Past Present and Future

Past: 

Photo from May 16, 2022:  2022 was the year before our son got married for the second time.  It was during a road trip to introduce his then fiancé (now wife) to his dad.  

The date is of interest. It was the 41st anniversary of the wedding of DXH and me.  Friday was the 45th anniversary of it.  We have been divorced three years longer than we were married.

I still care about the man.  Being me, I tend to fuzz out the bad parts and paint the good ones with a pink cloud filter.  

Travel and weather (sort of Present):

My son's in-laws (DIL's parents) went off on a family adventure.  I think a nephew or niece's wedding, two states away.  Son, DIL, and FGC were bird-sitting the parakeets while they were away.  While they were gone, and on the day they drove home (Monday), tornado alley set up shop around here.

Ember experienced her first "real" tornado warning with sirens ablare Sunday evening.  I don't think it hurt that we did a tornado drill a few weeks ago, where the test sirens were a cue to go down and kennel up in the lowest level of the house.  During the warning, I brought a kitchen chair down and sat next to her crate.  It was her normal sleep time anyway, so she just curled up and did just that in a different spot.  What a good girl!

Those are my knees under the blankie.  After the front had passed and they were warning Iowa and Wisconsin, we went back upstairs to her regular crate for the remainder of the night.

DIL's parents got home safely early Monday afternoon, before that day's storms started in.

Future:

The birds (all four of them, DIL's cockatiels and her parents' parakeets) will go stay with her parents at some point this week.  Because Carl serves as my son's PTSD security blanket, they will bring him over "at the last minute" before they leave town.  He'll stay with Ember and me.  The younger generation folks (including FGC) will go road-tripping for five days.  I'm actually looking forward to the dog-chaos, saving up my energy for it.

I gave the neighbor on the other side of my fence fair warning of the upcoming "barky dog" visit.  

Speaking of the barky dog, the things that drive him totally nuts are the squirrels.  The squirrels in my yard are pretty doggone cheeky.  On Saturday, one of them was honest to gosh ON MY DECK, drinking out of the dog's water bowl!  I did not have time to take a photo, because I slid the door open and the silent chasing pup (Ember) took over.  No more squirrel on the deck.  Maybe Carl will teach them to be a little less cheeky.  But I kind of doubt it.

I also gave the neighbor heads up about the upcoming deck project.  When I took Ember to day care on Tuesday morning (today), I changed her reservation to NOT go to day care next Tuesday.  I also booked her in for Monday through Thursday starting June 1.  

There it is, past, present, and future!  Life is good.  Keep on Sparking, my friends!