Enjoying happy memories

memories
trans4mind.com

A truck full of memories

By Valerie McCullough, Loveland Reporter-Herald

May 4, 2017

“Once a week I make sure I turn on the ignition of Bill’s 1996 Dodge Dakota truck.

Often, I take it for a run to Safeway or King Soopers. I don’t want to let the battery die.

‘Don’t put much money into that truck. It’s old,’ a friend advises.

‘Sure, it’s old,’ I thought. ‘But it holds two decades of memories, the smell of Bill — freshly cut pine, sunscreen, chain-saw gas.’

Always reluctant to spend money on himself, Bill bought the truck only after much cajoling by family members.

The need for the truck came about when western Colorado’s mountains were being devastated by pine beetles. During the 1990s, green trees became spires of rusted iron.

An Illinois friend of Bill’s owned some raw land near Granby, Colorado — an area hit hard by beetles — but not yet decimated.

Surgical strikes in a few areas would take out the diseased trees, but distance made this task difficult for our Illinois friend.

Forests and mountains have always had a gravitational pull on Bill, so it didn’t surprise me when he jumped at the chance to tackle the beetle problem — one tree at a time.”

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Planting seeds and memories

Planting memories
slc

Spring has sprung and so have seeds and memories.  My daughter wanted to start some seeds inside with her five-year-old daughter this spring.  She asked if I would help.  Being an avid gardener since my 4-H days on the farm and loving to spend time with my family, I was delighted to assist.

I bought a 36-count box of the refill Jiffy Peat Pellets, found one of the trays my daughter and I used to start seeds in when she was a girl and I headed over to their house.  My three grandkids, my daughter and I piled into her vehicle (it had the three car seats) and headed to Lowe’s for some seeds.  We carefully selected marigolds, cosmos, cucumbers, sweet peas, cilantro, and sweet peppers.

Planting memories
slc

Once the boys were down for their afternoon naps, we got busy planting seeds.  First, my granddaughter, Jovie, and I placed all the peat pellets in the tray.  Next, my daughter added warm water  and we all watched as the peat pellets expanded as they absorbed the water.  Then we made little indentations in the top of each pellet.  Jovie’s slender little fingers were just the right size to gently place two or three seeds in each one.  She carefully pinched the peat over the top of the precious seeds and now the tray of peat pellets was ready to be covered and placed in a sunny window. Lastly, we placed a heating pad under the tray and turned it on for an hour or so.

Planting memories
March 24, 2017 (slc)

Driving away from their home that day I felt very blessed to have such a loving family and to be able to share my passion for gardening with them.  Planting seeds and memories.

Two days later, I received a phone call from Jovie who excitedly told me some of the marigold seeds had sprouted.  It was supposed to take at least 7-14 days for most of the seeds to come up but the heating pad accelerated that timing.  I told Jovie that she had a “green thumb.” She did not know what that meant so I had the pleasure of explaining it to her.  A new generation of gardeners has sprung. Planting memories.

planting memories
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