My Dad's Garlic

The family and I met out at my Dad's and Mom's house yesterday to begin the process of culling and cleaning up their personal property.  The sibling rule was that we could have one item not specified in the will if the other two agreed.  My sister wanted just about everything she saw.  She walked away with the jelly safe and all the Christmas decorations as well as a queen/full size head board and bed frame, Dad's rubber boots and waders, some linens for the bed and Dad's rubber floater.  She also got most of her personal property that was intermingled with the estate's personal property.  All told, she had four pickup truck loads.

I dug up some of my Dad's elephant garlic that had naturalized throughout his old gardens, took an old hickory stick that he had carved into a walking cane and a stone that he had smoothed into a fake Indian artifact to sell to stupid tourists, a Christmas wreath I had made for the family when I was thirteen and four cement blocks.  Now you can see the difference between my sister and I.  She has the hoarding instincts of both parents.  I can't even imagine where she will put the stuff she took.  Most of it was Mom's very old Christmas decorations.  When I got home last night, the cement blocks were set up to hold the Langstroth hive, the garlic was pulled apart and planted, the wreath went into storage until Christmas, the fake Indian artifact was put on a shelf and the cane awaits me in the carport should I ever have need of it; it will be my snake poker, rat whacker stick.

We filled up a 3300 pound trash container which amounted to half their carport yesterday.  They saved frozen dinner trays, all empty containers like coffee tins, vegetable cans, wine bottles, plastic cups, you name it and they had it.  It was covered in rat poop.  A rat leaped out of the lumber that Cody and Trent, my nephews, were moving and dived in Cody's truck engine.  My Uncle Doug came over to work on the old truck that I signed over to him; it was the first new truck my Dad had ever owned.  For a bit, it was wonderfully crazy again - just like when Steve and Arthur, my brothers and their family, lived nearby.  I didn't realize how much I missed that kind of family interaction.

We had a trash fire going for all the cardboard boxes that they saved and roasted hot dogs over the open flames.  Shannon, my brother's wife, made delicious homemade cookies.  Yum!   It was a good start toward the cleanup of their personal property.  It was such a fun and successful day that we talked a bit about having Easter at the old place - one last time before it sells, if it hasn't sold by then.

Rain today and cold but gloriously nothing to "Have" to get done.  A day to worship and then enjoy with my hubby.  Praise be and Glory to God!