Another Season has passed for a dear co-worker Fire Chief Phil Whitney. He worked for the Fire Dpt., since 1985 and probably only called in sick 9-10 times. He called in sick yesterday at about 8:00 and his daughter found him at about 11:00 am . Phil has known me far longer than I have known him. We moved into his ward when I was in 9th grade. I started working for Springville Police/Fire in 1987 and was very intimadated by Phil, which is unusual for me. As I recall I finally got mad enough to say something. I grew to love Phil and appreciated all of his knowlege, smiles, his white hair. His un-boundless engery and attention to detail. His compassion. His willingness even up until the end to come out at any hour, answer any question.
Since moving to our new building dispatch has the feel of a fish bowl. Phil would often come by the window doing a fish face and pretend that he was swimming. His cheeks would lift with his smile. The last time I saw Phil, was two days ago about 1600 hours doing the fish dance for me at the window. I love you Phil, I'll miss you, say Hi to my Dad and have a happy reunion with Helen. God be with us and your family until we meet again.
Some weeks ago I was pulling, snipping, and tossing many of the flowers that grew and delighted us throughout the spring and summer, getting the gardens ready for the long winter.
With planning, one of my flower gardens had something blooming all season long. Various pinks, purples,lots of different greens,blues and some yellow. There were also different shapes and sizes. Ones that looked like cones, some that spread with little tiny pink flowers, some that grew like vines and toppeled over the back side. The tall ones on back and the short ones up front. No weeds, everything in it's proper place and looking pretty.
The end of the frst season left me watching the flowers die and watching the snow pile up on them. I didn't snip them, thin them or get them ready for their next season to bloom.
Season two saw the flowers grow and bloom however, this season, all was not well. As the spring and summer progressed, the vine that so gracefully toppeled over, now was running a-muck. It had re-seeded itself and got into places where it shouldn't have been. No longer were there tiers of flowers. The spreading ones with the pretty tiny pink flowers were over shadowed, and the weeds had invaded. So some weeks ago I snipped, pulled weeds, thinned and even had to spray killer on some of the vines. I hope as I watch the snow pile up on the mostly bare garden, that I have prepared the ground enough and with a little maintaince there will once again be the garden I had planned.
