Yikes

 I am a tired puppy tonight

    I finally got my butterfly bushes put away for the winter.  Normally these plants survive, but the first year is crucial.  I took the hay bale from the porch and piled hay around the plants.  Then I put a rose cone over them and piled up dirt around the cone to hold it in place.

    Hopefully the plants will come back next year.

    I also moved the potted plants into the garage, spread hay on top of my raised gardens, moved the pumpkins and gourds to the back of the yard where deer may or may not feed on them, stacked and piled crap in the garage to create some space, and finished putting ornaments on the tree.

    I was going to put the lights in the 3 unlit Dickens Village houses, but my knees are not cooperating right now.  Maybe later, or maybe tomorrow.

    I just have a couple of chairs to bring in from the porch and the grill from the deck and I will be ready for winter. 

    I also worked on finalizing my brother's obituary.

    I submitted it to the Rockford paper, went through all the steps to have it in the print and on line editions with a picture, and got to the last page.....which asks for payment.  It was over $1,000!  Holy cow!!

    I cut some info out, eliminated the picture, but it is still over $600.  I am not sure what his family will decide, but it is still a chunk of change.

    It's a tough decision, at least to me.  You can spend the large sum, or use that money to support an agency he favored.

    You can opt for the shorter obit, but it takes a lot of the personality out of the person.  

    Then you have to consider the person.  Carl was 83.  The people he went to church with know, the people he worked with know, his neighbors know......the only group of people who don't know are his former clients.  

    And you have to consider ages.  Younger people will get the info on line, while us older folks may be more used to a newspaper for our information.  If you only do one form, you miss the members of the other group.

    I also realize an obituary is permanent record of a person's life.  If we are still here as a humans, a great great great great great grandchild may be curious about their distant relative.  

    I never thought it would cost that much.   Of course, I called the customer service number and they are going to call me back.  That was at 10 a.m. and I have not heard from them yet.

    I am not holding my breath either.

Peace and Love