December in Virginia

Hello out there!
Since my last posting, 6 weeks ago, our lives have spiraled with activity. And now December is already here and I'm dancing to catch up with life.

JD was pouring cement footers for his new pump house then, but I'm getting ahead of myself. After our summer in Oregon turned out to be the hottest summer weather in Charles City and our neigbors worked themselves silly trying to water the grass and my gardens, we decided to check into putting an irrigation system into the yard and gardens. We had a 20+ year old 1/2 HP water pump in our well and we knew we'd need more pressure... so we hired the well man to replace the pump. Well! We had pressure with the new 1 1/2 HP pump.... but it ran 24/7. JD was in a tizzy and couldn't get the well man's attention to listen to him. He called the manufacturer and troubleshot the problems and called the well man with his answers... He ended up changing three things before it worked as promised. We felt great. The pump wasn't running so often and we had pressure.

The irrigation people tore up the yard (and ripped the top of the plastic cover on the septic tank that we had to replace) and after 3 days (JD snoopervised) it was done and viola. Lovely! We had water for the lawn (it started raining and we didn't use it a lot at first) and pressure to pump the water. BUT, the water in the house was murky, yellow as strong apple juice (or worse) and we couldn't drink it. Of course, pouring my bathwater and the bubbles hid the water ... I sat down in that tub and scratched my bum on SAND. Peering through the bubbles, I saw the water looked like ....... well enough visualization there. We lugged water jugs from the neighbors and called the wel man again. He wouldn't respond very well, so I wrote him a letter to crimp his day but still no response. Then I wrote to the manufacturer and not much there... JD figured the well casing had a crack in it because the rain was letting in surface water... We can't prove the well man did it, and at that point, we wanted clear water! SO, we had to get a new well drilled. Merry Christmas. All for the watering system? I'm sure we'll be glad when summer arrives again but for now.... Oh! One more thing: When the trucks and team of diggers came in to drill our new well, they tore up 2 long irrigation pipes on 2 zones. But, we have clear water... See how we can justify all the activity and draining pocketbook into an adventure?

JD is getting ready for cataract surgery and then January 12th -- a shoulder replacement.
I am waiting for my Shoot the Moon books to be delivered with marketing packet and working on my long-awaiting cookbook. Formatting isn't half as much fun as writing it was.
For now, after 6 weeks from my last posting, I will aim to update this every month. I hope this finds everyone well and happy. Life and times are tough, so we must smile and get our minds right. Hugs from Charles City, P and JD

A day in Charles City

The days shorten and allow us to sleep longer as the sun's rays trick us and we assume it is earlier than it really is. This is nice since J.D. sleeps past 7:00 now. He gets up quietly and turns on the coffee and when he hears me messing about, he gets my coffee ready and it greets me by my chair each morning. I am spoiled.

Waking up each day without having to reach for my glasses for the first time in 57 years is a joy I couldn't imagine. It is so odd to just worry about sun glasses now or little readers now and then. I don't even need them to work on my laptop!

The leaves are gently raining down on us and J.D. hopes to keep up with them. We are in the process of preparing the 8,000 sq. ft. front lawn so I can over-seed it. Now that we have our new irrigation system in, we will not have to worry about hauling hoses and setting timers to move them. Hooray!

J.D. has another project waiting in the wings -- a pump house to house our new pump on the well. He has poured the footings and is making a list of necessary blocks and wood beams. Mixing concrete and mortar is a job that has caused him to take serious notice of his remaining shoulder joint. Today, he met with a new orthopedic surgeon (his doctor moved to Boston) and he will probably have his shoulder joint replaced this winter. He will truly be the bionic man with both shoulders and both knees replaced. I hope he can avoid the hips!

My garden is wonderful and looking at it from the road makes me surprised each time I gaze toward each garden area. I did that? I stare in wonder and smile. Life is good even though I know the leaves will soon fall and I picked up a million acorns in the front yard but that Oak tree is so beautiful.... I didn't complain but they were rotten little scamps hiding in the grass. They look like brown grapes, hard as rocks. The squirrels were probably watching me from their trees --- lingering about in hopes I'd toss them their way. They are probably out there in the dark rooting through the compost pile right now!