Bob

Bob lives two houses down.  Each and every evening, like clockwork, he takes his dog, Sugah (yes, you read that right), on a walk, counter-clockwise, around the block.  You could set your watch to him.  Sometimes he wears an old Conoco-Phillips ballcap (I suspect he worked for Conoco before he retired some years back).  Sometimes he wears a fisherman-style hat, but usually only when it's raining.  He always wears a button-up plaid shirt tucked neatly into his jeans.

I first met Bob about two years ago, not long after we moved into the neighborhood.  It was almost dusk and we exchanged small talk for a while before he remarked he'd better hurry on home or his wife would worry that he'd forgotten where they lived.  "I think I've got that Alzheimer's, you know?" he casually remarked with a smirk, before saying goodnight.  Since then Harry and I have developed a casual relationship with Bob and his wife, Jo.  We wave, say hello, talk about the weather or the general state of the neighborhood - normal neighborly things, I suppose.

Tonight I was in the backyard on the deck and I looked out front and saw Bob and Sugah sitting out front on the curb.  Worried he had fallen or gotten lost, I walked around front to see what was up.  My wave and "hello" were met by a blank stare.  As I got closer, I said "hi" again and Bob said hello in exchange.  He said he was sitting down enjoying the nice cool breeze with his dog.  I was so glad to see he was alright.  We started chatting and I said hello to Sugah.

"How do you know my dog's name?" Bob said.  I was immediately alarmed by this.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm a dog person, so of course, I always say hi to Sugah when I see him (yes, him).  "Oh, well I've seen his nametag before, so of course I knew his name."  Bob seemed satisfied with this answer and said he figured the whole neighborhood knew Sugah.  He's probably right.  "So where do you live?" he asked.  Uh oh.  Panic rushed over me.  Did I need to go get Jo and tell her Bob was lost?  How could he not know me?  He was practically sitting in my front yard.  "I live right here.  I'm Harry's wife."  "Oh yeah," he said, "I'm sorry, it's so dark out here and it's getting harder for me to see.  I do know you.  And Harry.  I heard him banging on something with a hammer earlier."

I've never been happier to hear someone joke about Harry making noise.  I was so glad that Bob remembered us.  I assume the day will come when he won't, but that day is not today.

Harry told me I should write about Bob tonight.  His grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's.  She forgot her grandchildren and was convinced her husband was cheating on her, so she divorced him at 72 years of age after being together nearly 60 years.  After they were divorced, Harry's grandfather went to his ex-wife's house everyday to drink morning coffee with her.  He brought her mail to her everyday.  Until the day he died.  Like clockwork.  Like Bob and Sugah.

I guess the moral of the story is to appreciate the simple things in life.  A cup of coffee.  A good, long walk.  The feel of a cool breeze on your face. Your neighbors.

A Random Act of Green-ness

A few Fridays ago was Earth Day.  I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try to live a little "greener" as they say.  Last year I tried to garden from seeds and that just didn't work at all.  Apparently I do have enough of a green thumb to get the seeds to sprout, but that was about it.  So this year I figured I'd start with plants and see how that works.  In addition to plants making the world a better place by creating oxygen and all that, I am thinking I can help my own "green" by spending less at the grocery store and growing my own veggies!

I am going to try to container garden - where you grow plants in pots or other containers, rather in a bed.  I am doing this for two reasons: one - the dogs seem to care less about digging in pots than they do in the flower beds, and two - I'm not sure how well the plants will tolerate the HOT heat of Texas, so I might have to relocate them in the yard and that will work much better with containers.  I know the little cards that come with the plants say "shade" or "full sun" but I tend to think that the plants don't always like full, hot, hot, hot Texas sun. 

For all you wanna-be gardeners like me out there, Home Depot has had their vegetable and herb plants on sale, buy 2 get 1 free.  I picked up two "patio" tomato plants (good for container growing, the label says), two strawberry plants, a red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, and a couple of cucumber plants.  I don't really like cucumbers but have always wanted to make my own pickles.  Weird? I also grabbed some herbs like mint, rosemary, parsley, cilantro, dill, lavender, and a few others.  The brand they sell, Bonnie Plants, is awesome because it also happens to utilize biodegradable containers made out of recycled paper.  You can just stick the plant in the ground as-is, so no pesky trans-planting needed and no trash!  How green is that?  I also grabbed a bag of Miracle Gro organic potting soil and some organic plant food.  Normally I'm not as concerned about "organic" as I probably should be, but if I'm eating it, I don't want it covered in chemicals.

So far, the cucumbers are growing like weeds and have several yellow flowers popping up.  The tomatoes are doing well, too, and I think some are almost ripe.  The cilantro and parsley do not like the direct, hot sun so I'll need to relocate them.  The herbs seem to do better being kept constantly moist, rather than allowing them to dry out in between waterings.  If they start to get too dry, they all start wilting.  It's been a learning curve, but so far, so good.

I'm really looking forward to being able to walk outside and get fresh herbs and the goods for fresh salsa, fruit salad and pickles right from my backyard this summer.