Thankfully, it wasn’t too windy, and I was able to get a fire going to do some charring.
Not until after dragging the hose over, raking around the fire pit and hosing down the bricks surrounding it, half of which were hidden under ash and soil.
I’ve decided on a use for all those rocks I’ve been pulling out of the garden bed. I’m going to pull the glazed bricks around the fire pit, that get super slippery, and replace them with rocks.
There wasn’t a lot of wind, but there was some, and it kept changing directions! I was constantly having to shift around while I worked. I started off by charring the sharpened tips, trying to char as close to half of the stakes in the process. I was not particularly successful with getting them half done. It was just too hot, though it was at least a bit easier with the longer stakes.
In the second picture, they have all had their sharpened ends charred.
Before doing the blunt ends, I wiped down all the charred ends with a rag to get the loose ash and soot off, which you can see in the next image. I hosed down the rag to get the soot off, then used it to hold the charred ends and protect my hand from heat while charring the blunt ends.
Once I got them all completely charred, I wiped them down again with the damp rag. In the next image, all the longer ones were done, and I was starting on the shorter ones.
By this point, the fire had mostly burned down, but still had a ways to go, so I broke up the bigger pieces and set things to burn down faster. Since I’d used a damp rag to wipe down the stakes, I set them all on the grill and swung it above the fire, so they could dry out, which you can see in the last image. I spent the next while tending the coals and shifting the grill back and forth, so nothing would get hot enough to catch fire – while also watering the nearby flower bed, in between tending the fire and the stakes. Earlier, I’d raked away most of the dead material over the lilies, so the emerging leaves can get more light. They had been completely smothered and hidden by last year’s growth.
Eventually, things burned down enough that I used the hose to put it out. The stakes are now near the garden bed they will be used for. I’m hoping to be able to do this again, once I gather enough stakes for the other side and the ends of the garden bed. I’ll do that after I’ve built up the wall against the chain link fence. That will give me an idea of how much more material I need to gather for the other walls, or if I even have enough to do the back wall.
Whether or not I can char any other stakes will depend on how windy things are, and if any fire bans on open fires kick in. At this point, there are no fire bans of any kind listed on the municipal website, so that’s good news. Usually, there is at least a partial fire ban, on controlled burns, by now.
So that is progress so far. Since I’ll be heading to the city tomorrow, I am not likely to be able to work on the garden bed again until Tuesday.
By which point, I should have my new walker handy while I work!
Today, my daughters took care of the morning routine, so I could sleep in, though “sleeping in” is rather different as the days get brighter so early now, and breakfast waiting for me.
I headed outside to take care of something and ended up staying out to get a few things done. One of those was to clean up under the green house frame, move it out and tiny up.
I think the cats are okay with losing their winter shelter.
The first image above is Fluffy (spayed), sleeping in the straw under the mock orange, which has become a favourite napping spot for her. We have huge progress with her. Yesterday, while I was coming around the north side of the old kitchen garden, she actually came running towards me, coming to a stop on a retaining wall block and waited for me to come over and pet her. After I got the picture above, I was able to walk up to her and pet her, and she stayed all curled up. Until recently, while she would sometimes allow pets while eating, she would otherwise not allow us to approach her. I would sometimes manage to sneak pets, but that was about it. Now, I can just walk up to her to pet her.
The second image is Sprig, in what seems to be a favourite napping spot for her. I have a giant crocheted blanket I left on the kibble house roof over the winter as extra insulation. I’ve left it there because it’s heavy enough to not be blown away by the wind, and the cats enjoy sleeping on it.
Sprig is more feral, though not as feral as her mother. Sprig hangs out close to the house and in the sun room, whereas her mother goes elsewhere until it’s feeding time, and runs off if we come to close.
While I was watering late this morning, I heard a cat fight that was a real surprise for me. Judgement, who is neutered, was violently attacking Sprig, who is intact and has not gone into her first heat. (We really need to trap her!!!) He is about twice her size and probably more than twice her weight. Why he would attack her like that, I just can’t understand!
The third picture shows where the portable greenhouse frame was, and you can just see part of Sprig, on the kibble house roof, in the photo. I had to wrestle part of the frame loose from the tall grass draped over one end before I could move it. For now, it’s set up next to the shrine, against the chain link fence. It barely fits between the shrine and the white lilacs there, and blocks one end of the path, but it will not stay there permanently. I just had to get it out of the way. Once the frame was clear, I raked up the straw and dead grass that was under it, into the wheelbarrow. It’s been pooped in by cats, so it can’t be reused as mulch or go into the regular compost, so it went to the cat litter compost pile. The pots I’d tried growing luffa in were also thoroughly pooped in, so I emptied the soil into the wheelbarrow, too, and it went into the litter compost, too.
One of the pots somehow ended up with a hole cracked into the side, with a chunk missed. I’ve no idea how that could have happened, in that location!
The rotting wooden bench that I’d had against the back of the tarp to reduce billowing in the wind is now set up against the back of the kibble house. The wire mesh frame, now leans against it, resting on broken pieces of brick so it doesn’t have contact with the ground. That was made to be a summer “door” for the old basement, so we can keep it open for air circulation in the summer, and no cats can get down. Once things get warm enough, we might do that again. For now, it’s nowhere near warm enough.
Last of all, I move the folding table up to the kibble house, and all the pots and bins, and even the black garbage can I was using as a heat sink, fit under the table.
That scrap yarn crocheted blanket on the table is even heavier than the one on the kibble house roof!
Today’s watering has finally included the main garden beds, as I now have enough hoses set up to reach them all. I found a lovely surprise. High winds had blown the leaf mulch over the onions and the row I’d planted peas, so I gently removed it as I watered, and made the discovery.
They had already sprouted when I first removed the mulch, looking rather blanched from being buried by mulch. Then we got those ridiculously cold days and it seems that they had all been killed off. I even ordered more seeds, since there weren’t a lot in the packet of this variety, so I had no extra seeds to try again. Now, it looks like the peas have recovered and sent up new shoots!
Still no sign of the rainbow mix carrots, though. Under the boards was still damp, but the only sprouts I’m seeing are a few tentative weeds. With those, I do have more seeds, I believe, so it can be resown, if it turns out they didn’t survive the spring.
Their tips were blanched when I removed the mulch, and those tips did get damaged by frost, but now you can’t even tell where the damage it. A couple of them needed a bit of help, though. Their leaves were suck in a membrane that would normally have been the cover of the stem at the base, just above ground. It was already starting to split, just from the size of the leaves, but they were getting all twisted out of shape, so I carefully got them free. They’ll be standing straight in no time.
There’s no sign of the spinach or yellow chard, but it may be too soon to tell. It’s been too dry. Now that I’m able to, I’ll be watering them daily, so if anything survive the temperature lurches we’ve been having all spring, we should see something soon. There’s no sign of poppies yet, either, but I don’t expect to, yet. The plot does show evidence of cats walking all over it, though, so that might be a problem. I was also able to water the Albion everbearing strawberries that have survived the winter.
I’ll need to hook up more hoses, so I can fill the water barrel out by the plum, gooseberry and haskap. the gooseberry’s leaf buds are starting to unfurl already, but I can barely see the haskap at all. I’d be concerned they got eaten by deer during the winter, but I never saw any tracks around there. The snow was too deep. Hopefully, if I can start watering them, they’ll perk up and start budding leaves. The plum seems to be okay and is starting to show leaf buds. The plum still has chicken wire around the tall dollar store tomato supports I set up around it, after the deer got to it a couple of times last year.
I intend to get more of those supports. They are really handy. I might even use them for tomatoes at some point. 😄
According to the forecast, we might get some rain in a couple of hours, but only a 35% chance of it, so I’m glad I did the watering. What rain we got yesterday really wasn’t much at all.
After moving the portable greenhouse frame, I noticed that the white lilacs are starting to spread into the path, toward the chimney block planters, quite a lot. Normally, I’d prune them back, but I remembered that the renter’s wife had said she would like to have white lilacs, so I messaged her today, telling her she can gab as many suckers as she wants. She accepted the offer. Once she has an area prepped, she will come over and dig them up. I just asked her to let me know when she’s going to come, so I can water the area the day before, to make it easier to dig them up and transplant them. This is the perfect time of year to transplant them, since their leaf buds are just starting to form. Once she has taken as many as she wants, I’ll prune away any other suckers remaining.
Yesterday, I’d been hearing heavy equipment and the sound of cattle and thought they might have been moved to this quarter. I asked about it, since our basket will are going to be shipped at the end of May, and I’ll be transplanting them beyond the outer yard. I’ll have to make sure they are protected from the cows for the first few years. It’ll be about 5 years of coppice training before they produce useable switches, but I can use any sprigs cut away and plant them. Which means that, every year, there should be at least a few more new basket willows started. There are two more varieties I want to try, with differently coloured bark. I’d hoped to order them for this year, too, but the budget did not allow for it. Too many truck and plumbing repairs!
I got through to the septic guy today and he will be coming out tomorrow morning. I should still be here, but will probably be leaving early to go to the post office before it closes for 2 hours over the lunch period, so I might end up leaving before he’s done. Which is okay; the payment is already ready and waiting for him. Tracking information shows my new walker is now in the city, which means is should get to the post office tomorrow morning, even though it still says Wednesday for delivery. A friend suggested I could get a note from a doctor about it, which would allow us to claim it on my medical insurance. I should be able to get that done by the doctor at the sports injury clinic during my appointment.
Things are looking very calm outside right now. I think, after I feed the outside cats for the night, I might get a fire going in the pit and char those stakes for the chain link fence raised bed. I probably won’t have a chance to get more done on it tomorrow, but at least they’ll be ready for when I can.
This morning, I woke to find a message from my older daughter. She had been up all night, not feeling well at all. Her sister stayed up with her to be available to help out.
Not being in a position to cook for herself, she sent me some funds and a request. After talking to her about it, I added a Walmart trip to my list of places to go today.
The first order of business, was to load up the truck with garbage and recycling for the dump. My younger daughter helped me, but she had been up for more than 24 hours, so she was pretty dead on her feet! She headed to bed shortly after the truck was loaded.
Silly me, I headed out right away, forgetting that the dump is not on summer hours. They open at 10am now, not 9am. Thankfully, I remember that before I was a mile away, so I turned around and headed home. It worked out for the better, since I had time to have a real breakfast before going.
The dump was surprisingly busy today. Driving up to the pit, I found a row of four trucks, two with trailers, unloading. I rarely see more than two vehicles at once.
When I checked in with the attendant and told him I had household garbage and recycling, he said I hoped I had only glass! They have one recycling bin for glass, and the rest for general recycling. Six big bins, and they were all full. The recycling gets taken to the city for processing, and it hadn’t been done yet. After I was done unloading into the pit, I found the least over filled bin. Normally, as per instructions on signs, recycling would be removed from any bags; there’s even a separate blue bin, the size of a large trash bin, just for the bags. I didn’t do that today, and just set all the bags on top. When I saw the attendant going by, I made sure to tell him I was leaving them in the bags, so things wouldn’t get blown away. He appreciated that!
Once done, I headed home long enough to change out of my grubbies, then headed out.
On the way to the truck, I spotted this adorableness.
I’ve turned off the heat lamps in the sun room again, since it stays warmer overnight, but for the next couple of days, I’m leaving the heat lamp on in here. When things warm up again, I’ll shut it off during the day and turn it back on at night.
The cats were really appreciating the heat lamp!
It’s been a while since I’ve been to anywhere I could pick up a card, so I stopped at a small department store to get a Mother’s Day card and signed it before going to the TCU to visit my mother. I stopped at the nursing station first, to ask how she’s been.
The woman that had spoke to us before to talk about my mother wanting to see a doctor, and about her medications, was there. She told me that, after our little meeting, my mother had gone to the nursing station to watch her prepare my mom’s supper time medications – and was already telling her, they were the wrong medications.
They aren’t.
In the end, it comes down to my mother simply refusing to believe the nurses know what they are doing, and believing that they are deliberately messing up her medications, because she’s old and they want old people to die.
*sigh*
The staff tell her what the different pills are, every time they give them to her, explaining which is which and what they are for. She apparently just looks at them and nods her head, most times, and that’s about it. Yet I know she’s been writing notes on a pad she keeps in the drawer under her bedside table, of what she’s getting and when, writing down the descriptions of each pill and making little doodles of them, later on.
As we were talking, another nurse came behind the counter and settled in. Hearing us, she said, “Oh, we’re talking about [my mother].”
“Yes.”
“Ah…”
All I could do was shake my head. It’s not the first time I’ve had that response about my mother! She did clarify that this was a good “ah”. She was my mother’s nurse, this morning.
As we were talking, I brought up about my mother calling me, demanding I take her over to the clinic down the hall, so she could make an appointment with a doctor there. I had told her, I already asked them about it. They won’t do it. Which the nurses both confirmed with me. I told them, I had repeated this several times, until my mother hung up on me – and that’s the last time I have talked to her!
They wished me well on the visit. 😄
After getting updated on things, I went to my mother’s room to see if she was there. She wasn’t, so I headed to the common room. There were other people visiting with another resident in some armchairs by the door. My mother was in her favourite spot; an armchair right in a corner, between two large windows. Snoozing!
She woke right away, though, as I grabbed a chair and settled in beside her. I gave her the card, which she asked me to take out and read to her.
There wasn’t much to talk about, really. My brother had called her yesterday, as he and his wife were going to spend Mother’s Day weekend with their grandsons, in another province. The TCO recreation person had gotten permission from us to take her out for a Mother’s Day meal at a nearby restaurant, which is fully accessible. There were enough ladies to do this with, so they were splitting it between two days. I didn’t know which day my mother was going to be going, and I asked her about it. She said she didn’t go, because she hadn’t been feeling well. In the end, it worked out, because my sister visited that day.
She then asked me what I was planning for Mother’s Day and I ended up telling her about the all-terrain walker my husband got for me, which should arrive soon. Something that can handle being used around our yard as I work, and to keep hand in case I have another fall, like I did last year, where my daughter brought my husband’s walker for me to use to get back to the house. I even mentioned to her that I have my appointment at the sports injury clinic in the city on Monday. That got my mother talking about how my brother and I should really get my sister to be more involved in taking care of my mother, because I have so much to deal with, even though my sister doesn’t understand my mother’s medications like we do. I told her, it makes more sense for me to be the one, because I am the most available, and live the closest.
After a while, my mother brought up about wanting to see a “real” doctor at the clinic down the hall. There are three doctors that some in from the city, she says. Women doctors. She should see them. I tried to explain, again, that the clinic won’t do that. She is under a doctor’s supervision where she is, and there are nurses to take care of her. Nurses that play doctor, she told me. With some of them, she doesn’t believe they are nurses at all. One, because he’s male, and men can’t be nurses, in her mind. She had the same attitude about the male home care workers.
Before she could go off on another tangent, she then told me about the nurses messing up with her medications and not giving her what she’s supposed to, at the right times. She described an incident she says happened more than once that made absolutely no sense to me. Partly because she said she was supposed to have her blood pressure medication at that time, which I knew she didn’t. She got that one earlier in the day. She insisted, and then told me about how this person had given her her Tylenol, but not her other medications. When my mother brought it up, she claimed the person said she got was she was supposed to, but then took a pill out of a blister pack and gave it to her. My mother said she took it.
None of this made sense to me.
In the end, it was a short visit. My mother got her lunch while I was there. A chicken burger, with lettuce and tomato, cut in half, potato salad, canned peaches, tomato juice, milk and the hot water she requests in place of tea. She ate only half her burger, the potato salad, her peaches, had a few sips of tomato juice, but mostly drank the warm water. She offered me the other half of her burger, because she didn’t want it to go to waste. She said she doesn’t have as much appetite anymore. Overall, she seemed pretty down, tired and depressed. She did add that she looks forward to when it’s warmer, so maybe one of her children will take her out to that restaurant for dinner. Considering it was cloudy and trying to rain, I can understand that. Overcast and rainy weather always leaves me feeling drained and tired, too. The only time she showed any sort of energy was when the group of people across the room suddenly started to laugh. My mother glared at them, her eyes filled with absolute rage. That is something she complains about constantly, every time she’s been in the hospital over the years, and now that she’s in the TCU. Other people laughing. She has even berated people in restaurants for laughing. She complains about the noise and how disruptive it is, but I’ve come to realize, it’s not really the noise. She just hates other people showing happiness. Often times, she also believes that they are laughing at her, specifically. I think part of the problem is that she can’t conceive of other people being happy, because she, herself, never is. When – if – she laughs, it’s never out of happiness. It’s usually to mock people, or to try and manipulate them. I honestly can’t remember my mother ever laughing out of happiness, in all my life. I’m sure she had at some point, but I was probably too young to remember it.
My mother’s mind must be a terrible place to be in.
There was very little to talk about, so I helped her put aside the bedside table with the food tray so she could get up, and walked her to her room before heading out.
From there, I drove to the nearer city to do my Walmart run. Since it shares the parking lot, I swung by the Dollarama first, to see if there was anything to pick up. The gardening supplies are being stocked, and they have some really good stakes and plant supports and much better prices. They didn’t have much for those, this time, but I did end up getting a sprinkler hose. Something I can set up under a covered garden bed, so I can water without having to take the cover off completely. I do have a couple of soaker hoses, but they release water so slowly, it takes forever to water a bed. It’s just a cheap one, dollar store hose, so I don’t expect it to last very long, but it’ll last long enough that I can decide on whether it’s worth getting more. At some point, when the budget allows, we’ll probably get a drip irrigation system. Not until we trench a hose from the house and set up a replacement garden tap.
That done, I headed to the Walmart. I had a small list of my own, as well as stuff my daughter requested, and it didn’t take very long. I kept feeling like I was forgetting something, but had no idea what. It didn’t help that this location is still in the process of being renovated, and everything has been moved. It was also really busy, not just with customers, but with pallets, trollies, pallet jacks and more, blocking the aisles.
I remembered what I was forgetting, just now. I don’t even know where the section is, anymore. I was going to pick up water soluble fertilizer to add to the water for the earliest transplants. They’re getting big enough to need it. It’s will probably be at least 4 more weeks before any of them can be transplanted outside, unless I’m able to cover the beds with plastic.
That done, I headed home, though I did have to stop for gas along the way. Gas prices are still $1.889/L
After everything was unloaded and put away, I updated my siblings, then called the TCU. The woman I spoke to before visiting my mother answer the phone, which made things easier. I explained, as best I could, what my mother had told me. It didn’t make sense to her, either.
What I now know, however, is that the Tylenol they get comes sealed in blister packs. The medication my mother gets before bed, which is a blood thinner, not a blood pressure pill, comes in a paper packet that is torn open. My mother had said the nurse had waited and watched her take the Tylenol, but it had to have been her blood thinner – yet she’s never said anything about a pill being taken out of a paper packet.
I was assured that, when my mother is given her medications, each one is shown to her and explained. When talking to me about it later, it’s clear my mother doesn’t believe them. She’s had it explained to her, many times, that even though the pills might look a little different – or a lot different, as is the case with her eye vitamin – they still have the same medication and dose in them. My mother keeps saying, they are the wrong pills. Especially with that eye vitamin. Before, she had been getting the gel version, which is large and almost black in colour. Now, it’s a round white tablet.
I explained that this has been an issue in the past, when the pharmacy changed suppliers for one of her meds. It looked every so slightly different in size and tint. My mother decided that the pharmacist had changed her prescription and was giving her something else. My siblings and I explained it to her. The pharmacist explained it to her. The doctor explained it to her. She never accepted that. I told her about my mother having to have a lock box for her meds, and that I’d found a pill organizer with probably 50 pills in it that she’d taken out of her bubble packs, long before she got the lock box.
I don’t think the problem is that my mother isn’t able understand that the same medication can come indifferent forms. I think it’s more that she refuses to accept that as a possibility. She would rather believe people are incompetent, or deliberately messing with her medications.
*sigh*
Still, the nurse said she would look into what my mother described. She asked if I knew what the nurse looked like, or when it happened, but my mother’s sense of time has gotten very bad, and she only gave a description of things that bothered her for some reason. The hat the nurse was wearing, the fact that she had curls of hair hanging out from under it, behind her head, and that she was wearing a cross body “purse” (with how my mother described it, I don’t think it was a purse) that she never took off. It wasn’t much for her to go on. All I could be relatively sure of is that what my mother described would have happened after the nurse had her meeting with us, so within the past week. In the end, though, I can’t even be 100% sure of that. My mother made it sound like it was recent, but she’s done that about things that have happen days, weeks, even years ago. So who really knows.
Meanwhile, I’m getting messages, photos and video from my brother and SIL, hanging out with their grand kids. Oh, and their son and daughter in law, too. 😁 They’re having a blast! I’m glad they could make the trip out.
All in all, even with the short but rather odd visit with my mother, it’s been a good and relatively productive day. Tomorrow is expected to be cooler again, so I will use that as my excuse to get a real, honest to goodness, day of rest. I hadn’t pushed myself hard yesterday, but I still needed to get my husband to slather on the diclofenac last night. Even between that and the painkillers I took before bed, I was awakened this morning by sharp pain in my hips. Both of them. Which, strangely, lessened as soon as I was up and moving around.
I’m really looking forward to my appointment at the sports injury clinic on Monday!
Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with it again, tomorrow morning!
When checking on the new seed snail rolls last night, I saw a surprising number of chicory has sprouted. Those are in the first image of the slide show above.
This morning, I spotted some French double marigold. You can see one in the second picture. The others were seeds, pushed through the vermiculite, green seed leaves not yet exposed, behind part of the packing foam holding the roll together.
I would have expected either the chamomile or the kohlrabi to have emerged first, for some reason. I’ve never grown caraway before, so I am not sure what to expect from that roll.
Over the next week, I plan to start the 3-4 week seeds. I’ll be doing a few winter and summer squash in a seed tray, rather than snail rolls, just because of their size. Large seeds would need more seed starting mix or potting soil, and the more that’s added to the snail rolls, the harder it is to roll them up and the more gets lost from both the top and the bottom.
I’ve been out for most of today. It has been cooler, and it’s tried to rain off and on all day, so I decided not to water the pre-sown beds with the hose today. Last night, I spotted some turnip seeds under the polytunnel, but it looks like all the daikon radish that had already sprouted when I took the mulch off have died off. I wish I had enough to cover all the beds with plastic, because I don’t think the kohlrabi or purple savoy cabbage survived the cold May we’ve had this year. The garlic is doing okay, but I see no signs of the chard or spinach in between. The purple blush peas in the first trellis bed also seem to be gone, and I see no sign of carrots germinating under their protective boards. I never saw any of the dwarf peas sprouted when I removed the mulch and covered that section of the bed with mesh to protect it from cats. The protection seems to be working, but still no sign of peas. Peas are the one thing that should have been able to handle the cold spells.
Well, I’ve ordered replacement seeds for some things, and have more seeds left over with others, so I can try again when the soil warms up enough.
I need to remember to bring out the new soil thermometer I got and set it in various beds to see how cold things still are.
Until then, I need to finish off the bed at the chain link fence, then move on to the few others that weren’t done in the fall.
It’s been a much colder May this year, but there’s still time to see if the winter sowing survived the spring or not.
The first photo was taken after I finished weeding, removing more soil, then leveling it off. There’s a short video next.
The remaining photos are of the stakes I prepared, to hold the deadwood walls in place.
I decided on doing half the stakes at about 24 inches. Closer to 23, really. I’m not too concerned about the length, since I’ll be driving them into the ground and can more or less level them just by hamming them in until the match. The hoops or whatever I decide on to support protective covers will be attached to these stakes. The other half, I went with about 18 inches. After cutting them to length, I used my handy dandy draw knife and a vice to create points. Then they all got de-barked.
I had gathered the materials for these in the fall, and they’ve been frozen in the garage ever since. Now that it’s warmer, they are very green, and some of them even have sap trying to run! It did make it easier to remove the bark, but these are really damp.
Because they are so damp, the ideal thing would have been to char them all over a fire. This would dry and harden the wood, and make them less prone to rotting.
It was too windy to get a fire going in the fire pit, though. Tomorrow is supposed to be even windier. So, I have them all laid out on the bench to dry overnight.
You’ll notice in the last picture there is a single piece of wood that’s different. I needed 18 stakes in each length, and I ran out of gathered materials while doing the shorter length. I was one short. I had a scrap piece of wood from another project that was about 19″ long, so I will be using that.
I will need to gather the materials to get the same number of stakes for the front wall, plus the ends.
Not today.
Having done as much as I could for the raised bed today, I got a few other things done. I’ve been watering the old kitchen and East yard beds, plus all the strawberries in the chimney blocks, and will be trying to do that daily, for now. Despite the fact that we have open water in low lying areas, the soil surface is incredibly dry. I should be watering in the main garden area, too, but I haven’t got enough hoses set up, yet.
After watering, I set the hose to start filling the rain barrel, so I can use a watering can and ambient temperature water, instead of ice cold well water. There was just a few inches of water in the rain barrel, and we won’t be getting any real rain for quite some time.
While that was filling, I finally got the tarp off the portable greenhouse, and removed the torn up original cover.
I had left the pots the luffa had been growing in, and discovered that they’ve been used as litter boxes.
*sigh*
The frame, despite being knocked half over and nearly told apart in one particularly bad wind store, is completely undamaged. It just doesn’t have a cover any more. If we’re going to cover it again, it has to be done in a way that can handle the weight of cats jumping on top of the roof.
Until then, I might end up moving the whole thing to a different location to get it out of the way, and to clean up under it.
The giant tarp that was covering it for the winter is now laid out and pinned to the ground. When I have someone to help me, or the wind dies down, I’ll fold it up and put it away properly.
That’s it. Garden progress for the day. Most of it was spent cutting, sharpening and debarking the stakes.
Tomorrow, Saturday, the dump is open for longer hours, so I plan to do that in the late morning, then I’m planning to visit my mother in the afternoon. The weekend is supposed to be cooler, and then things are supposed to warm up again on Monday, which is when I’m heading into the city for my appointment at the sports injury clinic. Somewhere in between that, I’ll need to go into the spruce grove and harvest more materials for this garden bed’s walls. I might have to go further afield to find enough material strong enough and relatively straight enough for the stakes.
Hopefully, it’ll be done soon, and I can focus on the remaining beds that need to be prepared for planting.
Today was a much nicer day, and I finally got some work done outside.
Today, I decided to work on the bed by the chain link fence. Mostly, because I want to use the bricks that are lining it for something else. Once we figure out where the chicken coop is going to go, I want to put the bricks under the coop frame, so that there is no contact between the wood and the ground.
The first image in the slide show above is the “before” picture. I’ve started nothing at this point.
Before I moved the bricks out, I went through the pile of maple lengths I gathered in the fall and cut a couple pieces to roughly 2 feet in length, then put them in the vice and used the draw knife to create points at one end, before debarking them. I set one at each end, inside the row of bricks. They aren’t all the way to the ends, though. The posts for the chain link fence are set in concrete, so I worked out how far the concrete extended, first, and used that to determine where to pound in the stakes. When the deadwood walls are built, the stakes will line up, front and back, so they can be used to support hoops or whatever I decide on to support future covers for this bed. Once the two stakes were pounded in, I removed the bricks and took them to where I am thinking the coop is going to go.
The next job was to remove the bulk of the weeds in the bed. It’s mostly crab grass, but there were also dandelions and – or course – elm tree roots.
*sigh*
I also found a bunch of shallots and a couple of onions! I planted shallots and onions along the edge of this bed for several years, but they’ve never been able to mature. Either that cats rolled on them, or the elm seeds smothered them. Yet they still survive!
I transplanted them into the winter sown cabbage bed.
I was able to get 2/3rds of the bed cleared before my body started to give out. I did remove a couple of wheel barrow loads of soil onto a tarp, and will remove more as I finish weeding the bed. This will make it easier to reach the back of the bed. There are currently boards all along the bottom of the chain link, to keep the soil from falling through. I’ll be adding pairs of stakes on either side of the boards, then adding deadwood on top of the boards to make a higher back wall. Once that’s done, I’ll do the front and ends to match the back in height, before returning the soil. I still have some sulphur granules, so I will probably mix some into the soil before returning it, to try and increase the acidity.
Once it is done, I need to decide on how I want to add supports across the bed. I could use hoops, but I’ve only got so many of those. I could also add wood cross pieces at the stakes, permanently attached, but do I want something permanent? Even if it’s likely to hold the weight of cats better than hoops? Whatever I use will be supporting either netting or plastic or frost protection, depending on the time of year and what ends up grown in here. I need to protect the bed from being smothered by elm seeds, to keep the cats from getting under any cover, hold the weight of cats on top of any cover without collapsing, and be able to protect from deer.
Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than today. After that, it’s supposed to cool down for a couple more days, but it should still be nice enough to get work done outside. I hope to get it mostly done tomorrow, but I know I will need to gather more materials for the dead wood walls before I can finish it completely.
Once this is done, I’ve got just a few other beds that need to be cleaned up and prepared for planting, that didn’t get done in the fall.
Then I need to pull back the black tarp/landscape cloth/whatever it is, that’s over where we had winter squash a few years back and prepare it for the corn I will be planting there, this year. It’s been laying there for a few years, now, so any weeds and crab grass under it should finally be dead!
Lots of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it. I can’t believe we’re already a week into May. I can hardly believe we’re into May at all!
Where I’d slept well the night before, last night I simply could not fall sleep. I finally fell asleep sometime around 6am, which is closer to when I wake up in the morning.
No, it was not because of pain. It was only partly because of cats. At least not until I finally did fall asleep and that’s when Ghosty decided to dig into and absolutely destroy things all over, waking me repeatedly until I gave up. I was finding and putting away bibs and bobs she managed to scatter for hours after I finally got up. I will probably still fine more, later on.
Lack of sleep was totally my fault, though it took me a while to figure it out.
No more Earl Grey tea – or any other caffeinated tea – before bed. 🫖🍵 Especially not an entire pot. 😂🤣
The funny thing is, I could have had an energy drink instead, then slept light a rock. I’ve been trying to ration those, because a case doesn’t last long when split three ways!
My older daughter, sweetheart that she is, took care of the morning routine for me.
Currently, I am indeed in pain, but not in my joints, as usual. That diclofenac gel is doing the job. Instead, I’m in pain because I ended up sleeping on my back, pinned flat under my blanket by the weight of I don’t know how many cats in total. There’s a reason I never sleep on my back, normally! I think they were cold last night, because they were snuggling hard against me!
Ah, well.
My husband had a surprise for me last night that I thought was funny at first, but considering how I feel right now, I think it’s more apropos than not.
He ordered a Mother’s Day gift for me, from one of my wish lists on his Amazon Prime account. Something I’d put there months ago, along with many, many other things we have both added to lists and will probably never order. It won’t arrive until after Mother’s Day, but he let me know it was ordered right away. As of this morning, it has been shipped and is expected to arrive on the 13th; a week from now. I would not be surprised if it came earlier.
This is what he ordered for me.
Yup. I’m getting a walker of my very own.
Now, I could borrow my husband’s bariatric walker. I’ve certainly had to, in the past, such as when I had my fall last June. His is designed for someone that’s burley and over 6′ tall, though.
We also have my late father’s walker, which is more suited for my height, that I have seriously considered taking with me during some of my outings. Those are usually shopping trips, though, and I tend to use a shopping cart as a walker.
Where I would be using it most, though, would be around the yard, and that’s that I had in mind when I found this one and added it to a wish list.
This walker is an off-roader.
The frame is reinforced, and it has larger all-terrain, anti-slip, shock absorbing wheels. It also has a step-on curb climber; something I wish my mother’s walker had! It comes with a cane holder; something we had to add to my husband’s walker, ourselves. There’s even a drink holder. 😁 With my late father’s walker, as well as my mother’s, storage is under the seat. This one is more like my husband’s walker, with the storage in front of the seat (or in back, for the person sitting on it).
My parent’s walkers also folded up by lifting the seat, then pulling a bar or handle in the middle that brings the front and back together. In my mother’s walker, the storage under the seat is a wire basket that needs to be removed in order to fold it. This walker folds together like my husband’s does, pulling the sides together, which I find much more efficient. It also allows it to be free standing while folded, as my husband’s walker is, whereas my parents’ walkers cannot stand on their own once folded up. The storage basket is soft sided, so it just folds in on itself as well though, if I needed to, it could be easily taken off.
When my husband asked me why I had a walker in one of the wish lists, I told him, adding that this was obviously something I don’t need yet.
Today, I’m not so sure!
I don’t expect I’ll need to take it with me during outings, but I most definitely will have it nearby when I’m working in the garden. Many is the time that I simply needed to sit down for a while. Over time, we will have benches and seats built all over the place, but we’re not there yet.
I’ll be modifying it, of course. We added LED lights to my husband’s walker, so that while he’s walking, he can have a white light on the back rest as a headlight, plus red and green lights facing behind him. Red on the left, green on the right, of course. Sailors will understand why. 😁 I want to find a similar set of lights I can add to this walker. Especially one as a headlight, if I’m going to be using it while working around the yard in the summer.
I will probably bling the heck out of it, too. To match my sparkly hat collection. 🤣😂
Hey, if you need mobility aids, may as well have fun with them.
Oh, wow! That was fast!
I just got a phone call from the sports injury clinic, regarding the referral from my doctor, sent the day before yesterday. I could have gotten an appointment today, if it didn’t take an hour just to reach the city.
I now have an appointment on Monday afternoon.
I am so looking forward to getting another injection in my left hip. Not sure what treatment will be recommended for my shoulders and knee.
Being broken sucks. It is what it is, though, and we do the best we can!
At least the rhubarb (second picture) can handle it. The garlic seems fine, too. I think my winter sown beds are toast.
I’m skipping the dump run today.
On another note, I got the new topical painkiller, diclofenac, applied last night. Between that and regular painkillers, I actually slept, with only a couple of interruptions, for nearly 10 hours last night. I could still go back to bed for another 10 hours, if I could, but I recognize that this fatigue is my usual response to dreary days like today.
Oh, dear. I just got interrupted by a phone call from my mother.
*sigh*
She was demanding I take her to the doctor. She wants me to walk her across to the clinic in the same building (the doors to the TCU are locked to prevent residents from wandering) and she would make the appointment herself. I tried to explain – again – that I already called about making an appointment for her and they said now, because of where she is. She is under constant medical supervision. The staff there can tend to her current needs. After several times asking, she finally told me why she wanted to go to the doctor.
It’s her ears.
She got her 5 days of mineral oil treatment, but no one has flushed her ears. I pointed out, it’s not even 9am yet. Give them time. It took a while before she told me that one of the staff had said she would find someone experienced with ear flushing, and then she left. She’s gone. Maybe it’s her day off (I have no idea if this happened yesterday or this morning; my mother’s sense of time is pretty much gone). I said again, give them time. If she said she was going to find someone with experience, she needs time to do that.
My mother went back to demanding I take her to the clinic so she could make an appointment, accompanied by various insults on how I’m “afraid of the doctor” and how she’s “not allowed” to see a doctor, and “is this Russia or Canada?” The irony of that is, she’s probably be getting better care in Russia right now, than anywhere in Canada.
I kept trying to explain to her how things work, but she ended up hanging up on me.
Granted, it’s really light snow and melts as soon as it touches anything. We are still at our high of the day, 2C/36F, but the wind chill has us at -9C/16F
A good day to have my doctor’s appointment, since I wasn’t going to be able to get anything done outside!
In the end, it looks like having to cancel the previous two appointments because of the truck being in the garage so much turned out to be a good thing. Once I made the connection and decided to stop taking the anti-inflammatories to see if they were the cause of my bleeding, my symptoms quickly reduces and, as of today, are almost completely gone.
After explaining everything to the doctor, she agreed. Another possibility might have been PCOS related, but I’ve been post menopausal for so long, that could be ruled out.
Before the physical exam, though, we talked about my second reason for being there. I told her about needing to go back to the sports injury clinic regarding my left hip, then told her about my fall before Christmas and how, after all this time, I still have pain in my right knee, plus my right shoulder feels like it’s about to dislocate so often, and my elbow pain. She wrote it all up in a referral to the sports injury clinic, and a requisition for Xrays. Not for my elbow, but I didn’t push for that. That is most definitely nerve damage, and not something that will show up in Xrays.
Then I got the physical exam, PAP smear and swab taken, followed by abdominal palpitations, because of the pain I have in my lower abdomen that I don’t think is related to the bleeding.
Gosh, I hate those tests.
I did mention again that I’m prone to cysts and what I was feeling reminded me of when I ended up in the ER, years ago, except not at bad.
On the plus side, absolutely everything seemed normal except for one minor thing. She could actually see where the bleeding is coming from, which in turn confirmed to her that it was the anti-inflammatory that was the cause.
Since it’s been so long, she also wrote me up for extensive blood work, including checking my iron levels – understandable, considering how much continuous blood loss I’ve had over the past few months. I’ve also got a referral for an abdominal ultrasound.
It shouldn’t take too long to hear back from the sports injury clinic, since it’s been less than a year from my last visit. The ultrasound might take a few months or a year before I hear from them.
As she was writing all this time, I mentioned that there was a problem with not being able to take the anti-inflammatories anymore.
“The pain”, she immediately responded.
Exactly.
The prescription painkillers stopped working after a very short time. I’d requested trying anti-inflammatories instead, and they helped out incredibly well. I never even had to take the max three a day I was prescribed for. Usually, it was just once a day. Twice if I had to do a lot of shoveling or something like that. Now that I’m no longer taking them, I’m taking the Tylenol Extra Strength again. It works just as well as the remaining prescription painkillers I’ve still got. That and Voltaren.
Well, I now have a prescription for a topical painkiller. Basically, it’s Voltaren, but at 5 times the strength. I’ll just need to get some help applying it to some areas.
That prescription was faxed in to our pharmacy in town. After the appointment was done, I went straight to the lab next to the clinic for the blood tests and urine sample. After that, it was off to the hospital to get the Xrays done.
I had messaged the family about the new prescription, asking if anyone needed refills to be delivered on Thursday, so we could combine them. By the time I was done with the Xrays, though, there was a message from my husband. The pharmacy had called. They got the prescription, and did I want it filled right away?
My husband told them, yes.
So, instead of heading straight home, I headed to our pharmacy to pick it up, instead. I’ve already talked to one of my daughters about getting help to apply it to the areas I can’t reach, or reach well enough. At the very least, I will use it before bed, as the pain makes it very difficult to get any sleep at times.
I was out long enough that my daughter took care of feeding the outside cats. Slick showed up this morning and allowed pets. She was back again when my daughter was there. She got to pet Slick, Fancypants (he’s getting so much better at allowing pets!), Adam and lots and lots of Flopsy pets!
The boys seem to be leaving Slick alone now. Which means that 1) it should be easier to catch her now that she’s no longer being chased around by 5 males and 2) she’s probably pregnant again, by about a day or two.
We really need to get Slick to the vet!!!!
If we could get Adam, too, that would be bonus. She has been more friendly, too, but as with Slick, only while being fed. We can’t approach them, otherwise.
We’re looking at a few more chilly days and nights ahead; enough that I’ve turned the heat lamps back on for the cats. Looking at the long range forecasts, we won’t be getting past the chill for almost 2 weeks.
I’ve been reading that we are looking to get a very strong “super El Nińo” this year. Typically, that means a very hot summer. I won’t be holding my breath on that, either way.
Just as I was writing this, a weather group I follow sent out a message. Due to the dryness and high winds, several municipalities have have implemented bans on open fires. Ours is not included. We still have full ditches and standing water in places, yet the soil surface is so very dry. We got snow and rain today, but very little. We could really use more! I haven’t seen anyone doing controlled burns, even though they are needed. Too much wind.
I’m getting very tired of being cold.
Anyhow.
I’m glad I finally got my medical appointment. In a month I will have a follow up telephone appointment to go over the results of my bloodwork and swabs. Aside from that, everything is checking out as fine as can be, under the circumstances.
Hopefully, that will continue!
Now, if only that snow would go away and get replaced with just rain…
Not in the photo is Adam, who very enthusiastically took pets. No sign of Slick today, anywhere.
My goal for today was to start the 4-6 weeks before last frost date seeds. After going through them, I decided on some herbs, caraway, chicory and chamomile, some French Double Dwarf marigolds, some Early White Vienna kohlrabi I picked up, just in case the winter down bed doesn’t make it, and Bi-Colour Pear gourds.
I pre-moistened a bag of seed starting mix with hot water and had the heater going. That basement is way too cold for this, but it’s our only option this year. The six new seed snails got their own metal tray. The Bi-colour Pear gourds have fairly small seeds, so I went ahead and did a snail roll; for the squash, etc. with larger seeds, I will go back to using the planting trays.
All the rolls got topped with vermiculite after the seeds were sown and covered with soil, except the chamomile. Those seeds are so tiny, they got covered with vermiculate only.
Speaking of which…
My brother and SIL came out today to take care of some things and I was able to see them shortly before they left. They were out by the barn as we were talking and the pile with trees growing out of it came up. The trees are self seeded and need to go, as does the pile. I’d been told it was some sort of insulation under there.
My brother informed me that no, it is vermiculite.
We’re talking a truck load, and it’s been sitting there for at least 20 years. It used to be covered in taps and plastic, and I can still see some shreds of that, but over the years a thick layer of moss has grown over it, dead branches had been tossed on top and, along with the self seeded maples, there are a bunch of self seeded raspberry bushes growing on one side.
When my brother gets his old tractor with the front end loader going, he will help me move that pile out. It’s in the way, and I don’t want trees growing in this location; they would eventually block access to the barn. Now that I know it’s vermiculite in that pile, I might actually be able to use it in the garden!
If it’s still good. It’s not exactly “clean” anymore. Some patches got exposed and they’re looking pretty… moldy? We’ll see when the time comes.
Anyhow…
Once the new seeds were planted, the tray was set aside, and I removed the tray with the celery snail rolls in it so I could reach it. I got another metal tray out for the next rolls.
I got rid of the dead luffa entirely. Poor thing.
I decided to “pot up” the Russian Tarragon and Summer Savory seedlings into one snail roll. The tarragon looks pretty good, but I don’t think the summer savory is going to make it. We’ll see.
For this is part, I used what I had left in my bucket of sifted potting soil, which was still damp from when we used it last. The bucket had been sitting on the concrete floor, and the damp potting soil was COLD. I’m really hoping that doesn’t cause too much shock for the seedlings. I used it to “pot up” the four varieties of tomatoes by unrolling them, adding the potting soil, then rolling them back up again. I also potted up… I think it was the Crackerjack marigolds, but I’m suddenly drawing a blank on that.
The rest did not get potted up, partly because I was almost out of potting soil. The potted up rolls are thicker now, so everything is now on three trays, with the two big rolls of celery in a tray to themselves now. The celery is really big! They are a short season variety, and I probably started them too early for this specific variety.
Once the three trays were set back up on the shelf under the shop light, I returned the plant lights on one side, then set up the heat mat on the work table, in front of the shelf, where the second plant lights can reach. At least the new seed rolls will be a bit warm on the mat.
So that is finally done.
I didn’t try to get much done outside today; I’m very tired and hurting. It was a warmer day – our high is 18C/64F – though we also had high winds. We even got a smattering of rain.
Unfortunately, we’re dropping down to a low of 2C/36F overnight, and that’s our high for tomorrow. Over the next few days, the highs and lows were be just over or just under freezing. Even when we start warming up by next weekend, those overnight lows are going to stay around the freezing mark. We aren’t expected to get warmer until the third week of May, and the long range forecast shows us still expecting lows below freezing at the beginning of June.
Right around our old last frost day, which is what I’m going by, rather than the updated average.
Tomorrow, I finally have my doctor’s appointment – the one I had to cancel twice because of the truck issues. I won’t be losing much by being out, though, as it’s supposed to be not only cold, but very windy, too. Over the next while, I’ll need to focus on cleaning up and preparing a few more garden beds, including the one at the chain link fence that is going to be redone completely again.
I have a strong suspicion our winter sown beds aren’t going to make it this year. There were a few things where seedlings had already emerged when I removed the mulch, but I can’t see them anymore. Not even in the bed I was able to cover with the 6mm plastic. I hope I’m wrong, but these are all things I can direct sow before the last frost date. I’ve even reordered a few things, so I can replant the same varieties in the same places, if they don’t work out. The soil surface is all so dry – and yes, I’ve been watering what I could. I’ve now got hoses set up at both the front and back taps, though I need to make sure the water is shut off at the house and the hoses are empty, so there’s nothing to freeze in them overnight.
Hopefully, even though it’s going to be pretty chilly for the next few days, I’ll be able to get some progress on the garden beds that need preparing.
Meanwhile, we’ll see what the doctor has to say tomorrow about the issues I’ve been having.
The Re-Farmer 