September 8 – “Oleander Day”

After working all morning on the teaching for Sunday, I decided I needed some outside time.  I grabbed the clippers – those long-handled ones for pruning trees – and took on our oleander out in the front yard.  Oleander Day.  We thought the crazy thing had died after Hurricane Ike along with all the other trees on the  Island.  But after a while it started back with one tiny leaf breaking through at the very center of the root system.  Now it is a huge, healthy bush/tree.  At one time it was the only one of its kind on the Island, but I think all the cuttings and seeds my Mom and Betty Head took from it must have helped it spread all over by now.  The blooms are pink.  Wish that was different.

Anyway, Chris wants it trimmed into more of a tree than a bush.  That’s a daunting task, because there are so many thick branches coming out of the root pad.  That, and she likes it thick at the top.  I’m fine with whatever she picks, as long as we can see the street when we are backing out of the driveway.  So I started cutting away.  One task was to clear the sidewalk so people could get by.  Now it’s kind of a tunnel.  I like that.  Next I had to clear out the new growth coming from the bottom, and that was a lot.  But we can see to back out now.  Chris finally came outside, too.  She had been working on a quilt.  She started piling up the branches for me, so I moved over to the sycamore tree and lopped off the branches that were hitting the roof of the house and the car when it is in the driveway.  By that time I was on a roll, so I also trimmed off a few branches of the palm tree that were scraping against the roof as well. 

And did I mention that it was hot?  Really hot.  Chris brought me a few bottles of water, but I still ended up with one of those nagging headaches that just wouldn’t go away.  Tylenol took the edge off, but we were both ready for bed by the ninth inning of the Astros game.  That would be around 9:00.  Getting old, I guess.

Oh, and what’s with the U.S. Postal Service?  I know Monday was a holiday.  We didn’t expect a visit then.  But they didn’t come Tuesday, either.  They finally arrived last night a little after 7 p.m.  I sure hope the bills I had out for them to mail arrive on time.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 says, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

Father, thank you for the sunshine.  I know we need it to exist.  I guess I need to be a little more discerning about how long I spend in it, huh?  Amen.