One of my babies is lost to me for now. Today my brother, my Joshie died. No longer will I hear his great laugh. Will I see his amazing smile. Will I look into his smiling eyes. No longer will I share in life with him. He was barely a man and yet he already left such a amazing and rich legacy. Like a shadow in late afternoon his shadow was long, it fell on and touched so many.
My brother was amazing. I am and was so proud of him. He lived his life to bring beauty to God and to others. Whether it was in his love of music , or in his love of singing. He brought beauty in his love of dance. His love of photography and sharing the beauty of nature as he saw it. His love of plants and growing them. He loved sharing about God and what He was doing in his life. He was exuberant and stubborn. He was growing to be daring and confident. He would take time to listen and gain wisdom from those around him. He was unashamed and unabashed in his love for his Savior.
He wasn't afraid to show you what he was feeling. To show you the depth of his emotions. He truly loved and cared for people. You felt that and knew it. He took all our teasing so well, well most of the time. And tease him we did. At times because he made himself such a easy target. When Josh was fascinated with something he would find books about whatever it was and study them. Learning all he possibly could. If you asked him he would share all that knowledge with you. Sometimes even when you didn't ask him. My brother was so gifted in so many different ways. It's hard to distill that. It's hard to make a snap-shoot of the amazing picture of who he was. I feel sad for all who won't be able to know him. I feel sad for all of us who did know him. Because all of us who knew him grieve, not because God elected to take Josh to be with Him. But because we will no longer have Josh with us.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Beast
If you have seen any of my status updates the past couple of days you would have seen that I have been locked in a land war with a diabolical foe. In the front of my grandmother's house is a bush that I lovingly (read sarcastic undertones) refer to "The Beast". My grandparents have had this bush for a very long time. As long as I can remember in fact. My grandfather brought a clipping from the Big Island and planted it in front of the house. As a kid I had many fond memories of this bush. My sisters and I would gather up the small purplish-pink four petaled flowers and toss them in the air over our heads. They would spiral down over us in a shower of little helicopters. That's what we would call it, the helicopter bush. Like I said I had many fond memories of that bush.
Not anymore. Not since I became the one to have to control it. I didn't think I would mind so much. I enjoy being outside. The warm sun shining down on me, a cool breeze and blue, blue skies overhead. How bad could it be to trim one bush. But soon I discovered that the bush wasn't going to peacefully submit to being tamed. It grows like a giant rats nest. Branches shoot out 6 feet or higher straight up to the sky and every other direction. It looks for any thing it can latch onto and wrap it self around. The branches twist and turn, entwining and weaving themselves into a tangled mess. And it grows incredibly fast. I swear I just cut it and 2 days later I will see a vines sticking out 6 ft in every direction. As if the isn't bad enough the leaves have this little hairs on them that are annoyingly itchy. And the branches bite. I always end up covered in scratches after I finish.
I actually haven't taken on the Beast in about a year. Last year a friend of mine was helping take care of the yard work for me. I wasn't able to get out and tackle it due to caring for my grandfather.It was nice to not to have to worry about it. It was also nice to because I run into problems with grandma when I do it. I tend to try to keep the yard somewhat under submission and I guess I was cutting too much back for grandma. It's hard when you have someone who is rather indecisive in some things. Going back and forth on what she wants done. And very set and unmoving on other things. It was hard to make her see that some things were better. That it needed to be done. It was also rather frustrating to have my friend tell grandma the exact same thing I was telling her and have her go along with it because he told her it. So after a while I just let things slide until she would ask me to do it. One of those things was the bush out front. I was going to go out and cut it one day when she told me that she would rather I didn't since the bush hadn't bloomed with as many flowers as it used to. Since then I haven't touched it. As it is a rather forceful and encroaching beast it has been steadily taking over the front yard. Then last week grandma came into my room and said "maybe we should cut the bush. It's taking over the yard." We being me of course. I actually don't mind as long as I don't mind as long as I don't have to deal with drama with it.
On Monday I set out into what would be my first foray. Due to the fact that my grandpa was very frugal and wanted to keep things as simple as possible my weapons were a pair of hedge shears, a lopping shears and a pruner. I was three hours into a major engagement with the Beast when I decided to fall back and go get some heavy artillery. I was running into the problem of having lots of small branches intermingled with thicker branches. My poor hedge shears were doing great with the small branches but just couldn't cut it with the bigger branches. And it was taking way too long cutting them one at a time. So out I went to get a big bad electric hedge trimmer.
Maybe it's because I'm so much like my dad but I love tools. Especially big, bad, monster tools. Give me a pneumatic framing nail gun. A 19.2 volt cordless drill/driver. A table saw. Oh baby! Love them. So needless to say I wasn't a hard sell when it came to getting another toy...uh I mean very important tool. Tuesday came all bright and sunshiny and I was ready to battle again. Unfortunately the skirmish again went to my enemy. The hedge trimmer worked like a dream. It cut through the resistance like a hot knife through butter but I was left to clean up the casualties and there was much more of them then I could manage. I stuffed as much as I could into the green waste bin but that filled up way too quickly. Next I tried to stuff them in to garbage bags but they shredded the bags. I then got a tarp and wrapped up a massive load and drug it to the compost pile in the lower yard. But even after all that I still had a yard full of debris. I filled a large trash can and finally had to call it quits. I was way to hot and starting to not feel too good. I had been out for 3 hrs in direct sun and 90ยบ temps. Even with my "killer hat" as my neighbor called it I was done in and had to beat a strategic retreat.
Day three came and I decided to follow the advice of a very wise woman to wait until later in the day for a sneak attack. Well, actually she said to wait until night fall but I decided to wait until after 4 to lull the Beast into a false sense of security. Some of the reason I decided on this strategy was because I had to take grandma to a Doctor appointment and some of it was because it was another scorcher today. After the Doctor appointment I stopped at the store to pick up some different trash bags. What followed was another hard and long clash but I was able to finish most of clean up. Eight bags later, I had to again retreat when it got too dark. For now the Beast is tamed. My foe is vanquished, but only for a time. Soon I know the time will come again when I will have go out again and battle.
Not anymore. Not since I became the one to have to control it. I didn't think I would mind so much. I enjoy being outside. The warm sun shining down on me, a cool breeze and blue, blue skies overhead. How bad could it be to trim one bush. But soon I discovered that the bush wasn't going to peacefully submit to being tamed. It grows like a giant rats nest. Branches shoot out 6 feet or higher straight up to the sky and every other direction. It looks for any thing it can latch onto and wrap it self around. The branches twist and turn, entwining and weaving themselves into a tangled mess. And it grows incredibly fast. I swear I just cut it and 2 days later I will see a vines sticking out 6 ft in every direction. As if the isn't bad enough the leaves have this little hairs on them that are annoyingly itchy. And the branches bite. I always end up covered in scratches after I finish.
I actually haven't taken on the Beast in about a year. Last year a friend of mine was helping take care of the yard work for me. I wasn't able to get out and tackle it due to caring for my grandfather.It was nice to not to have to worry about it. It was also nice to because I run into problems with grandma when I do it. I tend to try to keep the yard somewhat under submission and I guess I was cutting too much back for grandma. It's hard when you have someone who is rather indecisive in some things. Going back and forth on what she wants done. And very set and unmoving on other things. It was hard to make her see that some things were better. That it needed to be done. It was also rather frustrating to have my friend tell grandma the exact same thing I was telling her and have her go along with it because he told her it. So after a while I just let things slide until she would ask me to do it. One of those things was the bush out front. I was going to go out and cut it one day when she told me that she would rather I didn't since the bush hadn't bloomed with as many flowers as it used to. Since then I haven't touched it. As it is a rather forceful and encroaching beast it has been steadily taking over the front yard. Then last week grandma came into my room and said "maybe we should cut the bush. It's taking over the yard." We being me of course. I actually don't mind as long as I don't mind as long as I don't have to deal with drama with it.
On Monday I set out into what would be my first foray. Due to the fact that my grandpa was very frugal and wanted to keep things as simple as possible my weapons were a pair of hedge shears, a lopping shears and a pruner. I was three hours into a major engagement with the Beast when I decided to fall back and go get some heavy artillery. I was running into the problem of having lots of small branches intermingled with thicker branches. My poor hedge shears were doing great with the small branches but just couldn't cut it with the bigger branches. And it was taking way too long cutting them one at a time. So out I went to get a big bad electric hedge trimmer.
Maybe it's because I'm so much like my dad but I love tools. Especially big, bad, monster tools. Give me a pneumatic framing nail gun. A 19.2 volt cordless drill/driver. A table saw. Oh baby! Love them. So needless to say I wasn't a hard sell when it came to getting another toy...uh I mean very important tool. Tuesday came all bright and sunshiny and I was ready to battle again. Unfortunately the skirmish again went to my enemy. The hedge trimmer worked like a dream. It cut through the resistance like a hot knife through butter but I was left to clean up the casualties and there was much more of them then I could manage. I stuffed as much as I could into the green waste bin but that filled up way too quickly. Next I tried to stuff them in to garbage bags but they shredded the bags. I then got a tarp and wrapped up a massive load and drug it to the compost pile in the lower yard. But even after all that I still had a yard full of debris. I filled a large trash can and finally had to call it quits. I was way to hot and starting to not feel too good. I had been out for 3 hrs in direct sun and 90ยบ temps. Even with my "killer hat" as my neighbor called it I was done in and had to beat a strategic retreat.
Day three came and I decided to follow the advice of a very wise woman to wait until later in the day for a sneak attack. Well, actually she said to wait until night fall but I decided to wait until after 4 to lull the Beast into a false sense of security. Some of the reason I decided on this strategy was because I had to take grandma to a Doctor appointment and some of it was because it was another scorcher today. After the Doctor appointment I stopped at the store to pick up some different trash bags. What followed was another hard and long clash but I was able to finish most of clean up. Eight bags later, I had to again retreat when it got too dark. For now the Beast is tamed. My foe is vanquished, but only for a time. Soon I know the time will come again when I will have go out again and battle.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Week 3
So today was week 3 of the experiment. And I must say I have continued to be impressed. There is lots of new growth and on the cherry tomato lots of flowers. It's getting harder to water them now because of all the new growth as I have to stand on the ledge to reach the top. Not a bad problem to have I suppose. But I guess I'm going to have to break down and get a watering wand pretty soon.
Roma Tomato: Week 3
Cherry Tomato: Week 3
Roma Tomato: Week 3
Cherry Tomato: Week 3
Roma Tomato: Week 3
Cherry Tomato: Week 3
Roma Tomato: Week 3
Cherry Tomato: Week 3Friday, July 24, 2009
Topsy Turvy Experiment
Yesterday was the 2 week mark in my experiment. I must say that I'm pleased with the results so far. I've seen noticeable changes and growth. You can see where the branches are curving upward towards the sun. And on the cherry tomato there has been more sprouting of flowers. A small green tomato has formed and continues to grow bigger and bigger. So all in all I'm pleased. Hopefully the rest of the experiment will be pleasing as well.
7 days into the experiment. Not bad I suppose but I must confess I am quite impatient and wanted to see more growth.
Here's the Cherry Tomato: Day 7
Roma Tomato: Day 7
Cherry Tomato: Day 7
Cherry Tomato
Roma Tomato: Day 14. Definitely more leaves but no flowers yet.
Cherry Tomato: Day 14. I've been very impressed by the Cherry Tomato. It already has a fruit and more flowers sprouting.
Roma Tomato: Day 14
Cherry Tomato: Day 14
7 days into the experiment. Not bad I suppose but I must confess I am quite impatient and wanted to see more growth.
Here's the Cherry Tomato: Day 7
Roma Tomato: Day 7
Cherry Tomato: Day 7
Cherry Tomato
Roma Tomato: Day 14. Definitely more leaves but no flowers yet.
Cherry Tomato: Day 14. I've been very impressed by the Cherry Tomato. It already has a fruit and more flowers sprouting.
Roma Tomato: Day 14
Cherry Tomato: Day 14Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Great 'Topsy Turvy Tomato' Experiment
Last year before I left Grandma heard about something called Topsy Turvy. It's a planter for tomatoes. There is a hole in the bottom where you insert the seedling in. Then you fill the rest of the bag with potting soil. It's suppose to help them grow better and bigger. The bag is suppose to work like a greenhouse. And then you won't stakes or cages to keep the tomatoes from falling over. It's also suppose to be great for those who don't have space for a garden. And the best part is you don't have to weed. So we shall see how this goes. Today is day 1. I will keep you updated on how it works.
So here is plant #1 a Roma tomato
A here is plant #2 a Cherry tomato
So here is plant #1 a Roma tomato 
A here is plant #2 a Cherry tomato
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