THE GERBER GAZETTE
2023
I am trying to get the newsletter out earlier this year. In addition to the new address from our move last year, we now have a new mailing address. The post office ladies have been kind enough to put letters addressed to our house in the mail box, but that may stop at some point and I wouldn't want to miss any news from family and friends. If they lose bills, that's OK!
That new address is: PO Box 856 Charlotte Hall, MD 20622
An eventful year this has been. We were getting to the point of settling in to the new house and adding or repairing things to our liking. Then on 20 January, my 15 year old artificial hip broke! Another hip and 2+ months living in rehab, I finally was able to come back home. Meanwhile, Skylar stepped up and became caregiver for her grandfather and house sitter while I was gone. She has since become a permanent resident since I still need help and then some with continuing rehabilitation of the new hip as well as new aches and pains!
Progress continued on house repairs and additions. The best of all is the front yard. The only thing Ron asked for after the move was a water feature. So, we now have a water fall (empty now so it won't freeze and burst) which we see every time we sit at our table. In addition, a "found" fake wishing well under a huge shrub we had removed now sits in a little flower bed. Lastly, we added a "little red maple" tree, an omage to my mother who loved her ornamental red maple at her home. Except for an old broken down fence across the lane, our view is lovely. I am preferring to call the fence "rustic"!
We had the old, collapsing garage removed and the broken down swimming pool filled. The pool may some day bcome a BBQ area. The old garage area was reseeded and we now have a beautiful, BIG, green back yard. There is another old, not so broken down, fence along the back yard. A hiker/biker path is on the other side of the fence. There now is a very long rose bush bed along that fence with 26 beautiful rose bushes, flowring even now and making for the backyard view pretty a well.
Our current project is to add a carport to the side of the house. We are not in any shape to be shoveling snow off cars at this point. We added a second car so Sky has transportation to and from her part time job. The carport will attach to the house, so it will also cover the steps and entrance into the house. That should be it for our projects for this year.
As the house and grounds are coming together, we are working at falling apart! Ron contintinues to hold his own, still dresses himself, eats well, can administer his insulin, and joins us for meals. He continuess to have short term memory loss, but we enjoy our days as they come. No new hospital stays for him, thank goodness! I just did a 4 day in hospital for what turned out to be pneumonia. Where that came from, I don't know, but I am on the mend, again. With all the ups and downs since January, there are still boxes that haven't been unpacked and "stuff" to be stored. But that will come. We did foster kittens, but the last of them just went back to the Humane Society for adoption. That should be it for the year. Next kitten seeason will come around again in March or April.
We keep in touch with family, planned Thanksgiving together, but the hospital visit nixed that. Hopefuly we can have some family time over Christmas. All seem to be doing well. Not many photos this time around but I will add a couple of our house projects. Until the next newsletter...
MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
