Fall Day

Here's the big picture out front.  Soon this will be green and lush.  Any thoughts on landscaping near the house?  And doesn't the house look pretty?

 Here's the back.  Can you tell how much we cleared?  It looks great. We uncovered some pretty green foliage which we left in place.  I want to budget in the fence.  It would improve the value of our home and the quality of our life--we could do a garden and have a safe place for dogs and grandkids to play.  For now,we will continue clearing and possibly add some  mulch back there to  prevent regrowth.

 I tried not to do "crepe murder" but to be gentle with our little trees.  I need to finish weeding the beds.  I'd like to take out the azaleas, but I need a plan for how to replace them. 

 The sprinkler doing its job--germinate little seeds.

The result of the kids hard work.  All of the sticks are cleared out of the back.  I'll make an appointment and pay the county $25 to pick this up.

Our end goal is a yard that is pretty and functional as a relaxing place to hang out and play.  And, some day, productive, yielding tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and other yummies.

I feel like this is our homestead...our little slice of heaven on earth. 

Freedom

I spent a lot of money getting my hair cut and professionally colored.  When my friend, Mary Louise, saw me she said, with a look of sympathy on her face: "You deserve it."  I thought, "Huh, why?"  It then occurred to me that she thought I was making some kind of sacrifice because Joe is gone, deployed to Iraq for a year.  Therefore, I "deserved" the luxury of getting my hair done.  For sure, I miss Joe a lot.  I mean, here I am, at home on  a Saturday night.  I have the joy of listening  to Leo play board games with his friends in the next room; Larry and his friends pop in occasionally from their game of manhunt.  But, I'm sitting in here alone.  Not exactly bored or even lonely.  Just something missing.  An emptiness.  No commisserater to discuss politics with; no snuggling on the couch. Yeah,  it's a sacrifice.  But I can't help think of the wives of the active duty soldiers.  The young twenty-somethings with small children whose husbands are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.  Their husbands won't come home for leave every three months.  The money isn't great.  They're probably broke.  Their husbands aren't in an embassy, they're in "camps", maybe even on the front lines.  Besides, we are in a war on terrorism, admit it or not.  Shouldn't we all be making sacrifices?   Recently there's been a lot of activity across the creek.  Helicopters, explosions, all kinds of booms and bangs.  When I saw a fellow ex-military  spouse and neighbor in the commissary, she called it the "sound of freedom."  After all, freedom isn't free.  It has a price.  And the one I'm paying is small compared to the sacrifices many others have made.

Thank you, Joe, for being dedicated to our country and our ideals of liberty and freedom.  You are a hero and I love you so very much.