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Joyce cooked a big pot of beans, then left town, which was wise. She went to Plainview to help out with Max and Juanita, her brother and sister-in-law, both of whom are not well. She will probably have to go back for a couple of nights this coming week. She still ministers to her flock here — cats, chickens, husband and other animals. Fortunately she isn’t gone long and gets back in time to arrest our slide into pathos.
It snowed today (Sunday) and the thermometer dipped back down to the sub-20 degrees area we saw much of this past week. Saturday was pleasant, particularly the afternoon which was less windy than the morning. Joyce and I planted a couple more trees to go with the four we planted Monday before the cold wave hit. Four of the six were the green giant variety of arborvitae. We got them at Home Depot where they were selling them along with other kinds of trees as living Christmas trees. Arborvitaes are tough and drought tolerant and these were relatively cheap. We planted them on the perimeter to replace junipers that didn’t survive the drought. The little arbovitaes were three to four feet high but didn’t require much of a hole. Even still it was work to dig the holes because I wanted to get them as close to the remains of the original junipers as I could, which meant I encountered lots of roots. They should grow fairly quickly and are big enough now to give the hope that they will help screen out the outside world before too many years go by.
The two other trees were pines, one an Italian stone pine and the other an Alepo pine. The former is now in our backyard and the latter is next to the lily pool. I have no experience with either but they are described as tough and drought resistant. Neither grows in the classic Christmas tree conical shape but that’s the way they are starting out.
Kari, Abigail and I went to the Lady Buffs basketball season opener Friday evening. They were rated number one in the nation in their category but I guess we jinxed them because they dropped a close one. It was a good game despite the disappointing outcome and we stopped off for dinner on the way home so it was a pretty good evening.
Not sure how the Wylie women and Dave are faring these days but they will be here to fill me a week from today. They’ll spend the week with us helping to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Rebecca played in her first Kids, Inc. volleyball game yesterday. She was able to get a couple of serves over the net and return a serve, both being significant accomplishments among second graders. Though she has expressed no interest in playing organized basketball, she spends a lot of time weather permitting out in her driving shooting baskets. Maybe that interest will grow. Abigail is playing on her eighth grade basketball team and not enthusiastic about it. It seems there isn’t much enthusiasm generally among her peers despite last year’s undefeated championship season. According to Abigail they have to do too much running for her taste.