I've been working on it a lot in the last year and have made some progress. I guess the Bocce party was my benchmark and I had a list of things I wanted to get done before. I wasn't quite there so I took Friday off work to get as much done as possible.

Up until now I've been reluctant to post anything because it just wasn't pretty yet. I think I'm finally ready to give you a peak.

The islands are new as of Friday. I was still working on them Friday afternoon when a big thunderstorm came through. You can't quite see it but I planted more lawn area not even a week ago. All was well under that storm came through. It dumped nearly an inch of rain in 20 minutes and created a stream right through the middle of the seed bed. Oh bother. Now I'm going to have grass seed coming up in places it shouldn't and I'll have to reseed where is was washed away from.

With time, these beds will be filled with greenery and more things will be added. From time to time I'll share some photos with you.

Bye Bye Carpenter Bees

The Carpenter Bees have been out in force this Spring. They're looking for wood to drill into for new homes. There seem to be a great number of them. When Larry found a hole drilled into our front door he declared war. After searching online we found that it takes diligence to observe where they're drilling, then killing the bees inside the hole followed by killing any eggs inside. I read that, when it's dark outside and the bees are in their nest, squirting W-4 into the hole is effective at killing the bee(s). Follow that by stuffing the hole with a cotton ball saturated with acetone and hopefully you've controlled that one nest.

It didn't seem prudent to be climbing ladders in the dark. Also, if you know Larry, he likes to take immediate action. So, he went shopping for a butterfly net. When he couldn't find a good one for a decent price he decided to make his own.

It wasn't long and he had himself a sturdy "bee" net and proceeded to catch bees. One by one he caught the bees and smashed them while in the net. He also sprayed W-2 40 and stuff holes with acetone drenched cotton balls just in case but I'm not sure he needed to. I haven't seen any Carpenter Bees in a few days now.