Anniversaries

 Last week was my 40th anniversary with my employer.  Yeah, that's a long time.  It hasn't been the same job though.  I've had lot's of challenging jobs in that time and those challenging jobs are why I've hung around.  The company was willing to offer me new challenges periodically; chances to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities.  And, I was generally ready for something new when it did.  

They made me a half hour congratulations video.  They cast a wide net of people I"ve worked with over the last 20 years.  People that went on to be big corporate names like Chief Human Resources Officer and still took time to say a few words of congratulations and how nice it was to work with me.  One pointed out that my name is everywhere in our products.  Designed by.  Written by.  Created by and credited to...me.  

That won't last long after I retire, but it's out there now and will stay there until I'm forgotten like all the people that retired before me.  Someone will come along and want to put their name on new work and my work will be archived.  

Forty years.  How did that happen?  I've worked there since I was 22 and now I'm 62.  I've grown up there.  I was advised by some really smart people.  Sometimes they told me to speak up.  And sometimes they told me to shut up.  Both are considered good advice.  

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I spent all the time I could in the garden this weekend.  This time it was mostly about cutting spent early spring plants back to make room for new plants that are trying to come up and planting things in pots, especially succulents, which will be the features on the deck during the hottest part of summer.

Three different color coneflowers (echinacea).  Yellow, orange and red.  Conflowers are so easy to grow here and I'm hoping these three eventually get as large as the pink ones (~2' tall).  Considering I nearly killed all three by putting them in the wrong spot last year, I'm feeling pretty good that they're blooming at all.  The spindly things around them are some short phlox that bloomed really early in spring.  

This daylily is called Peaches.  It's a lovely peach color.  It's one of my Mom's hybrids and is named after her dog...you guessed it; Peaches.  It was also in the wrong spot last year and I'm happy to see it bloom this year.  

Gladiolus.  I'm getting a nice stand of glads.  Unfortunately, these are the only three that are going to bloom this year.  I found a couple more in spring that I'm going to move to this spot soon.  They're in too much shade now and I'm hoping that moving them into this spot will give me more flowers next year.  

Please disregard the empty pots, but this is a pencil cactus with a rick-rack succulent planted at the base.  There are two this size.  I got one and Rob has the other up front with his other succulents.  This one is about 4' tall.  

The two of them came from this plant.  I cut the top out of it because it was too top-heavy for the tall pot it's planted in and rooted the two cuttings.  Now, the parent plant is about 5' tall again.  If I'm not mistaken, this is from one tiny pencil sized shoot that Rob brought home from somewhere.  

A different green daylily.  I knew Rob had one of these, but didn't realize I'd kept one as well.  It was a welcome sight the other morning.  

This is a shot of the original green daylily being it's greenest the other morning.

This is a portion of the bed.  Every year, it seems that one section really shines and this year, this is it.  The summer flowers will start to bloom soon and this spot will have something blooming all summer long.

The phlox have started.  There are clumps of them all around the yard like there are yellow daylilies.  They're the real summer backdrop and will bloom until it's really hot and then I'll cut the heads off them and they'll bloom again.

I have a dermatologists appointment tomorrow.  My GP told me to see one as I'm getting older.  I haven't seen a dermatologist since I was a teenager and am not really looking forward to it.  I'm also looking for a new GP as my previous is taking a break and maybe moving out of state.  I had an appt set up with someone new, then my Mom passed and I cancelled it.  That was a mistake.  I should have rescheduled, but just couldn't think ahead then.  Now, he's not seeing new patients, and I'm having to choose from the clinic's "second string".  It's okay.  I can let a temp refill my scripts and try someone new next year.  

Everybody have a great week!  Let people celebrate you when they will, even if it makes you feel a little uncomfortable.  None of us is celebrated enough, so take it in when it's there.  

Lane

Donniedolittle probably won't debate Biden because Biden won't let him be a loud mouthed blowhard name calling little bully.  Donnie doesn't have anything to offer but lout mouthed blowhard name calling little bully so he'll eventually decline.