For now, I can type, and that is a good thing.
I tried taking garden tour video yesterday, but wasn’t happy with the results, so I hope to be able to take new recordings later today. I should be able to walk, and my right arm is okay, but I might not be able to use my left, if I have to switch hands or something.
I’m getting ahead of myself, though.
This morning, I needed to get a few things done, and I worked on the fast things first. Protecting garden beds from cats.
The potatoes are large enough that they no longer need to be covered with netting, so I removed that and brought it to the tomatoes and beans bed in the east yard. It was just long enough for me to be able to wrap it around the tomato support structure (after folding it in half, lengthwise), and secure the bottom with ground staples. No more cats using it as a litter box.
The next image in the slideshow above is the Arikara squash and corn bed. The mosquito netting I had over it wasn’t long enough to wrap around the bed. I did have the plastic I used to solarize the bed that now has the corn and beans. They’re large, clear garbage bags that were cut on the sides to make a single longer sheet. It took three of them to go around the bed. I’m hoping it’s enough to keep the cats out, and that the wind won’t blow it away. If not, I’ll have to find more netting.
That done, it was time to gather my tools and work in the trellis bed.
The first image was before I started.
The bed is 18′ long, so the first thing to do was measure and mark out where the three verticals would go, at 4.5, 9 and 13.5 feet. Then I used a hoe to scrape out the soil directly below and position the pieces of brick that will go under each vertical. This way, they won’t have direct contact with the soil and won’t get wet and rotten at their bases too quickly.
I had three posts waiting. Their bottoms had already been trimmed straight. I just cut away any sticky outy bits along their lengths, first.
I took the straightest one to set in the middle. With each post a different size, they all needed to be marked and cut individually. I used my baby chainsaw (cordless pruner) to cut away a section of the vertical, first, then double checked against the low raised bed and marked the horizontal log again, before cutting away a section there, too.
The first one I did was probably the most perfect, snug fit I’ve ever done. I was so happy!
The post was large enough that I secured it with four 3″ deck screws.
The process was repeated for the next post. By the third one, though, I’d drained both my batteries when I started to cut away the first notch, so I stopped for lunch. When I was done, it didn’t take very long at all to get that third one up. In the very last image of the above slide show, you can see them all up and done.
What they now need is a horizontal support across the top.
The verticals are all different, and one leans a fair bit.
The ground isn’t level, so we had to install them first, and now we can go along and cut the tops to all the same height, before putting on the horizontal support at the top.
The question was, did I have anything I could use for a horizontal? As in, one single long piece? Or would I have to piece together more than one piece?
I’d set aside from trees I’d cleared out of the spruce grove that were nice and straight, last year some time. I took a look and selected on of them, which you can see in the second image above. It definitely looked to be more than 18′ long.
So I dragged it over to the raised bed. The plan was to cut the wide end straight, then measure 18′ from there.
I’d just dropped the log in the path and started talking to the other end, when – I think – my toe caught on a bit of branch or something along the log.
I fell headlong, right onto the log.
I landed on my right knee on one side of the log, my left palm on the other, and my face hit the log in the middle.
It could have been so, so bad.
The first blessing is that I have glasses. They got a bit twisted, while keeping my face from smashing too hard into the log.
As I lifted my head, I saw my second blessing.
Had I fallen just a few inches forward, my face would have hit a small broken branch, about the length and thickness of a finger. I would have impaled been impaled by that. Instead, I landed on a smooth section of the log.
Thank God!
My got my glasses off, as I couldn’t see through them at the time, then started digging my phone out of my pocket.
The pocket I was lying on, of course.
I managed to tap a request for help to the family. As far as I knew, only my husband was available, and I wasn’t sure he could make it out to where I was. Thankfully, my younger daughter saw my message and headed out.
I did make sure to add that I wasn’t injured. I just couldn’t get up – and asked her to bring my husband’s walker.
I was able to at least sit up by the time my daughter reached me and helped me get to my feet. After checking me out for injuries, she helped me get to the walker, where I could wheel myself over to the shade and sit for a bit.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to get anything else done, so she put all my tools back into the wagon and took it to the garage for me, while I made my way to the house. I couldn’t use my left hand to hold the walker, though, and had to lean on my forearm, instead.
Now that I’ve had a chance to sit for a while, it seems that my left are too the brunt of the fall. My right knees is already feeling better, though I imagine I’m going to have bruising and swelling there. My daughter straightened out my glasses, and I was able to clean off my eyeball print smeared inside one lens. I’ve got some marks on my face, but no unjuries.
It seems it was my left palm, just under my thumb, that took the brunt of the fall. I’m starting to feel pain and stiffness working its way up to my shoulder. So far, it doesn’t look like I’ve broken anything, but I have to watch myself. My pain tolerance is unusually high. I’ve broken bones before and just kept on going. The most recent being a toe that I thought was merely dislocated. My husband set if for me and I didn’t realize it was broken until I happened to get it Xrays while I was accompanying my mother to a Doctor’s appointment. It had been set very well! As for other injuries… well, ignoring them is why I’m dealing with post traumatic osteoarthritis now.
Well, at least I got those vertical supports up. If necessary, we can add whatever netting is handy for the red noodle beans to climb. Depending on how my arm is, I might have to get my daughter to do it!
Little by little, it’s getting done.
I’m just so incredibly grateful I’m just dealing with a sore arm right now.
It could have been so. Much. Worse!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 
Scary..glad you (hopefully) escaped any serious injuries.
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Thank you. I was most definitely watched over this afternoon! Any aches and pains that result are things to be grateful for, in this case.
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