Make Note

I really thought that when I retired, I would have a lot of time for playing with my hobbies. HA!! Life is busier and more complicated now than I remember it ever being when I was working. I can only assume that this is because I am older and not as sharp as I used to be. Oh well...

Caring for my mom, I have learned how very difficult it is to develop new habits at an old age. I read that it takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become a habit! So it is no wonder that and 88 year old person cannot, or refuses to be willing to, create a new habit! They just do not have that kind of time!

Consequently, while I am still in my 60s, I have determined to etch into my brain the behaviors that will someday make my old age years run a little more smoothly.

One of those things is writing down lists of things that are needing to be done....today, tomorrow, this next week, and the next month. Some of this things are imperative... make a deposit, mail a box, get eggs...some of them are goals...clean out the storage, list my ebay items, pick up pinecones.... But these lists keep me on the right track; see to it that things are done in a timely fashion; and keep important things from falling through the cracks.

I am not embarrassed to say that post-its are my friend.

Gabion Fencing

Years ago, I read somewhere about Gabion fencing. Probably because we live on a gravel and rock flat and the rocks seem to grow out of the ground every spring.

Basically, it is a way of using excess rocks and stones in a practical way, by making a wire cage to contain them and turn them

in to a stone fence. I have made a few gabion cages around trees that I wanted to protect from the deer (in my yard they are voracious and refuse to believe there is anything they do not like..apparently, they do not read the same gardening magazines I read!)

But last year, someone bought a large piece of property about 5 miles from our house, and proceeded to put in a huge gabion fence that bordered the entire length of his property. He put a cement lining under it and drilled the posts at measured intervals. He also (much to our personal skepticism and ridicule) brought in loads of rock and stone to fill the cages

he built.

In the long run, it was his money, time and energy, and needless to say, the ensuing fence is a thing of beauty...

A Very Brief History of Gabions

Gabions, originating from the Italian name gabbione, which means “big cage”, were used during the reign of the Egyptian Pharaohs and later in Europe during the Middle Ages. The Egyptians made them out of sedges--think bulrushes like Moses’ basket-- and filled them with sludge to stabilize the banks of the Nile River. The Europeans made gabions out of woven sticks and filled them with stones to fortify castles as well as for erosion control of river banks.

Land of the Free

I have lived for extended amounts of time in two other countries besides the United States. From those countries I have many wonderful and many horrible memories. Those memories have become part of who I am...and why I am the way I am. And as a result of my young life abroad, I discovered at a very early age that I am a True American in every sense. We have privileges in this country that we take for granted, but that so very many people would risk life and limb to get the chance to experience. Take a moment today, July 4th, our Independence Day, and reflect for just a moment on how very fortunate we are to live in this great country!