June

Howdy, family!

We're doing well, although we're a little torn apart by all the thorns from the climbing roses that Pop trimmed on Thursday. He spent hours, many of them on top of the carport trellis, cutting out deadwood and heaving it over the side. I spent some time with the clippers, cutting it up small enough to contain in the yard waste. Climbing roses are beautiful, but someone needs to develop a strain that only climbs to 8 feet and then stops.

Yesterday was Rich Pacente's retirement party and we didn't get home until nearly midnight - pretty late for us! Now Pop has to start getting ready for the Geezer's baseball road trip. They (Pop, Bob Janus, Rich Pacente and Phil Ritchey) plan to depart Wednesday morning in Bob's SUV for baseball games in Boston, New York (Mets), Cooperstown (Hall of Fame Game, Cubs vs San Diego), NY Yankees, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington. I get to stay home and watch the water level of the pond and pray that the grass doesn't grow, since I have notoriously bad luck trying to start the lawn mower.

Gram is hanging in there. Her vision seems to be declining pretty rapidly from the macular degeneration and she's quite tired most of the time, but she and Linda really hit it off. Linda's been back since May 13th and won't be taking any time off until I fill in for her for 24 hours on June 19th. That's how she wants it (She's making good money) so we'll be fine as long as Gram doesn't run out of money. Sadly, interest rates on her C.D.'s keep falling with each renewal.

Pop will miss his birthday as well as Father's Day while he's away. Does that mean they're cancelled? Meanwhile, we can celebrate Father's Day at Naper Days on Saturday. I believe that The North Aurora contingent will be attending, and I invite the Palatine branch of the family to join us as well. Please check out www.naperdays.org for more info.

I think I need to get some stuff done today, so I'll look forward to hearing from you.

Mom