Yes! Finally! I felt well enough to go the Costco stock up trip!
In fact, I was up quite early and feeling rested. Did the morning routine and prepped the truck. We even remembered to grab the ice packs from the freezer before we left.
We postponed leaving long enough to go to the post office, first, to pick up a couple of parcels. There turned out to be three, with one of them being fairly large, so we headed back home to drop two of them off. One of them was a new phone case for me, as my old one was getting warn out, and my daughter switched my phone to the new one on the way out. It’s the thinnest “wallet” style I can get, so it fits in my pocket without being bulky, and keeps the screen from being activated by accident.
On the way to the city, we stopped at a gas station at the one town along the route, for some drinks and a food for my daughter, who hadn’t had breakfast yet. I also picked up some extra beef jerky to keep in the console of the truck as part of our usual stock of food and drinks we try to keep in the truck. Which came in very handy when I was in the ER and finally told I could have something to eat after fasting for well over 12 hours, and would NOT be going for any sort of emergency surgery. That totaled $50.04 Then it was off to the city again.
The first stop at Costco was to fill the gas tank. Gas prices had actually gone down to $1.669/L in most places, but at Costco, regular cost $1.619/L
It still cost me $89.61 to fill the tank
*sigh*
Once inside, we were not in any hurry and went through some aisles we hadn’t bothers to for some time. We haven’t had any major break downs or sudden bills, so the budget was a bit more relaxed, allowing us to get a few things that we might not have, or would have had to wait on.
When we were done and one of the staff directed us into a line, I went to get my membership card out of my pocket.
It was gone.
Checking that I hadn’t put it in my new phone case’s card slots and wallet, I was ready to have my daughter pull aside while I went back to look. My new phone case is not as smooth as my old one. It has a slight texture to it that feels slightly “sticky” with friction. I had pulled my phone out a few times while shopping. The card must have stuck to the new phone case and been pulled out. Which means it was on the floor, somewhere. I was going to backtrack.
The guy that had directed us into the line was still nearby and heard us. He asked me my name, then said he would see what they could do and went to the customer service.
He came back and handed me my card! Someone had found it an already turned it in!
God bless whoever did that!
While shopping, I keep a running count in my head and always round prices up. If something as a price that’s discounted at the till, I still count at the full price. This way, the final tally will always be at least a bit lower than what I kept as a running tally while shopping. That can lead to some nice surprises.
This time, that nice surprise was a final bill over $100 less than I was expecting.
This is what $789.86 looks like.
There’s quite a bit hidden from view. Here is the breakdown.
We tried to do all the frozen and refrigerator stuff first, as well as the heavier jars and such. A lot of refrigerator stuff was in a box and my daughter put the whole thing on the belt so the big stuff on the flat cart could be reached with the scanning gun.
So, from the top…
There is a case of frozen perogies and another of Pizza Pops (which mostly became our supper when we got home). There’s a 3 pack of oat milk for the girls. Two packages of chicken drumsticks that were discounted at the till. Two packs of loose sausage meat in mild Italian. A wheel of brie and a 4 pack of cream cheese. Two Panini packs of sandwich meats. Five pounds of butter. A liter of whipping cream. A 2L of Kefir for a treat. A shaker of grated Parmesan. Two blocks of cooking cheese; Mozzarella and Old Cheddar. A big bottle of oyster sauce.
On the cart was a case of Monster energy drinks, a case of Coke Zero and a case of water. There were two bags of Kirkland brand cat kibble, plus two larger bags of Whiskas. The Whiskas was on sale, at least. There was also a box of XL puppy pads and a cast of wet cat food.
One of the extras we got was a two pack of “cooling” pillows for my husband and I. Another was a three piece set of nesting ceramic “baskets”, designed to look like the cardboard baskets that fruit sometimes comes in.
We also got a case of large black garbage bags and another of clear bags for recycling.
Also scanned on the cart were two 2pks of rye bread and a bag of ciabatta buns.
Back to the stuff on the belt, there’s a large jar of mayo and another of peanut butter. There’s a big container of popping corn. I also grabbed a container of iced tea mix that was on sale.
We got some of the Dawn Platinum dish detergent; it’s better for keeping the plumbing clear. There’s also a case of toothbrushes; something we had been well stocked up on and were finally starting to run out of. There’s a package of seaweed for the girls, and a double flat of eggs. I got a sack of the Kirkland brand of Basmati rice. I’d bought another brand last time, and it sucked. Definitely don’t want to run out of the Kirkland brand again. Last of all are two packs of tortilla wraps and a package of Medjool dates from Israel. The last couple of times I picked up dates, they were from other countries, and they turned out to be pretty gross. These ones cost more, but are delicious. That is a “me” snack. I’m the only one in the family that likes dates!
And there we have it. $789.86 with several items that are not bought on a monthly basis, which actually put me right on budget!
On the way out, we made one stop at a gas station just outside the city to pick up some drinks and snacks for the ride home. That was another $17.08
Total damage for the day: $946.59
Ouch.
Still, there was stuff on there that we don’t normally get. The only thing that was truly a splurge was the set of ceramic fruit baskets, and that cost under $10.
I’m also just glad we finally made it in, a week later than it normally would have been done.
Today, I was feeling so good, not only did we do the Costco shop, but I was able to get the garlic strung up, and kept going until it was getting too dark to see.
Which means I will be doing the stock up shop and update posts tomorrow. I’ll be heading out again tomorrow, this time to the scrap yard with my SIL. She and I and my daughters were able to fit about 3 years worth of cans into the back of their truck, with room to spare! There’s now way we could have gotten all that in the back of our truck and properly secured under a tarp.
For now, I need to start heading to bed. I want to have an early start tomorrow.
I can’t believe how much better I feel today. Every now and then, it hits me, and all I can think of is one word.
Yeah, we missed going to Costco again. I wasn’t feeling well.
Not because of the pain levels I’ve been having lately. Not at all.
The morning actually started out rather well. I woke up around 5:30am. Usual routine; use the facilities, feed the inside cats, supervise Butterscotch while she uses the litter box so other cats won’t bother her. I was back in bed by about 6am and actually slept, waking up before my alarm went off at 8. I felt rested and awake.
Then I sat up.
I was immediately dizzy.
Just a head rush, I thought. I sat up too quickly.
I took my morning meds and supplements.
It didn’t go away.
I got up and took care of feeding the outside cats…
… and some skunks. Those little ones were acting so famished!!! I didn’t have the heart to chase them away.
The bigger one with the feral kitten, I left alone because if I tried chasing it away, I’d scare the kitten away, too, and she really, really wants to have her share of cat soup!
I was still dizzy.
I decided to walk around a bit to see if the fresh air would help, but I definitely wasn’t up to watering the garden or harvesting anything. I finally went back inside and settled in.
My younger daughter, who was supposed to go with me, was up so I messaged her to come over. I told her how I was feeling. I wasn’t safe to drive, but if she could do the driving, I could probably do the trip. Not to Costco, but at least to the nearest Walmart.
There was a problem with that.
She had managed to get only a couple of hours sleep, and wasn’t safe to drive, either.
So I figured, we could both lie down fore a couple more hours and head out later.
Before lying down, though, I realized I hadn’t eaten yet. I wasn’t feeling hungry, but felt I should have something in my stomach, at least. I managed a small piece of cheese.
Cheddar aged with malted whiskey. Probably not a good choice, but it was already cut, and it was quite delicious.
I didn’t feel any better or worse after eating, at least. Then I tried to lie down.
The dizziness got worse. Bad enough that I had to grab my garbage can to get sick into.
That ended up happening two more times over the next few hours. After the second time, I gave up on lying down and was at my computer, watching gardening videos.
At this point, the family was getting quite worried and kept checking on me, trying to figure out why I was feeling like this. After the third time I got sick, I asked a daughter to make something mild for me to eat, just so I wouldn’t be getting sick again on an empty stomach. My daughter ran some options past me and I chose a couple of hot dogs, just because that would be the fastest.
It was the hot dogs that brought an idea to mind. Eating didn’t make me feel any better or worse, but something about the wieners made me feel… different.
I did a quick search.
My suspicions seemed to be in the right direction.
I was low on salt.
Now, this is something I’d been aware of for a while, because low sodium is one of the things that can contribute to the Charlie Horses I’d been getting, along with a lack of things like magnesium, zinc and potassium. Symptoms of lack of salt include dizziness, nausea and muscle fatigue, which I had been attributing to the dizziness and hadn’t thought much of.
I don’t use a lot of salt in my cooking, because we all have different preferences. You can always add more salt, but you can’t take it away. So, to compensate, I kept a tiny bowl next to my keyboard of coarse Himalayan pink salt. The little chunks are easy to grab, and I would just eat a little piece of salt every now and then.
I emptied my little bowl some time ago, and kept forgetting to refill it.
Could it be that simple?
I refilled my salt bowl and let the family know what I was trying, and ate a few pieces.
My daughter came down to check on me less than a minute later.
I was already starting to feel better, but I didn’t want to jump the gun.
I kept eating more little pieces of salt, slowly, with water.
After a while, my daughter came back to check on me. By this time, I could definitely say I was feeling better – I had gone from getting increased dizziness just from turning my head, to being able to shake my head from side to side energetically, before I felt any dizziness. With my daughter there, I decided to try walking.
I was back to walking normally again. No dizziness. Balance returned. No nausea.
Aside from still feeling a bit weak, and my throat on fire from the last time I got sick, I was back to normal.
Salt.
It really was that simple.
We’re getting a bit low on the coarse pink salt. Something I could pick up when we finally get out for our second stock up shop. It’s a bit hard to find it without being in a grinder, and we have a refillable grinder we prefer to use, but sometimes it’s in stock.
My husband went ahead and ordered 5 pounds of it off of Amazon.
When it got to be time to feed the outside cats, I decided I was well enough to also to a harvest and water the garden, so I messaged my daughters to see if one of them was able to come along, just in case. My younger daughter joined me, bringing my walker and the harvest colander out for me.
Not only did I feel well enough to feed the cats and do the harvesting, I felt good enough to dig up the garlic while my daughter did the watering!
Right now, not only is the dizziness still gone, but I actually have an appetite, and feel I can eat a full meal again.
With plenty of salt.
Tomorrow, we’re going to try for Costco again. Unless something else happens.
So… I didn’t make it to the city again. I didn’t even make it to the garden to harvest until the late afternoon.
I will cover why in my next post.
When I did make it out, my daughter was there to help me with the walker and to harvest the bush beans. Then, as I was feeling well enough, she started doing the watering while I went to the old kitchen garden to harvest a bit more.
The amount of bush beans available to harvest has dropped quite a bit by now, so we didn’t have much to pick. I also harvested what will likely be the only kohlrabi we’ll get this year. Then a grabbed the two largest Green Benning scallop squash. We will definitely be getting more of those, later on! Those are looking really beautiful. Last of all, I grabbed a bunch of mint, to make fresh mint tea.
Then I decided I felt well enough to harvest the garlic. As I started on that, my younger daughter got a message from her sister asking what we were picking, as she was thinking to do a stir fry. So I told her where the colander with the vegetables was, then grabbed a few Swiss Chard leaves for her, for added greens. There wasn’t a lot of surviving Swiss Chard between the garlic large enough to pick, but enough to add to a stir fry.
I am so happy with the garlic. This is easily our best year for garlic, with SO many huge garlic heads! I believe the variety is Porcelain Music, if I remember correctly. They are from our own saved garlic, not purchased.
The first image of the slide show above is where I’d stacked them all while digging them up, on the mulch by the potatoes. There was one garlic head that broke off when I tried to pull it up, even after digging under it with the garden fork, with a snap so loud my daughter heard it while watering at the other end of the garden! I’m happy to say, I timed it right this year. Last year, I’d put it off longer and about half a dozen bulbs had starts to split. Which is fine. Those just got eaten right away. There were no split bulbs at all this time.
Yesterday evening, I’d set up the canopy tent and the folding table. You can see the bundle in the second image. In the last image, they’re all laid out with the bulbs off the edges of the table. I’ll leave them to dry overnight, then string them up to hang for curing tomorrow.
I had to zoom in from half way across the yard, then crop the photo, to get the above image. This cat goes into that splay legged position, like it’s ready do run away in a flash, quite often.
I hadn’t done their water yet, but didn’t want to scare the little one away from the food, so I went around to the main garden area to start watering that garden beds, partly to judge just how well I was doing, and if I’d be going to Costco or not.
I took it easy and didn’t do a really deep watering; we weren’t expected to get unusually hot today, so that was enough. By the time the main garden area was done and I moved to the other side of the house, the cats (and a few skunks) had all had a chance to eat, so I refilled their water bowls in between watering different beds.
We are now up to four luffa seedlings, with a second one showing up next to the oldest one. Each spot got several seeds, so it’s entirely possible more will show up, still. Even with only 55 days to maturity, it’s getting really tight for them. They will have a chance only if have a very mild fall and no frost until the end of September.
Which, given that this is a Super El Nińo year, might actually happen. At this point, the shorter daylight hours will also have an effect.
By the time I was done, I knew going to Costco was going to be an issue. I could handle the drive, but not the shopping. Not without making things much worse.
The problem was, my younger daughter, who is the only one that can come with me, was dealing with her own very different pain issues today, too.
I decided to pain killer up and try lying down for a while, to see if things would improve.
They did not. The tramadol seemed to have zero effect. Not only that, but the bleeding kicked up again, too. *sigh*
After waiting a long enough time, I tried taking the T3s and lying down again.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t trying to nap. As soon as I lay down, I got covered with cats, including some that don’t normally cuddle with me like that. At one point, I had 5 cats directly on me, and I don’t know how many against my legs. I ended up with Shadow right against my side, and Clarence right against him, both draped over my bicep.
Both images are of Shadow, just inches from my face. So close that my phone’s camera (which I keep close by in case I need to message for help) measured as dark and used the flash. His face looks mashed because it IS mashed. By Clarence.
I had updated the family on our group chat about my status, still willing to go into the city later in the day, if someone could come with me. My husband had already suggested I wait until tomorrow. My older daughter came by later and basically said the same thing.
*sigh* Another day wasted because of this pain. I am so glad the surgery is happening in just a couple of weeks.
Eventually, the pain did recede a bit. My daughters were working on supper – my younger daughter was looking really rough today! – and I felt well enough to do the outside cat feeding again. Once that was taken care of, I did a light version of my evening rounds. I find the fresh air and moving around helps. Mentally, if not necessarily physically.
While doing that, I noticed that the old, leaking water barrel by the apple tree and gooseberry bush was looking surprisingly full of water. Usually, it leaks until there’s only about half a foot of water on the bottom, but I could see the water line was at about 3/4 full.
So I took advantage of that and watered just some of the fruit trees and berry bushes. I wasn’t up to hooking the hose up to do all the ones I normally water. It actually felt pretty good to do as much as I did, and didn’t make things worse, which I was grateful for.
While checking the main garden area, I noticed these are getting nice and big.
So far, only one of the Chocolate Stripe tomato plants has developing tomatoes. They’re looking pretty good!
I’m going to have to get that canopy tent set up soon. The garlic looks about ready to harvest, and I plan to hang them under the canopy tent to cure. I’ve got one kohlrabi and a couple of green pattypan squash (Green Scallop Benning) that I will be able to harvest tomorrow. Of the five types of summer squash I’ve got, one of them has not had any flowers yet, male or female. The Lemon squash. The yellow scallop squash at least has male flowers blooming, if no female flowers, yet.
Now, near enough to the end of the day that a trip to Costco is out of the question, I’m actually feeling a lot better.
If only that can last through tomorrow, and I can finally make the trip in, and not need to drag a daughter along, too.
As expected, we lost little Batman last night. I kept an eye on him on the critter cam and knew he was gone when I used the camera to chase out the raccoons in a kibble tray nearby, and there was no movement.
He is now buried under where I plan to plant another tree in the outer yard.
We were never able to socialize him, but I’m still going to miss that little guy.
Today, the plan was to go into town and pick up some fruit for my mother, then visit her for a bit, in the afternoon. I figured, with the festival winding down, it wouldn’t be too bad. It did mean I would be out at a time when my pain levels tend to get bad, so I was pro-active about it. I was up by about 5am and outside by about six, first to feed the outside cats, then bury little Batman.
Then I did my usual rounds and checks, gathering a harvest from the garden. After I got back inside and had breakfast, I made a point of lying down for a couple of hours, at least. Not necessarily to nap, though I did doze a bit, but just to make sure my body rested before I headed out. It worked. I did not get hit with the pain later on, even when I was doing quite a bit of walking around.
As I was eating my breakfast, I got a call on my cell phone. That it even came through was the first surprise. The second was who we calling. A friend from high school. She was in town for a short while and was hoping we could get together. I told her I was going to be in town later, so we worked out that I would contact her before I went in to see my mother, and we would get together when the visit was done.
While getting ready to head out, I was surprised to see my brother out front with his truck and trailer, already partially loaded. He was getting the appliances and other metals on, to take to the scrap yard once he could get the time off work to take it in while they are open. As I headed to the truck, though, I spotted something loaded among the old freezers, furnaces, washers and driers I did not expect to be there.
The antique enameled sink that was leaning against the pump shack.
I was surprised as said, that doesn’t go! He said, yes, it goes. The junk goes. I told him I had planned to use it. We went back and forth about if for a while, as I told him where I’d planned to use it. He mentioned the stainless steel sinks in the sheds and garage (yes, we have a collection of those, too), but I said I don’t want a stainless steel sink. I want that one! In the end, though, it’s his sink. He can do whatever he wants with it, and I wasn’t going to argue. I was on my way to town, anyhow.
When I got to town, I was happy to see there was not a lot of traffic on the main road, though the temporary traffic lights were still set up. I headed to the grocery store and picked up apples, grapes and a few bananas, and decided to pick up some crackers, tiny cans of Ginger Ale and a container with a lid that she could use as a fruit bowl.
I also remembered to bring her old fan that she had asked for.
Thankfully, the nursing home has its own parking, and there was one open spot when I got there. The festival was winding down, but not finished yet, so public parking nearby was out of the question.
As I got to her floor and walked past the nursing station, I greeted the nurse, then turned around and came back to ask how my mother has been.
Not good, it turns out. She’s been yelling at them. Things like, when she didn’t get her tea fast enough, yelling “I want my tea”. Sadly, none of this is unusual or unexpected. She has always been one to be abusive towards those who are trying to help her. The nurse actually wished me luck when I continued on to my mother!
Thankfully, I had my friend as reason to leave earlier.
The visit actually turned out rather well.
She did try to do her usual digs and insults, but they didn’t get very far and I was able to distract her. She was happy with what I brought her. I washed the grapes right away and put them in the container I’d brought, and she started eating right away. Oddly, she was spitting out the skins. I asked her why, and she told me that she has to be careful with her digestion. Turns out, she has decided grape skins are hard on her stomach. ??? She decides all sorts of things are “bad” for her, but grape skins are a new one to me.
She tried to grill me on where my brother was and what he was doing. She had treated him so badly the last time he visited, and has zero understanding that this is a problem she is causing. Oddly, when I told her he was very busy, and only has a short length of time to get things done outside of work, she told me not to speak for my brother. I told her, then don’t ask about him. At which point, she started crossing herself. 😕
She complained about how they staff don’t “want” her to see a doctor, or a dietician. Which I know isn’t what’s going on, but she apparently told them that if they don’t want her to see the doctor, she’ll get us to take her to another doctor. Who that would be, I have no idea, but I told her, we can’t just take her to see another doctor. It doesn’t work that way. She’s under the care of a doctor already. She just doesn’t have the health problems other people living here have. I explained the nurses go through her file with the doctor regularly, along with all the other stuff (turns out she convinced them to put her on an inhaler again; only a doctor can write that prescription), but she refuses to accept that.
Then she got around to why she wants my brother to see her. She wants to talk to him about her health. Then she started repeating a story of how, back when she was about 25 years old (so… 70+ years ago) she had the same pain in her chest she has now (very unlikely) and the doctor gave her a prescription and she felt better. She wants us to find this medication and get it for her. All she remembers of it is that it had cherry and orange in it.
I tried to explain to her (again) that whatever she took 70 years ago probably doesn’t exist in that form anymore and, based on what she has described, it sounds like an early version of the “pink medicine” (Pepto) she takes now. The cherry and orange would be flavours, not the medicine.
She still wants to get my brother to find this mystery medication, because she’s convinced it is the only thing that will magically make her all better again.
She still complains about her breathing at night. I tried to suggest she try and take advantage of the hospital bed to sleep sitting upright, with her knees supported, but she stopped listening to me and started talking over me about something else entirely.
*sigh*
I had told her about my friend from high school being in town and asked if she remembered her. She didn’t, but when I gave her name, my mom just wanted to know her ethnicity. When she heard her married name, she wanted to know that ethnicity. When I told her I didn’t know she asked, what kind of friend can this be? I told her, a friend that doesn’t care about such things! Then she mocked her married name because it means “without clothes” in Polish.
I looked it up when I got home. The word in Polish is vaguely similar, but it is not her name at all. But “similar” is enough for my mother.
Much to my surprise, she didn’t give me a hard time about leaving fairly quickly to meet with my friend. Possibly because I mentions I see her only once every year or two. It was only as I was leaving that my mother thought to ask about my own health, since I’d told her I had been to the ER when she’d called me, wanting me to visit her that day. I told her I was going for surgery, party to find out what is actually going on, because so many tests are coming back normal. Something she would understand very well.
She did.
As I was heading out, I called up my friend and found out she was at a particular shop she visits every time she comes out here, trying on dresses! So I headed that way, though I had to park several blocks away. If the nursing home parking hadn’t been private parking that I could stay in, the walk would have been shorter! Which is fine, though I was glad I did that lie down this morning.
I caught up to her and, this time, I got to finally meet her husband! The building this shop is in used to be a butcher shop and grocery store. The owner had a secret recipe for steak spice that is the best ever. When they bought the building, they bought the recipe and regularly have it available, tucked into a corner of the store among completely unrelated items. So while my friend was in the fitting room, I popped over to see if they had any in stock. A customer was in front of the display so I started waiting, but as he and his son were talking about things, I could see they would be a while and just excused myself to grab a bag – then asked if he’d every tried it. It turned out he was local enough to remember the butcher shop and grocery store that was there before, and I told him the story behind the steak spice mix, and that it was the best we’ve ever had.
Then I grabbed a second bag, because I didn’t know when I’d be back.
I saw him walking out of the store later, carrying a bag of steak spice. I know he’s going to love it!
After my friend was done, we paid for our stuff, then worked out where we were going next. She wanted to go to the park where the main festival activities were still happening. We walked while her husband went to their car to try and find a closer parking spot. This gave us a chance to catch up on all sorts of things. She was having difficulty with an injured knee, so I just had to extoll the virtues of having a walker. She told me, she was trying to stay away from that. I told her that my husband had done that for a long time. When he finally got one, he wondered why he waited so long. It is such a huge improvement in quality of life. I don’t know that I convinced her, but I think she’s more open to it.
We took our time walking to the park, resting whenever we found a bench.
The park had the carnival rides still going, as well as a vendor village. All the little tents with the usual stuff you find at carnivals, but a few that were a little more unusual. One that caught my attention had a display of drinking horns and wooden steins that caught my attention. They had the style of drinking horn like we got for one of our daughters for her birthday a few years ago. The also had DnD items, “Viking” jewelry, and other interesting things. I saw grab bags for “hair weapons” that I just had to ask about. I was directed to a display of hair pins in the shape of medieval style weapons – swords, war aces, and the like. The grab bags were cheaper than the display ones, of course, so I grabbed one for each of the girls. We caught up with my friend’s husband and wandered around a bit more. After a while I spotted a donair food truck. We haven’t had real donairs since we left the city. The local restaurant has gyros, which are not quite the same thing. So I got four of them to take home.
Which did mean I had to leave right away, while the food was still hot. They ended up giving me a ride to where I parked my truck.
My daughter had actually done it a while ago, but this was the first time I saw this part of the truck in full daylight like this, instead of in the shadows of the garage.
My husband had messaged me for something, so I made a quick stop at the grocery store again before heading home. By then, my brother and SIL had left for home. My brother loaded so many washers and driers on that thing. Why were there so many washers and driers? I thought it was funny that we found 6 old toilets around (my brother found the 6th one, buried in the junk pile). There was the one washing machine we brought out to the junk pile when we replaced it. The rest were in the warehouse and storage sheds all over the place. Along with a couple of old furnaces, the remains of a wringer washer, and a couple of huge old chest freezers.
I also got a message that my brother had taken out the enameled cast iron sink and left it for me. That was so sweet of him! It’s a gorgeous sink; the kind with a built in drain area. Antique collectors and interior decorators would pay a pretty price for it. Especially in such good condition. Not that I’d ever sell it. That design is just too useful.
So today turned out to start off sad, but ended well. Even the visit with my mother was okay. I also didn’t get hit with pain after all that walking around, either.
Tomorrow, though, I’ll be walking around at Costco. Hopefully, my younger daughter will be able to come with me.
I’m not looking forward to it, but at least it’ll be on a Tuesday, not a holiday weekend!
Today was much cooler, with possible rain, so I didn’t need to water the garden today. I did get a harvest, though. This time, from the opposite end of the row.
These are the Viking potatoes. Not as many as when I harvested from the south end of the bed, but there was a definite reason for that. SO many elm roots under just the two plants at the end of the bed I dug under! Very frustrating.
In the next image is the complete harvest. More tri-colour bush beans, a few little carrots (they don’t seem to be getting any bigger; the soil is probably too compact again) and a couple of stalks from the walking onions. I broke off most of the bulbils and laid them down where I want to keep the walking onions growing, otherwise, they’d take over in the grass beyond the garden. The “stalks” are so big, I only grabbed two of them, which was more than enough for the day’s use.
I checked out one of the corn cobs that had dried out silks. It was on the outer edge, and I found it was very poorly pollinated. Very few developing kernels. I did try to shake the pollen down and make sure the stalks along the outside were dusted, to sort of imitate the wind, but I guess it didn’t work very well. I really should have had that second block I’d intended to plant but was never able to, right next to it. That would have improved things. Ah, well. We should still have something!
I then headed out for most of the day, which I’ll cover in another post, and the girls will be doing something with what I picked. I look forward to seeing what they come up with!
As expected, today broke 30C/86F. I don’t know what the humidex was. I was outside by 7am, watering the garden and it was starting to get too hot before I finished. It’s past 7:30pm now, and it’s just barely starting to dip below 30C/86F now.
I do have to chuckle a bit about when I do the outside cat feeding these days, both morning and evening now. There are at lest 4 little skunks that come out almost right away. I found myself with an extra tray that I ended up setting under the rail I hang the end of the hose from as an extra kibble and cat soup tray. After feeding the cats and getting ready to water the garden, there was a little skunk under the hose. I used it to rinse off the soup bucket, and it didn’t turn away. It got all foot stompy and chittering, but didn’t run. It was famished and kept eating, clearly struggling between wanting to run away and eating.
Which is the only reason I don’t chase them away. These little ones are famished – and I’m not seeing a mama with them. I suspect something got the mama and, right now, we might be their only reliable source of food. I am not setting out any extra for them, but I can’t begrudge a hungry baby its sustenance. They get along with the cats and, other than leaving poop in the sun room, they don’t make a mess or cause damage. So I let them eat. I only chase them off if the big one comes out and starts bullying the littles. Pretty sure that one is a big male.
Meanwhile…
I got a couple of calls from my mother this afternoon.
*sigh*
I had to hang up on her, the first time.
I saw the call display, so I knew it was her when I answered, but when I said hello, there was nothing. I said hello again. Still nothing. I checked to make sure the line was still open, and it was. I said hello again, and she finally answered.
???
We had barely said our hellos when she started. I’d asked how she was doing, and she started talking about all the commotion outside her window from the “big celebration”. This would be the annual festival that has been happening in this town for more than 100 years, and has been getting bigger and bigger over the past two or three decades. An entire “village” with historical re-enactments gets set up in the park next to the nursing home, and the parking normally used for fishing boats or people parking at the marine across the road gets set up with at least a dozen food trucks – and this isn’t even the main event area! All the carnival rides, stage performances and indoor exhibitions are at another park, across town.
“Across town” being about 4 blocks.
When she mentioned it, I told her I knew it was on – and that it was why I was not going anywhere near town today or tomorrow.
She then started saying she thought the parade was happening tomorrow (it is), and that I should “bring the children”. I needed to “bring the children” and get them around people. Get “the children” doing things.
I finally cut her off and said, “they’re not children. They’re adults.”
She just doubled down. I needed to take “the children” to see the parade.
Never mind that we’ve never really liked parades. Never mind that both daughters have health problems and one of them almost died not that long ago. We’ve only told my mother they have health problems, because we know she doesn’t care, and couldn’t understand it anyhow. So she doesn’t know the details, but she does know that none of us are well. The last time she called was when she wanted me to come visit and I had to tell her I’d just come back from the ER. She didn’t ask anything about it. She just kept hammering at me that I needed to take “the children” to the parade.
As she kept going, I told her to stop.
She didn’t.
I told her to stop again.
She ignored me.
I said good bye and hung up.
The entire call was less than 1 minute.
I had started to update my brother and SIL when the phone rang again. It was my mother, so I answered.
I got a dial tone. She hung up before I had a chance to pick up.
So I finished updating my family on the group chat we have specifically for discussions about our mother, when the phone rang again. It was my mother. I answered and said hello.
Nothing.
Hello?
Nothing.
Hello?
She finally said hello.
She then spoke as if the last call never happens. This time, she launched into how she wanted me to come over so she could give me money. “Lots” of money, so I could buy her some fruit. For some reason, she really felt she needed fruit.
I told her again, I was not going into town today. At the earliest, I could go tomorrow afternoon.
Not today?
No. Not today. Tomorrow afternoon at the earliest – partly because the streets in front of the grocery store will be closed off for the parade.
Oh, as long as the grocery store is open.
…
Then she started listing off the other things she wanted me to bring. One, her oscillating fan, I can do. The other two items would require digging past other stores items blocking the way, and digging through boxes. One of them was an old radio that she is convinced will be magically able to get the radio station she wants, even though it’s not any better than the radio she already has. When I told her no, it was in storage, and I can’t get at it, she wanted to know why. Was it locked? I couldn’t exactly explain to her that I have so many things from her apartment here, we can barely used our own living room. I just said, there are other things in the way and I can’t get at it.
She did, eventually, accept that.
Then she told me she didn’t know how to turn the light off on her phone. The light by the neck strap. As near as I can figure out, it’s the built in flashlight. She somehow turned it on, and now doesn’t know how to turn it off. She keeps pushing buttons, she says, but it won’t turn off.
I told her, don’t button mash!
Then she told me she had tried to phone my sister, then my brother, and tried to phone me, but was only able to reach me.
Which explains the earlier non-call.
She doesn’t know how to use the phone. She needs a “real” phone. I told her, my brother got her the simplest, easiest phone he could. He and I had looked at all kinds of phones, and he picked the easiest one for her. Oh, she leaves the technology to my brother.
*sigh*
Oh, and it’s been a long time since my brother visited, and did I know where he was?
I told her, he’s been busy trying to fix their car – which is true, but he’d come out here to fix his tractor, too. I wasn’t going to tell her that. Especially since the part he got turned out to not work so they went back to the city this morning – I saw them drive by while I was watering the garden. They didn’t get back until this evening.
I told her I would pass on to my brother and my sister about her wanting fruit, so whoever got to her first could bring something. Amazingly, she actually let me go shortly after that.
After messaging my brother and texting my sister, I finished eating my supper then headed outside.
As I was finishing setting out the kibble and the cat soup, I saw Batman, loafed in front of the sun room door. I stepped outside and pet him and he didn’t move so, right away, I knew something was wrong. He normally runs away.
When I came back, he was still there. I picked him up and put him near a tray with cat soup in it. When I came back moments later, he was loafed again, and using the edge of the tray as a pillow, barely breathing. I don’t think he ate.
At this point, I just tried to make him as comfortable as possible, and gave him pets. He’s never allowed pets before, but he seemed to appreciate them. Every now and then, I’d come back and find he’d moved a bit. When I found him next to the water bowl, I found a shallow water bowl and set it beside him with fresh water. I don’t think he drank.
After a while, I set up a soft bed for him, instead of the hard concrete, but later found he’d gotten off, then lay on the concrete.
I don’t think he’ll last until morning.
The only external evidence of illness that I can see is on his back end, where he’d clearly had done some messy business, but just as clearly, it was not recent.
I kept checking on him as I got things done. We had high winds today, so I walked around the yard with the wagon to pick up fallen branches, mostly from the willows. It was too hot for some of the jobs I meant to do, and too windy for others, but I did get the folding table out of the garage and set up behind the kibble house. I brought the canopy tent over, too, but it was too windy to set it up. Over the next while, I hope to be able to empty the sun room and give it a proper cleaning, and some things need to stay out of the weather. I also expect to be harvesting the garlic soon, and I’ll be hanging them to cure across the inside of the tent.
With the heat, the garden needed another watering, but it was still too hot. I went inside, planning to rest and hydrate before going out again, but by then, the pain was kicking in and I knew I wouldn’t be able to. My older daughter, sweetheart that she is, went out to do it for me.
As for myself, I’ve taken my tramadol, and it doesn’t seem to be doing a thing. In fact, the pain has been getting worse as I have been writing this.
My daughter just came by to update me. She has seen Batman moving around but, being covered in bug spray, she didn’t want to touch him. I’ve been warned he is now directly under the door between the old kitchen and the sun room, so to watch my step. Also, she had to chase both a skunk and a racoon out of the sun room! She also had a chance to talk to my brother while she was watering the garden, which is nice. Since she works nights, she doesn’t get a chance to see them much.
As soon as I’m done writing this, I’m going to have to take my evening supplements and lie down. Just sitting up at my computer is getting too painful.
Well, I’m glad I didn’t head to the city today for our second stock up shop. That will definitely wait until after the long weekend. Not only will I not have to deal with holiday crowds, but Tuesday is supposed to finally be cooler again.
I had an early start to the day, not by choice. It wasn’t pain that woke me up – it was cats going nuts! – though I did immediately get a headache. I don’t normally get headaches, and I don’t know what triggered it.
I topped up the inside cat kibble bowls which calmed them down a little bit, but they’ve been really bonkers lately. Since I was up anyhow, I went out to do the morning feeding and watering of the yard cats.
Sprout’s baby has starting coming to the food bowls in its own, without mom around!
(As an aside, Gouda did show up again. I had a scare with Batman, but he showed up, too. Still no Havarti, no Domino, no Adam and no Flopsy. At this point, it is highly unlikely we will see them again. Others seems to have disappeared, too, among the tabbies we never got to name. All have gone missing in an unusually short time. 😢😢😢)
It was wonderfully cool, heading outside that early in the morning. It helped my headache a bit, at least. I was planning to go straight back to bed, but I found myself not only with the headache, but suddenly famished. As in, feeling nauseous and dizzy and ready to pass out, hungry. Also odd, because I had gone to bed early last night, but got up at around midnight because of the pain my left hip. The painkillers helped with the abdominal pain but did nothing for the wrecked hip. My older daughter was up and working on commissions while it was cooler, and she was kind enough to rub some of the topical painkiller on my hip joint for me. Then she was kind enough to make me some grilled cheese sandwiches. Since I was up anyhow, I turned on the computer and paid the bills. By the time she brought me the food, my hip was no longer hurting, and I could finally sleep. I went back to bed at around two, so it was only about 3-4 hours later that I found myself awake and suddenly famished.
My body is completely out of whack!
My attempt to get more sleep was only half successful. It was disorienting to get up, feeling like it should be coming up on noon, but it was early enough that my alarm to do a wellness check on my husband hadn’t gone off yet.
With having to move the hoses because I knew my SIL was planning to mow the lawn, the garden hadn’t been watered at all for two days. Being slightly cooler today, and the mowing done, I went out to do it early this afternoon. Everything got an extra deep watering today, and I set up the hose into the leaky barrel to do the food forest trees, too. They also got extra water, and the leaking barrel will continue to water the apple, gooseberry and probably the plum, too, slowly as it empties.
When I moved to the south side of the hose to water the garden beds there, I started a little creature and saw a streak of white bolting out from under the water bowl shelter and across the yard.
It was Sprout’s baby! It is starting to come closer to the house for food!!! Progress!!!!
While watering the tomato bed, I spotted a splash of colour.
Our very first ripe tomato! 😂🤣 This is an Orange Currant tomato which is pretty much an orange version of the Spoon tomatoes we’ve grown before – the one kind of tomato I can eat raw. I didn’t eat this one, though. My daughter had gone to the truck to sew up a split seam on the driver’s seat for me, so I gave it to her.
She said it was very good!
I was getting close to finishing the watering when my brother and SIL arrived. They have their own planned out stuff to do, so I don’t expect to actually see them much while there are here. Especially since I have not been outside anywhere near as much as I normally would be.
Still, by the time I was done watering (which took almost 3 hours), I was feeling pretty good. Good enough that I brought the truck around and my younger daughter helped me load up the garbage and recycling.
Thankfully, she came with me to the dump.
By the time the truck was loaded, I could tell the pain was starting to return. By the time we drove the two miles to the highway, it was getting hard to sit up straight. I was still good to drive, though. When we got to the dump, we stopped at the recycling bins first, and I got out to help my daughter take care of those. By then, I knew I was done. I could get in and out of the truck, but I was not going to be able to throw anything into the pit. So when we drove to the pit, my daughter took care of throwing the garbage bags in while I stayed in the truck.
On the way home, we made a side trip to the general store. The only thing I didn’t get while doing the earlier stock up trip was butter, and I discovered we were almost out. I ended up giving my daughter my debit card so she could run in and get the butter, plus a couple other things, while I stayed in the truck.
When we got home, she asked me to drive into the yard so she could hose down the box of the truck, as one of the kitchen garbage bags had leaked. I was happy to do that, as it meant a shorter walk to the house. While she took care of things, I took some painkillers and hydrated for a while.
My older daughter had started supper and it was ready before we got back, which was much appreciated.
Thankfully, the painkillers actually kicked in, so I was up to heading outside again. I’d forgotten to change out the memory cards on the trail cams yesterday. I no longer switch them out every day, but every week or so, now that we have fewer security concerns. Sad to think that it took our vandal passing away for that to happen, but it really has been a weight lifted off of all of us.
Of course, I just had to check out the garden beds before going back inside. Which is when I spotted something that I’m amazed I hadn’t seen before, while I was watering.
These are the California Wonder bell peppers. The biggest plant has these two big peppers on it – one of them is stuck upside down, between stems. I had need tiny peppers forming on other plants, but somehow missed these ones!
Tomorrow is supposed to get quite hot again, so I plan to go to bed extra early to do an early morning watering, and will likely do an evening watering, too. Tomorrows heat is supposed to last from about noon to 8pm, before it starts cooling down. The overnight temperatures, at least, are much more bearable!
The Re-Farmer 