Memorial Day Weekend

It's been a quiet one. We don't publish a paper on Memorial Day -- that and Labor Day are the only two days -- so I have Monday off. I haven't had a lot to do. I finished up the foundation garden I started about a week ago in the front yard. Planted a hydrangea and three lupies I got through a mail-order catalog (they had a coupon). The hydrangea is only just about 4 inches tall, and the lupines were bare roots, so there won't be much this year. But maybe next. I also planted some purple salvia that mom had bought but decided they might get too bushy for where she was going to plant them.

Other than that, and some mowing on the hill, which I will finish tomorrow, I haven't done a lot. I still am trying to figure out what to do with myself without a dog to look after. Nipper was always my reason for taking a walk, but so far I haven't been able to get out and do that on my own. He was always a good excuse to go sit in the sun or the shade outside. You just don't realize how much something is a part of you until it's gone, I guess. But both of us are learning to get along.

I'm not sure when I'll get another dog. I'm still missing Nipper too much. Plus, I'm having to look seriously at getting a second job to help pay off some bills. I'll probably do some looking next month. I have my class reunion to go to on the 9th, and I was thinking of taking some of my vacation time to help mom do some of the stuff she wants to do at her house, where my dad lives (yeah, I know, it sounds weird).

I'm trying to read "Devil in White City," about a serial killer at the Chicago World's Fair, but it puts me sleep after a few pages. So now it's by my bed. So now I started on a mystery novel, "Stalking Ivory." The protagonist is Jade del Cameron, a writer/photographer in the 1920s in Africa. The setting is different than most mysteries I read, and so fair it's pretty good. The author is from Kansas, too.

So other than reading and maybe laundry tomorrow, I don't have a lot planned. We'll probably have Dad over and barbecue some chicken or something tomorrow.