Veltri

 Up and devo.  I made beds in home place.  picked flowers for the cooler.  Weeded little.  i picked asparagus.  I washed clothes.  Man, I guess I didn't do much ,but I kept busy.  I had a medicare annual Dr visit and check out ok.  He gave me some ideas for help with sleep and for my shoulder pain.  Rivers are still overflowe=ing and Jensens went to Cherokee for a couple of nights.  We showered in the outside shower and it was so nice.  I thnk we need some hooks for towels and light bath wraps to make it back to the bunkhouse.  Jean stayed overnight  in the hospital and did more testing today.  After supper I went and put together 8 arrangements.  Maybe I'll try to peddle them tomorrow while Im at OgT.  Denny and Grands cut down tree limbs in the front yard.  He and I mowed after I got back from IG.  

Evan's grad party

 Church SS  We left about 11:30 from church to head home before lunch.  Denny sprayed for bugs I started started to make biscuits and gravy.  When we pulled up, Gai and Bruce and Jean and Arlan came soon afterwards.   Wwe were eating and Jean lost her balance and fell.  They left for Indianola ER.  It was a beautiful afternoon with lots of guests.  115.  So thankful to God for His farm that we are living on.  

Full Day

 Up for sister call.  Thank You , Jean!!!  It sounds like Gail and Jeans are coming tomorrow.  Now that makes my day!!  The Z Johnsons came and work began on removing the greenhouse.  So good to get it done.  Evan chopped treee limbs down  Brooks and Kane hauled them away with the 4 wheeler.  Anabel and Haley helped by working on the china closet in the CSA barn.  missy and I ran to town to get groceries for toorrow.  Sherry came for a short visit  

Z Johnaon join us

I was up and after devo I started on the flower garden off the deck the got damaged  by a tree falling on it.  Brooks went in and   attempted to take drivers test, Bummer.   We came home and Denny fixed breakfast.  Kane surprised Brooks by showing up.  They got the big tree in the campground cleaned up.  Becky had brought lunch and we ate under the birch tree.  Then she took the boys in to the swimming pool as Evan and Denny finished cleaning up the camp ground.  We ricked on the porch in the afternoon and Anabel and I put together some flowers before the left with Billie O and Sophie to go to the Cherokee musical where some classmates were in the sound of Music.  Evan went in to lift weights, Denny grilled I fixed poppers, carrots and we had soup.  We picked asparagus and flowers before the headed back to Kingsley.  Dad has a sore back.  

YES!!!! Jensens are here!!!

I was u for devo and then went back to bed for an hour and had a bad dream about me and the Prius on the edge of a cliff by the river and making a star[ turn and Jack and me being late to a college class.  Scary and weird.  I brought in flowers for the airbnb.  Denny had errands around town to do and I played ppcikleball.   Jensens got here around 1:30  SO good to have them see at home on the farm.  We visited a long time in the cabin.  About 5 Anabel drove us into IG and sur[ruised Sophia at the pharmacy.  I picked greens at Kara's.  At home we enjoyed the rockers and then ate smoked pork, asparagus and salad.  Wonderful night.

home and waiting

nope, not today .... Jensens are staying another day in Ames.  I worked on the home place kitchen most of the morning.   Then I went to work in the garden area until Mandy and boys ae about 2:30.  Mandy and i harvested flowers for the bridal shower she and friends from the rooted Bible study are having for a daughter pf Cheryl.  Wonderful time picking flowers and spending time together.  Lord, may it all be for your glory.  I got all the bluestone plants in the ground.   denny smoked pork and it was amazing good.   looking forward to Jensens coming, but so thankful for Mandy's visit.

OGT and prius.

I headed to OGT about 8.   From there I went to Carroll to meet Gail and get the Prius serviced.  We shopped thrift stores.  Prius got an air filter and license plate light bulbs.

Lady's golf

I left for Sac city about 8:30.  It had rained and I could have so easily stayed home e and worked on cleaning up the branches.  Marily and I shot a  43.  with a 2 stroke penalty.  I went out of bounds on the 6th holed.  Uffda!!!  Good lunch and home i went.  It was windy and I waited for wind to stope before I went out to start planting the  perennials from Bluestone that I got.  We slept in the bunkhouse tonight.  

Happy Father's Day!!

  We slept in the truck tent in the barn.  I took nyquil about midnight and slept until 6 when Denny got up.  Coffee and visit and ride to church with Matt who had a  sound check for his mike.  He did great on bringing the message at 2 services.  Dudes need Dudes and we are Meggers.   Haley, Wyatt, TJ, Kane, Luke and family came to the second service.   We had pizza for lunch and left for home around 3.  Sweet day-!!

Overnight at the Lake

 oh, my, We slept in the truck tent.  and we ain't as flexible as we once were.  So there is that....   There was a sister phone call and I mainly just listened, cause Denny was asleep or trying to sleep next to me.  Matt made a great breakfast,  Haley and Becky went to help with Gabby's grad party prep.  Kaane and Denny took the boat out, but no fish caught today.  

Zimmerman

It was a slow morning in Excelsior.  Denny made breakfast on the blackstone.  We walked downtown.  AT 2ish we headed to Zimmerman.  Their kitchen remodel looks great!!!  We drove Kane to church youth group and then went out to eat at a password place.Back home Haley was there and a fun visit.  

 MY GRANDMAWS FINAL GIFT - I’ve debated even typing this all out for a long time now, but I think I’m finally ready to tell a really hard story from my personal life. I know that a lot of you are going to be able to relate to this because a lot of professionals I speak to are in the exact same position I am in. So please allow me to be vulnerable and raw with you.

I was September of 2021. Once again, it was my dear grandmothers birthday. Her name was Alma. One thing that Alma did my entire life was call me and wish me a happy birthday, so this time I wanted to drive to her little old house in Dallas and sing happy birthday to her instead. It’s the least I could do for someone who’s been so kind, loving and consistent as long as I can remember.

In my typical fashion, I procrastinated getting a gift until the day I was actuallly going to go over there. My work schedule is so busy that I pulled into a Walgreens and quickly grabbed a bouquet of flowers, and a card. I thought to myself what Grandmaw would really like is to spend time with me, so I got her a gift card to eat her favorite food of all, Cheese Enchiladas. The idea was that I could stop in, wish her a happy birthday, and then give her the card with the gift card inside, with the promise that I would return and take her out to dinner. 

The gift card was meant to act as an “IOU”. A promise. That way she could know that even though I didn’t have time at the moment to take her out to lunch, I would find the time eventually and we could have cheese enchiladas together.

When I got to her house that day she was in her gown, sitting in her chair, peaceful as usual. When you get to 90 years old you come to peace with a lot of things I guess. She was happy to see me, happy to get the flowers, happy to get the card, and especially happy to get the gift card! We agreed that sometime soon we would make a date to eat the enchiladas.

I had to get back to work. Even this quick side trip was inadvertently causing disruption in my clients work flow and my typical output times. Texts were coming in. Notifications were piling up. I was getting anxious.

Months came and went. Christmas 2021 came. Her birthday came and went again. Christmas 2022 came. 

Somewhere in my mind I figured that grandmaw would be sitting there in her little chair, waiting and ready, as soon as I was. But every time I thought about the gift card, there was a good excuse.

I didn’t have the time. I couldn’t fit it in. I had more important things to take care of. Someone else needed me more. I was too tired from the things I was already doing. Always something.

I gave myself grace because after all, grandmaw was pretty chill, she wasn’t even upset. In fact I was 100% certain that if I even asked her she would insist that she didn’t care at all and it was no big deal. More time passed.

And then I got the call in March of 2023.

In a terrible turn of events: grandmaws house had burned down. She tried to get out, but she couldn’t. She had died. She was gone. 

Life became a bit of a blur to me, and I guess I came up with mental coping mechanisms to deal with the pain. I went over to her house to try and go through her belongings and save what we could. At this point the food in the freezer of the charred house was still frozen. It was surreal. It’s like my brain didn’t allow me to believe it was even a real thing.

Later on while we were preparing the funeral slide show, my Aunt told me that she had something for me. It was the gift card. She had found it in the ash, and somehow it had survived the flames and the heat. She wanted me to have it. 

“Alma always talked about how excited she was to get to have enchiladas with you one day” she told me. “She kept this one safe for whenever you were going to be ready.”

That hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that gutted in my life.       She was waiting. She wanted to go. She was waiting on me to call her and say when.     But I never called. I never came. And I lost my chance.

In that very moment I thought about how many other opportunities I may have already let slip through my fingers, or how many more I may lose in the future. Time really is running out to do whatever it is in this life that matters to you or be with whomever you have in this life that matters to you. Time is running out.

I have long known that my mom’s all time dream is actually a simple one. She wants to touch a giant redwood, a coastal sequoia. A tree. That’s it. That’s her dream. She’s 64 years old and she’s never even seen one with her own eyes. 

Suddenly it was quite clear to me, I had to get over my never ending excuses and make this happen for my mom. I don’t want to put it off for so long that one day I get a phone call, and find out that I lost my opportunity with her too.

So as I write this post I am sitting on a flight to San Francisco, with my mom and dad in the row across from me on the plane. Just two days from now my mom will put her hands on a giant redwood, and I can take a big step towards doing what I should have done for my grandmaw and everyone else I have ever cared about. 

Make time for them.

I’m the best at talking myself out of things. I don’t have the money. The weathers not right. I’m so busy. I’m so tired. Work is too crazy. And I’m right. Those are all true things. But here is another thing that’s true:

None of that will matter to you when you realize you’ve run out of time.

So even though this card was a gift for my grandmother, after her death she gave it back as the greatest gift of all. A reminder to do what matters with the people that matter to you while the opportunity exists. That tomorrow is not promised for any of us. That however much time you have, you have less today than you did yesterday. 

I’ve been carrying this card in my pocket every day since it was handed to me, and I plan to keep it there as my reminder from heaven to try and make time for the little moments, the adventures, the trips and the memories. I lost my chance to take grandmaw out to dinner, but that doesn’t mean I have to lose any more chances going forward. We’re going to find the tree.    Thank you Grandmaw. I love you.

Excelsior, Minnesota

 It was a lovely relaxing morning.  Mandy fixed us breakfast, We colored,  We looked around at all the fine work that has been done by Jason with the new Bobcat.  At 11 Mandy went to work.  We showered, boys played outside.  We left after Jason came home for lunch and was taking the boys back to daycare.  We got to Excelsior, they were removing a big tree from the back yard.  T'was fun to watch the process.  like got home about 8.  Everyone happy!!

Cherokee TBall

I was up and played PB 8-10.  When I got home Denny was cleaning the airbnb.  Denny shampooed the carpet, washed all the towels, sheets, quilts, and blankets.  At 8:30 we headed to Cherokee to watch Jack play T ball.  We went to Mandy and Jason's afterwards and spent the night.  On the way to Cherokee I got an email that said my Bluestone plants are being shipped .  Ya, sure, I'm heading to Minnesota for 4 days and my plants are coming to my house ... just to bake in the box.  Lynn S to the rescue, she said she would go and check and get my box of plants.  I told her the asparagus will need to be picked.   

OGT

I was up and worked on the kitchen area.  I left for OGT and worked til 11.  From there I headed to Cherokee and picked up the boys.  We went to the pool and Jan met us about 3.  When I got home our airbnbers were leaving early.   I went to bed early. 

Ladies' golf at Lake City

I was up early ... Quite a bit to do before I went golfing.  Mainly clean the kitchen.  Uffda!!!  I golfed with Marilyn and Jackie and Sara.  We shot a 38, out of the money, bottom of Championship flight.  Well, it's not that much money.  The day was wonderful, weather great, food fabulous, and people were fun!!  I hit a couple good shots, everyone did on the 4 gal best ball.  Sara was so happy that she won the flower door prize.   At home we found the truck tent. It was hidden in the pickup camper.  Hurrah!!  It fits in this pickup!!!  Getting ready for lake camping in Minnesota.  Denny said the mowing goes lots faster with 2 of us mowers going.  

Sunday fun Day

 Up to get water on the plants that I put in the ground yesterday.  SS and church, I took a basket of unsellable flowers for the front of the church.  Church quarterly business meeting, Home for asparagus soup, dutch oven bread, and spinach garden salad.  Then naps, now up and filling the water tank and filling the blog.  I got all the rest of the plants in the clay garden. uffda!! I'm sure they won't live in that soil, it was    clumping  I picked asparagus and bagged it.   Denny cleaned the RaV 4.  His back is hurting a lot.  We rocked and ate crackers from Jan and John C.  

  

Odebolt Creek Days

I to up and went to Odebolt and set up my spot.  I ws the only vendor without a tent canopy.  Uffda!!  All in all I sold about 60% of what I brought and bartered 3 bouquets for a charcuterie box, 2 seasoning packets, and a key chain.  Denny and I helped pass out water with the church.  At home I planted some of the plants I got on Thursday and started the sprinkler.