Three Birthdays, Time with Mom and Sisters, Look Who’s in the Big Shop!

 The Ridge

Tuesday, Oct. 13^th was a special day in the Richards family. We have 2 grandsons (twins) turning 14 and our youngest granddaughter turning 11. All terrific young people but other than sending cards, we won’t be seeing them. Bill and I both wished them Happy Birthday on Facebook, dear social media.

Happy Birthday, Zach and Carter!

11 years ago, this little caterpillar became our 2nd granddaughter
Happy Birthday, Olivia!

And here they all are grown up, cousins

Bill was off to work shortly after 7 and at 7:30 I took myself out the door for a walk. It was a calm morning around 8C/47F so a very nice walk. I didn’t need much outerwear under my puffy vest and safety vest to keep warm. Of course, I wore my little gloves. It felt good to be out there walking, I’ve sure been lazy in the mornings. Or busy at least.

A lovely start to the day
Good morning!

I left for Graceland 2 at 9 and Mitch had the F700 all painted in its red and white glory. It is looking really good and all we needed to do was wash windows, use some steel wool on the chrome mirror frames, reapply the ‘jackass’ on the hood and parking lights on the fenders. At 10, I went to town for Mitch and by the time I returned, he had it parked out on the lot for pick up. That’s when I took pictures.

And the big truck is done

And the 'Jackass' is back in place

Purty, wish I could take credit for the paint job but
I can only take credit for the prep work

The shop was empty. I knew what that meant. Between the two of us, we managed to push, tow and shove Tommy into the work area. That wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. First, I needed to put some air into the back driver side tire. I’ve never been in a 1928 vehicle before but today I got to steer and use the brake as we got it into a good position to work all around it.

Yup, I behind the wheel of a 1928 Plymouth
and Mitch pulls Tommy out of the old bay

Currently, Tommy has the shop all to himself

It looks so small in the bay that we’ll be able to do some other work (if we have to) at the back of the shop. I’m happy to be working on Tommy again, not for the owners but for my satisfaction. I’ll be thrilled to have that on my ‘non-existing’ resume. 😊 I removed the masking tape from around the windows and door latches as it had been on there a long time. Time for new stuff as I sand more of these areas.

One section at a time, the gardens will get ready for winter

With half hour left before ‘touring’ time, I helped Mitch move some of his chopped wood from outside into his F150 (for storing in Tommy’s first bay) and into the main shop beside the wood stove. It needed to dry a fair bit. At home, I had some yogourt and a coffee before going out to the gardens. It was a beautiful day with clear sky so I took advantage by trimming my hostas and tiger lilies up on the berm.

Hostas and tiger lilies are trimmed back

Along the fence line beside the Bunky, I trimmed some irises, more hostas and corabelle flower stems and in the garden as well. There is more to do but I weeded grass as I went so that it shouldn’t be as cumbersome in the spring. One can hope. At a few minutes before 2, I was cleaned up and headed in to meet my two sisters at Rockwood. The 4 of them had been up visiting Mom in rotation since 8 am and it was my turn.

These two pictures are from this morning's walk

Audrey and Gayle were in the room when I entered. The nurse at the greeting station was new and didn’t say a word about me being the ‘3^rd’ visitor. I don’t think she even realized it. We had a nice time with Mom. The best part of the day was that our little brother, Michael, from Cold Lake called and with Audrey’s help, was able to chat to Mom. Maybe hearing her youngest son’s voice was what she was waiting for.

I like how the sun takes its time brightening up the trees

We had some laughs, some songs with Pastor Dianne and a prayer before the 3 of us left. My visit was 2 ½ hours but theirs was even longer. We were a bit fearful to leave in case ‘that’ would be the moment but on the other hand, maybe she didn’t want us around. I enjoyed the visit, the time with Mom AND the time with my siblings today. I stopped into Foodland before heading home to find Bill already home.

Appreciating life on the Ridge for one more week
It is beautiful up here

A good supper tonight
I can't get enough squash

For supper, I reheated ham, made a small potato for each of us, pepper squash for me and mixed veggies for Bill. It was a nice easy supper and we had some strawberry/rhubarb pie with ice cream for dessert.  We can hear the tractor in the field behind us but without going out to see what they’re doing; we’re guessing that he is fertilizing the field for future plantings.

Good night y'all!

What a day! We are both exhausted. Thank you for your visit.