One Year

It has been one year since our dear, sweet Roxy came into our life. I must say if there was ever a more perfect dog, Roxy is it. She has settled in so well and is such a game little dog ready for what ever comes her way. When Covid is over and life returns to some sort of normal we will have to take some nice long road trips as car travel is one of her favorite joys.  

When we brought her home one of the breeders requirements was that she travel in a crate, which we dutifully obliged. But she was six years old not a puppy so after arriving home I folded the crate up and it is stored in the attic. Roxy has never had an accident and lets us know when the need to go out to the garden is necessary.  She enjoys a good walk, has never missed a meal, lets us know when there is something afoot but never barks just to be heard. 

During Covid and MeMa's battle with cancer she has adapted well to our quarantined life. She is so in-tuned with MeMa and recognizes when MeMa needs some extra snuggle time. The neighbors have all fallen in love with her sweet nature. 


 

When she first arrived Roxy would watch out the front window but never bark, she would watch goings on but remain silent. After a few months she decided that the neighborhood was part of her domain. Besides a shared hatred for squirrels she has a big hatred for the UPS delivery vehicles. Both receive a sound scolding until out of her sight. 

When bedtime approached Roxy is the first one ready to call it a day.

When we take too long getting ready for bed Roxy will attempt to speed things up by pulling down the bedding.

The Journey Continues

Although the temperature is 51 degrees it is sunny and beautiful out so While MeMa rested by the fire and read I took advantage of the good weather and went out into the garden. earlier in the fall I had taken a bunch of cuttings of my grandfather Potters geraniums and stuck them in a jar of water to form roots so first job was potting them up. That done I went out to the front garden and hoed over all of the planting beds. It always looks so fresh and clean after and got plenty of comments from passers by. 

Earlier I had decided to reduce the number of roses in the rose garden. 

We had over forty roses which as plants go are more work than most parts of the gardens. MeMa always has cut flowers and in the past the rooms were filled with roses but after I put in her "picking garden" she has used mostly dahlias and perennials from the main garden. 

So I made a list of roses that would stay and another list of roses to remove. I carefully dug the roses out and put them in nursery pots, then MeMa made labels for each and I put them on the front walkway with a big sign that says "Free". It was about fifteen minutes before a nice lady in a big pickup truck stopped and loaded all of the roses into the back. She told me her sister lost everything in one of last years forest fires including her rose garden. She said they are having a new home built and these are going to bring her such joy. I told her that I am glad that I could be part of that joy and wished her good luck as she pulled away.

The gardens here at Menagerie Manor are high maintenance which I have never complained about, I have always enjoyed spending every spare hour keeping everything looking its best. But with the recent health issues my lovely wife has gone through, the desire to be in the gardens has dwindled. It is a good thing that I got rid of all lawn areas years ago. Every garden chore other than general tidiness, is on a monthly calendar. So when any tree or shrub needs pruning, then it is on the calendar, if a perennial needs cutting back or needs to be dug up and divided then it's on the calendar. When my orchids need monthly or bi-monthly fertilizer, it's on the calendar.  I keep a hard copy of the calendars in the garden shed and I have them all in an electronic folder in my computer so there is never a job undone. This has proved to be an invaluable tool in maintaining such gardens. 

When I am out in the garden all I think about is my wife and if she is needing something or if she would like to go for a drive or a walk with the dog.  Cancer is such an evil disease and I won't let it take a minute of time away from us. MeMa has been feeling so strong as of late but after her last CT scan they found that her lymph nodes were swollen and there was a suspicious tiny spot on one of them, so after a mammogram and an ultrasound they now want a biopsy. If anything they have caught it early on, it also could be scar tissue from the chemotherapy. Regardless, the up's and down's of this journey are exhausting. There may be long periods of time when posting on Blogger is the furthest from my mind. So I will apologize in advance.

 

Paying Our Respects

 

Supper eaten and dishes washed, MeMa suggested we take a night time drive down to the Convention Center. Portland's Convention Center's twin towers were all done up in red, white and blue lights to pay homage to the 400,000 people who lost their struggle with Covid 19. 

It was nice to get out for a drive, we enjoyed seeing the city at night. Roxy stayed awake for about the first three minutes of the outing.