Well, yeah, it's Memorial Day. That calls for remembrance. My buddy who was in the navy who now has bladder cancer from exposure to leakage of agent orange on his ship is scheduled to start chemo again after they treat an infection (again). He ends up with an infection every time they go into his bladder, but he's an optimist.

The doc told him that when chemo starts, he'll have good and bad days for a long time to come--even after the chemo ends. I mused about removal of the bladder instead, which is an option, but he says if he lives to be 85 or 90 he'd rather have a bladder than a bag. With that attitude he'll have a good shot.

As for the title of the post with the question mark: It's two years ago this weekend that the garage burned to the ground almost taking the house with it. And it's one year since my last attack of pancreatits and blood poisoning and gall bladder removal. Must be something there to celebrate! The new garage is nice, it has doors that open and close, which is always a plus, and without a gb, I'm probably safe from pancreatitis, since it was the sludge produced in the gall bladder that lead to the attacks.

No new pics of the house yet, although the soffitts and fascia are complete. There are still a few large windows that need to be glazed and all the windows and back door need to be painted to mach the brown trim color of the house. I'd like to get a good price from a competent pro, but it looks like I'll be doing it myself. The crew still has to come back once more to install sno guards around the vent pipes and I have since noticed leakage in the rain gutters which needs to be addressed, but these are minor issues. I'm sure they'll get to it when the sno guards are delivered.

We had hot weather in March, as did most of the country, so some vegetation was damaged when conditions returned to normal in April. The freeze killed off the May flies, which is really nice. Hopefully we'll have enough bees, tho, to pollinate the tomatoes and squash. I took a chance on frost and planted squash seed and cukes a few weeks ago, and lucked out. Tomato and pepper plants went in this morning. Unless something seriously unexpected happens, like a long wet spell, or a shortage of bees, this season should produce in abundance!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with some pics. Everything is green, but not very interesting yet. The black (actually dark purple) bearded iris have buds but haven't opened yet. And the peonies will have more than one flower this year. It already has buds too. No lilacs, tho. The frost took care of them along with the May flies.

Have a great weekend.