Signs of spring

So these were made over a week ago, but life has been a little busy.

Duty

Last night we had the opportunity to attend the play Duty by Tim Stevens at the Garner Performing Arts Center. Mr. Stevens has previously written a few historical plays that has been performed in both churches and at the GPAC. This one dealt with the 7 men from Garner who died in Vietnam and told a little about their stories, as well as some of the other Garner natives who fought there and survived. It was heart wrenching, but very good. My heart still hurts as I hear of the treatment our veterans received when they returned home. When our Quilts of Valor group presents a quilt to a Vietnam Vet, it's not uncommon for some of them to say it's the first time a non-family member has ever thanked them for their service. At one of our recent presentations, a vet told me he joined a group that served family members of fallen comrades when he returned home. He said one of them still haunts him to this day. The only people at the funeral and the grave-side service was the immediate family, the preacher, and the group of veterans. No one from the community or the church or the boy's school came out to pay their respects. He said there was not a dry eye on his bus on the way back to base.

One of my neighbors shared after the play that her brother also served in Vietnam. She said her mother went to mass every day, even if meant walking, to pray for his safety. She also baked snickerdoodles once a week to mail to him, as it was his favorite food. I think the family got a little tired of the snickerdoodles. She said they quit being her favorite, and even now she seldom eats them.

I'm thankful for the town of Garner and the commitment of its townspeople to honor its veterans, whether it be through a play at the local theater or through the hard work that went into the Garner Veterans Memorial at our local park. I wish there wasn't a need to recognize those who struggled so much and sacrificed so much, some of them even with their lives, but I'm thankful to live in/near a town that understands the importance of people over policy. It really does matter.

wide eyed emoji would fit here just fine

Somewhere around 10 this morning I discovered that today was March!!!

I'm not ready for March!

And yet, here it is.

So today on March 1 of 2019, I called the credit union about a charge we hadn't made that appeared on our credit card. At their request, filed a report with the police department. Paid bills. Went to pick up a part at the hardware store that wasn't what we needed. Tried to explain exactly what we were looking for, and when the owner found out we were attempting to repair Bobby's shower chair, he told us to bring it in. So we did, and he had the old wheel out and the new one in less than five minutes!! When I told him I had been trying off and on for several days to get the old caster out, he winked and said "It helps when you have the right tools."  And so it does. So we've had the highs and the lows for the day, and it's only half over.

Biddies are slowly adjusting to the hen house. They love the space and about half of them have now ventured out of it into the pen. They love having space to run in the house, though with the drop in temps they're huddling under the heat lamp quite a bit. I think we might run the back-up lamp out there as well the first of next week as the temps are supposed to go extremely low during the night. Two of them are starting to figure out that I'm the creature that gives them food and water and am not a terrible monster. These don't appear to be the brightest birds we've ever had, but that may change as time goes on.

Three of the 4 goldfish have died. Yesterday I was afraid the last one wouldn't make it either, but today it is swimming all over the place and acting like a normal fish.  This has been a good reminder of why we buy the cheap fish and not the super cute expensive ones.