The predicted rains did not happen today, so I took advantage of it and finished mowing the lawn with the new riding mower (still grinning like a Cheshire cat, too!) late this afternoon.  I even got to do the area around the main garden.

Unfortunately, there really aren’t enough grass clippings worth raking up to layer onto the flower garden.  The grass is just too sparse in too many places, and the areas that are less sparse are comparatively small.

Tomorrow, I will have to go around with the weed trimmer to get the areas I couldn’t get into with the mower.  We’re supposed to get rain the day after, so I want to get as much outside work done as I can.

Before I did all that, though, my younger daughter and I ran an errand into town.  On the way home, we paused at the cemetery to visit my dad and my brother.  This is the first time I’ve stopped by since we moved out here, and the first time I’ve seen my father’s memorial stone, which was installed a year after his burial.  Unfortunately, it has a typo on the date that got missed before the engravers did their work.  :-(  Ah, well.  As I understand it, because my mother included her own information on there, it will get fixed when she passes, and her date is added.  Which could be many, many years from now!

Walking around the cemetery, we noticed a pair of big water jugs – the kind that go on office coolers – behind my father’s and brother’s memorial stones, with water in them!

Then we noticed this.

What a great idea.  This way, whomever stops to visit will have water available for the living plants, if they need it.

I was touched to see this in front of my brother’s stone.

Though I’ve said my brother died 10 years ago, that’s actually a round up.  He passed in 2010, so it will be 8 years in a few weeks.  A year after his internment, the memorial stone was installed, and my younger daughter and I were able to drive out for the service that was held at the same time.  After the installation, I picked up a votive holder and left it there with a candle.  The candle, of course, is long gone, but the votive holder is still there, 7 years later!  There is a key chain from Las Vegas there, too – he enjoyed going there when he could.  Sometimes, people will leave his favorite beer or bottle of booze. :-D  There are quite a few solar powered lawn decorations, too.  He loved those things. There are even a few he’d put up around our yard, still hanging around.  After being outside for so many years, they don’t work anymore and I will have to toss them, but it’s nice to see something that he enjoyed so much.

He had so looked forward to when he could go back to the farm.  I like to think that he and my dad would appreciate the stuff we’re doing to fix up things up, now that we’re living here.

It was a gorgeous day to stop by and visit my family.  The last time I visited, not counting my father’s funeral, it was quite late and fully dark. The cemetery is off the beaten path, and surrounded by trees.  The solar lights were glowing, and dozens of fireflies were blinking all over the place.

Unfortunately, my plans to stay a while and enjoy the peaceful setting was cut short by the clouds of mosquitoes trying to eat me alive!

Much more pleasant today!

The Re-Farmer