There isn’t a lot in the garden now that can be harvested regularly. Most of it is waiting until everything can be harvested at once, but today, we had something.
My younger daughter took care of the morning routine. She had exciting news for me. She saw the missing kittens! She saw three at the shrine feeding station, then three at the catio!
Still no Slick. At this point, there’s no chance we’ll be seeing her again. All we can do is try and get those kittens.
My daughter then stayed out to do the weed trimming until she ran out of batteries, then used the push mower to clear areas I couldn’t get at with the riding mower. She was out there for about four hours straight.
I may not be able to go out and do this physical stuff outside, but I could at least have a lunch ready and waiting for her when she got back in!
We will do our second stock up shop tomorrow.
Late this afternoon, I was feeling well enough to feed the outside cats. I’ll head out again later on to give the kittens an extra feeding at the catio, since there are so many critter stealing their food that far from the house. Daytime highs are pretty hot again now; we hit 26C/79F today. It’s past 5pm as I write this, and we’re still at 26C/79F, with the humidex at 31C/88F. We’re starting to get thunderstorm and tornado warnings for tomorrow afternoon and evening, for the southern end of our province. For our area, we’re expected to get just rain in the wee hours of tomorrow night. We shall see.
After feeding the cats, I stayed out to harvest the bush beans.
The yellow bush beans planted later by the Arikara squash are reaching their peak now, though we are still getting plenty of purple beans in the high raised beds. There seem to be almost no green beans at all.
I grabbed another Golden Boy celery for dehydrating, and there were a couple of Green Benning scallop squash big enough to grab. Then I went ahead and picked some crab apples, too. The ones on this tree are brilliantly red now and much sweeter, though still very tangy at the same time. Peak ripeness! I didn’t pick a lot, as we have no real plans for them, other than straight eating. Later in the season, I will probably shake the branches to try and drop the highest apples so the deer can eat them off the ground, and not break branches trying to reach them.
This afternoon I got a strange call from my mother. Strange in that she was in a good mood, cheerful sounding, and didn’t insult me or my brother even once. Even when she did start in on some of her favourite topics to complain about, she actually stopped herself and changed the subject.
She thought I was going for surgery on Monday, though, so I had to explain to her that I’m seeing the doctor to talk about what’s going on; it’s too soon to know if I’ll be going for another surgery. For some reason, this time she seemed to finally clue in that the specialist I’m seeing is female, and she was quite surprised about that. I mentioned that she had probably seen this doctor, too, a few years back, and that I recognized the clinic from when my brother and I had brought her there for an appointment, but she didn’t remember that at all. Which is fine.
Oh, she also mentioned that she’s got a birthday coming up. She’s turning 95 in September. She made sure to tell me not to get her any “stuff” for her birthday. Which is good, because she doesn’t have room for a lot.
We didn’t have much to talk about. We’re not going out much or doing a lot. She was happy to hear the girls are taking good care of me. I apparently sounded quite tired on the phone, because she ended the call herself, saying she would let me rest.
Which I probably should be doing. I feel like I’m falling asleep at my keyboard. I’m glad I learned out to touch type. Several times, while writing this, I found I was typing with my eyes closed. I seem to have fewer typos when I do that! 😄
I didn’t do a lot of walking today, but I’m starting to feel the consequences of it. It’ll be a couple of hours before I can take more painkillers. *sigh*
Hopefully, things will improve for tomorrow, when we head into the city. We will make sure to bring my walker along!!
I am so tired of this. It certainly gives me a bit more insight on how my husband must be feeling, every day. His back pain is barely controlled with meds, there’s nothing that can be done to “fix” it, and he’s been coping with it for more than 20 years now.
Okay, yes, the stock up shop did get done yesterday, but my daughter did most of the actual work, so that doesn’t count. 😁
This morning, she did the outside stuff for me, as usual, and even stayed out to do a deep watering of the garden. We’ve been dealing with flea beetles, all of a sudden. The nasturtiums work as a trap crop for those, and they are absolutely covered with them. So many that, when startled, you can hear them bouncing off the leaves and petals like rain.
They also love the Daikon radish. These had all bolted and were being left to go to seed. They are now all stems and pods. No leaves left at all. My daughter has been blasting the beetles off with the hose, but there’s really nothing that can be done. They’re also on the remains of the cabbages. I’m not sure if the netting would have been enough to protect them, had they not already been harvested!
In the early afternoon, my daughter and I headed in to town. We wanted to get some ice cream to go with the birthday cake, among a few other small things. We ended up getting several ice creams. A small tub of lactose free ice cream for my husband, and another small one for me, since I’m not big on ice cream, and my daughter chose a larger tub to share with her sister. They like to add a scoop to their coffees, sometimes.
By the time we were done the shopping, I was starting to feel dizzy, so my daughter took over the driving. It wasn’t that bad, but just bad enough that I didn’t feel it would be safe for me to drive.
After everything was brought in and put away, it wasn’t too much longer before it was time to feed the outside cats, and I was feeling well enough to do that. I was eventually able to spot the four remaining kittens. We have the food and water bowls set up in the catio, which is great for luring them out, but is also a problem. The other cats and the skunks go in there and steal the kittens’ food! Hard to chase them away without also scaring the kittens.
Once that was done, I broke out the riding mower. There’s no way I can use a push mower of the weed trimmer – my daughter will be taking care of that part of the lawn care – but I can at least use the riding mower!
I ended up mowing for almost 4 hours, and I am so happy! I was able to get all the inner yard done, including in the main garden area. Everything I can get to with the riding mower. Some areas can only be done with the push mower or the weed trimmer, which my daughter is planning to work on tomorrow.
It felt so good to actually be productive. The forced inactivity is driving me bonkers. The yard looks so good, now, too. The outer yard and driveway still need to be done, but that can wait a bit longer. My SIL has been doing that area with their big zero turn mower for the past while, but they’ve got their grandsons still and will not be coming out here on the weekend, so I hope to get at least part of it done with the little riding mower. We are not touching the zero turn mower, at all! 😄
I was happy to get it done while it was still light out, too. That gave me a chance to top up the kittens’ bowl with kibble and cat milk again. It was completely empty, and I know the kittens didn’t finish that off one their own. Even while I was mowing, I had to chase both cats and skunks out. I made sure to top up the gas tank before running out, driving the mower to the garage to reduce the amount of walking I had to do, and ended up driving towards the catio so the noise would drive off the critters stealing the kittens’ food!
After refilling their bowl, I paused on the way back to the house to get a couple of photos at the chain link fence. In the time it took for me to do that, I spotted kittens heading for the new food I’d left for them. Encouraging!
These two photos are both of Black Russian sunflowers. The Mammoth sunflowers are not blooming at all, yet. Both varieties are supposed to have large seed heads, but I don’t think that will happen. The ones in the photos are about the size of the palm of my hand. It should be interesting to see how much bigger they get.
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that we’re at the end of August already. About two weeks away from our average first frost date (I’m not going by the new date ranges). Just a few days until September. Good grief!
I’m hoping that Super El Nińo will help us out with a long, mild fall and no frost for a long time. Since moving here, we’ve had one year were the first frost happened in November, if I remember correctly. The shorter days will still set things back, but if the frost holds off, it’ll be good for the garden.
Meanwhile, I’m happy to say that I did NOT over do things by getting the lawn mowed. I’m so thankful for that riding mower!
This morning I got a call from the tree removal company. Someone would soon be here to finally do the stump grinding!
Which was a bit of a surprise. We had a downpour this morning, though it was past by the time he got here and, according to what he saw on the way over, hitting the town east of us. Normally, he would not have come out in the wet like this, but he had checked the weather radar before calling me and it showed clear skies over us!
I must admit, I was geeking out completely. I’ve never seen a stump grinder before, never mind one in action, in person. It was a beautious thing!
Since I was out anyhow, I took the time to check on the branch pile, were I spotted some kittens. I saw them again, after he started grinding, nervous but watching.
I only saw the four at one time. It’s possible I saw the other two on their own later, but from a distance and with tall grass and branches in the way, most of the time all I could tell was “black kitten” or “tabby kitten”.
We have not seen Slick for several days. I am beginning to think she may be gone. It’s also possible two kittens have disappeared as well.
For now, we are making sure they have plenty of food in the catio. Other cats, skunks and probably raccoons as well are going into the catio – there’s no way to stop them – go in and eat their food, but if we time things right, they get a chance to eat well. My daughter is still doing the morning cat routine for me, and we still have a bit of the freeze dried cat food mix left, so they are still getting cat soup in the mornings. Once we’re out of the mix, we might start using some of the donated canned cat food we still have left to make cat soup.
He set up a barrier around the stump to keep flying chips from hitting the house or flying all over the place, to make for easier clean up. While I was checking on things in the yard, I noticed him pause with the grinding to remove parts of the tractor tire that were still stuck under the root ball. He had bins around the stump to haul away the chips, but seeing him move the tire pieces, I brought the wheelbarrow closer. The next time he paused in grinding, I suggested it might be easier to use the wheelbarrow. Which worked out because he ended up using a bin to scoop up chips into the wheelbarrow, then dumping it with the rest of the wood chips behind the house.
The first image above, he was about half way through the stump. Maybe a bit more.
While I was checking the tomato bed, pruning off yellowing branches, my younger daughter came out. She talked to the guy for a while as he paused with the grinding again. When he started up again, she and I walked around the yard a bit more, looking for kittens and checking the nearest garden beds.
That’s all I did. I swear.
That was all it took, and I could feel the pain returning. I headed inside to sit down, but it kept getting worse, and I had to ask my daughter to take over being available for the tree guy.
Then I remembered that, with stuff going on (including calling the clinic and leaving another message), I had forgotten to take my morning pain killers, meds and supplements. I took care of that right away. I’m finished with the antibiotics and the stuff that’s supposed to stop the bleeding (I’m still bleeding), so I’m back to almost all supplements.
The second image, was after he was done and had cleaned up. You can see the little pile of broken tire bits on one of the patio blocks. He’d had to move one of them to get a root out. We’ll later need to move all the blocks and re-set them. I don’t know what my brother has planned for that, but I expect we’ll need to get more sand or gravel to lay under it. That would be a good time to move a couple of other blocks in front of the steps that have sunk and build things back up underneath them.
Nothing I can do at all right now. Today is exactly 1 week from the procedure. I may not be restricted to lifting a maximum of 10 pounds anymore, but each of those blocks weighs about 50 pounds. Since I can barely walk around the yard without triggering the pain, it’s probably not a good idea for me to start rebuilding a patio!
While on that subject…
I got a call back from the clinic. The receptionist told me they hadn’t received anything from the hospital about my ER visit on Saturday, so she had already contacted them to fax my file to the clinic. The doctor that did the surgery won’t be back until Monday, and she was able to give me several times to choose from to come in. So I now have an appointment scheduled.
The pain kept getting worse, but I was still mobile when the guy finished the job. He was with my daughter, writing up a bill, when I came around. Once I had the invoice, I took a picture of it and sent it to my brother. The total for the tree removal (3.5hours), and the stump grinding and clean up – after taxes – came to a little over $1800. My brother was prepared for that, so he was able to send them an e-transfer soon after.
I ended up having to lie down and tried lying down in my own bed at first. I barely settled when I had three cats lying on me – Susan was on my ribs almost instantly – then Butterscotch on one side of my head, Cheddar on the other, plus two more on either side of my legs. Which would have been okay, if they would only stay still! The final straw was then a tabby – I don’t know if it was Mitsy or Shadow – suddenly parkoured off my stomach after vaulting over Ghosty nearby.
I ended up on the couch in the cat free zone, aka: the living room.
Which got interrupted by a phone call from my mother.
*sigh*
It turned out to be an okay call. Partly because, when she asked how I was doing, I flat out told her that I’d been at the ER again and was still dealing with pain. She had been prepared to regale me with her usual comments about her own health complaints, which have changed little in the years we’ve been living here. The main difference is that she is now blaming it all on her digestion, rather than her heart. It is very hard to pick out enough detail to determine what is going on. For example, she started off saying how she was feeling back “all over” and, at first, it seemed she was talking about pain. It took some questioning before I was able to figure out that she meant full body fatigue. Lord knows, I can understand where she’s coming from on both, but we’re still never sure how bad it is. She told me they are “neglecting her” because they “won’t let” her see a doctor or a dietician. I’ve tried to explain, several times, that the nurses have notebooks for each person living here, they write down about issues, then have regular meetings with the doctor to talk about them. My mother complains about the same things she has been for years but others – like her legs swelling – she brushes off completely. Oh, they’ve never told me they talk to the doctor, was her response. Except we’ve all told her this, several times. It’s not that she doesn’t remember. It’s that she doesn’t believe it. For other things, she makes things sound completely different than what’s really happening. When talking about her digestion, she starts talking about how she’s burping all the time, which is a very specific piece of information – until it comes out that she is forcing herself to burp because she says it makes her chest pains feel better afterwards. ???
I’ve been in the room with her while she is forcing those burps, and it’s really… unpleasant to watch and hear. One of her reasons for claiming the staff is “neglecting” her is because, if one of them is in the room with her when she starts (forced) burping, they leave. I have no idea what she expects them to do about it. She also keeps bringing up how her pills were two hours late and the nurse had said she forgot to give them to her, as if that happened just this morning. It didn’t. It happened during a festival, on a day when they were taking residents outside to watch a parade go by. The nurse had apologized, but she “forgot” because she was physically helping people outside to see an event my mother chose not to watch herself. This was weeks ago, and it only happened the one time.
In the end, the reason she had called me was because she wanted a few things brought to her. Things that I passed on to my siblings. My sister will probably be the first to visit my mother in the next while. My brother has his grandchildren for the week, and they might be able to come out on the weekend. I have no idea when I’ll be up to visiting my mother next. Even if I do make it into town, having the energy to do whatever brought me there, and visit her as well, is more than I can handle right now.
*sigh*
Thankfully, today’s pain did mostly pass by the time my mother called, though I had to take more painkillers for it at my usual 6 hour mark. My daughters had made supper and, after eating, I felt well enough to head back outside. I checked on the kittens (three of them were in the cat bed in the catio, but ran into the branch pile when they saw me coming), then went back to pruning tomatoes. In the process, I found some ripe Orange Current tomatoes.
I gave them to my daughters. They quite like them!
Thankfully, the pain didn’t come back as I was outside, but I didn’t push myself, either. Not that I’d pushed myself this morning…
So that’s where I’m at now. Still frustratingly dealing with pain that the surgery should have stopped from happening. I had felt so good right after, I was quite hopeful about that. *sigh* It’s probably going to be too early for results from the biopsy when I see the doctor on Monday, but I definitely need to talk to her about what’s still going on. She already knows I’m more than willing to go for the next likely surgical option.
My daughter and I have talked about our upcoming stock up shopping trips. We have decided we will do the Costco shopping on Thursday, when CPP Disability come in, first. With the last business day of the month being on Monday, my husband’s main disability payment with his private insurance should come in on Saturday instead, so we’ll do the other stock up shopping on the weekend.
My daughter is going to have to do pretty much everything. We’ll be sure to bring my walker, so I can sit as needed, rather than using the cart as a walker.
So frustrating!
But, it is what it is. We deal with the hand we’ve been dealt.
Where on earth did August disappear to? I suddenly realized, just today, that we’re due to be doing our first city stock up trip THIS week!
It’s gone by so fast, it’s disorienting.
I have finally put together a garden tour video. Which is the extent of my ability to garden right now. My younger daughter took care of things in the garden for me today, again. No watering needed, as we got rain. We still have a “severe thunderstorm watch” in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow, though I expect we’ll just have more rain where we are. It’s quite windy out there right now, though. I haven’t made it outside at all today, yet. I’ve tried to call the clinic, as instructed by the ER physician, but have not been able to get through. I left a message shortly after they opened. I tried calling in the afternoon, got put on hold, then that was ended by an automated message saying they were unable to answer, either because they were closed (they were not) or too busy. It also recommended calling the health line – the one that was down when I tried calling before going to the ER – or leaving a message. I had already left one, so I did not do it again.
Being stuck inside and relatively pain free, I was able to finish editing the garden tour video, at least.
After yesterday’s trip to the ER, my daughters have been absolutely brutal about me not doing anything.
Which was probably a good idea. I have been feeling really good today, which means I probably would have overdone it, if they hadn’t!
My younger daughter has been focusing on the outside stuff and taking over in the garden. She’s been doing the morning cat feeding and this morning she did a deep watering of the garden beds – something that probably won’t be needed tomorrow, as there are thunderstorms in the forecast. Then she went out again to dig up all of the potatoes. Which turned out to be a harder job than it should have been. She couldn’t find where I’d left the garden fork, which still needed to have its broken handle replaced, so she was using a spade. When I came out to see how she was, she’d stopped for a break in the shade, having brought my walker out to use.
She found that thing so handy, she’s now considering buying one for herself!
When I found out about the lack of garden fork, I got the new handle I bought, a screwdriver and the garden fork over. Unfortunately, the Canadian Tire handle turns out to be smaller than the handle on the fork, so she wasn’t able to get it all the way on. We’ll need to reduce the circumference of the handle by a small amount – small enough that just some sand paper would do the job – to get it all the way on. So she had to finish using the spade.
Most of the Yukon Gold got rinsed off with a hose then brought inside. The first photo above is after her sister used some of it for supper. The second image is the last of the Yukon Gold with all of the Viking potatoes, curing on the screen.
I’m not too concerned about curing them fully. There aren’t a lot of them and they will likely be finished off rather quickly, much like the cabbage harvested earlier are being used up now.
In the future, we would need to plant a LOT more to have enough to last us the winter and, hopefully, have seed potatoes for the next year.
My daughter removed the garlic from the screen to make room for the potatoes, and then she trimmed the roots and dirt off the garlic, getting them ready to bring indoors.
We’ll be sure to selected the ones with the largest cloves to plant in October. We will have plenty to choose from. We’ve got the largest garlic we’ve grown yet, this year!
I joined my daughter again shortly before she finished with the garlic, so we were able to walk around a bit. I did harvest some bush beans planted around the Arikara squash, while she looked for any ripe Orange Currant tomatoes. Later on, I also harvested the one Prolific Long Neck squash that was large enough to make it worth picking.
While walking around, I couldn’t help but notice this.
The tree removal company has not been able to come out with their stump grinder, with the rain we had last week. From the looks of it, we’ll be getting thunderstorms and severe weather through Monday and Tuesday.
Which means the elm has had time to start trying to grow back already.
Elm is very difficult to get rid of, which is one of the reasons why my brother is willing to pay for stump grinding.
So the girls have been wonderful about getting things done that I would normally be working on, which is appreciated. Even feeling as good as I did, and as lovely it was to walk around the yard to get some fresh air and sunshine. it wasn’t all that long before I started feeling warning signs that I needed to get back inside to sit down. I still managed to get a few easy things done, though I had to sneak that in after my daughter went inside with the garlic. 😄
I kept feeling worse and worse all day. The pain was back, though not as extreme as the last time I ended up in the ER. It was the other stuff that came with it. Fatigue. Dizziness. Breaking out in sweats. Overall weakness. Feeling dehydrated, even though I was being careful to get enough fluids.
After things kept getting worse, I finally broke down and tried to call the health line number. This is a number in our province that we can call to talk to an RN about whatever’s going on and getting advice, including whether or not to go to the ER.
I got a robot voice telling me that “due to technical problems”, they couldn’t response, try again later, and then it went to a busy signal.
*sigh*
Not long after that, I asked my daughter to drive me to the ER. Last time, I was able to do it myself. This time, I could barely walk, never mind drive.
The girls loaded me (wearing a night gown and moccasins, because I didn’t have the energy to change) and the walker up and we headed out. I made sure to bring along the sheet I got from the hospital that listed the three procedures done during the surgery, and my new prescriptions. I was admitted immediately – by the same person that admitted me last time!
The first time a nurse called me into the triage room to take my vitals, I walked in but asked for the use of a wheelchair after that. The only one she could find left was actually meant for children, which was fine by me! As we were talking, I mentioned what happened when I tried to call the health line. She scoffed in frustration, saying they just tell people to go to the ER.
Next, I was wheeled over to the lab to get some blood work done. That went well. I have excellent veins. They always have the hardest time with my husband but, with me, it’s very easy for them! I’m pretty sure I recognized at least one of the staff in the lab as having taken blood from my husband.
I ended up being seen by the same doctor as last time and she remembered me (it wasn’t that long ago!), which made it easier to explain that yes, I’d seen the specialist she was able to get me to see so very quickly, and that yes, I’m post-op. My follow up appointment isn’t until the 15th of next month, though.
As we were talking, she even commented on my obvious discomfort. I’m glad my daughter was there because at one point, when she asked about my symptoms – something I’d already repeated several times to others – I was having difficulty speaking and my brain was too fogged to remember them all, so my daughter was able to list them off for me.
In the end, we had the same “problem” as last time. There was little that they could do for me in the ER. There was concerns that I was still bleeding and we went over how the T3s basically do nothing for the pain. She wanted to wait for the results from the lab, which would tell her if I needed a transfusion or not (I did not expect anything like that), or an IV for fluids, if I were dehydrated.
The main thing that they could focus on was pain control. She suggested hydromorphone, which my husband is on. I told her that, so she knew I was familiar with it. If the T3s aren’t working, she was willing to prescribe some to me, but that falls under the “controlled substance” label. In the end, she said it was okay if I took one from my husband to try and see if it works, or if I would have a reaction to it. I didn’t know what his dose was, and she told me to take 1mg, so if he’s on 2mg, I should break it in half.
For now, though, I’m to take two T3s every six hours, instead of the 1-3 tablets every 8 hours as needed, but not at the same time as the hydromorphone, if I’m going to try that. I got all the other warnings – no alcohol, don’t try to drive, don’t go swimming, etc. I told her, if I’m going to take it, I’ll be taking it and going straight to bed!
She approved of that.
She then told me that, on Monday, I need to call the specialist that did the surgery, tell her that I’d gone to the ER, and to get in to see her as quickly as possible, rather than waiting the 4 weeks.
Until then, I got an injection of tramadol for the pain I was dealing with right then. The nurse that came to me in the waiting with the injection recognized me from the last time I was there immediately! I think it was my sparkly hat. 😄
Not long after, the doctor came by with the lab results, which turned out to be really good. One of them was even better than the result from last time, and she told me to keep doing what I’m doing.
The main thing was, I did not need a transfusion or IV. I had just got the tramadol injection, so she said I could go home.
Then my daughter went and brought the truck over from where she’d parked it once I was admitted and we were soon on the way home. As we were driving, she commented on how quickly they took care of me. I suggested it might have had something to do with how terrible I looked.
She agreed. I was looking very ill!
Once at home, my younger daughter drove right up to the house to unload me and help me to the door, where her sister was waiting to help me once inside.
Have I mentioned how much I love all the arm bars and hand rails this house has? Quite a few times, I’m sure!
My older daughter had just finished making supper and, though it was early, got a plate ready for me, as I’d had only soup and toast all day. By this time, the tramadol was starting to do its job and I was feeling better. I did end up lying down again, as I was completely drained.
I don’t know how long I was down for, but I was awakened by the screeching of skunks fighting outside my window. I ended up going outside to see what was going on. I never saw the fighting skunks, but I did chase off two huge ones. One was coming around the corner of the house. The other was in the isolation shelter! Earlier, my daughter had messaged us to let us know she’d gone outside to feed the cats, but there was a skunk in the sun room that couldn’t leave – cats in the doorway were blocking it. So she went out the other door. While in the yard, she checked the sun room and found the skunk stretched out and taking a nap, right under the door into the old kitchen! So she didn’t go into the sun room at all.
Between that and the skunks, when I went out, I found all the kibble trays were empty. Even on the house house roof, there was only a few dregs.
By this time, my younger daughter had come out to check on me. I was going to top up the food bowls, but she did that for me. While she did that, I went over to the branch pile to see if the kittens were out.
I was feeling so much better that I kept walking around – slowly – to check on the garden beds. My daughter walked with me (turns out she was supposed to get me to go back inside, and failed!) and, when I spotted some colour hidden deep among the orange currant tomatoes, she picked them for me.
She found another spray with ripe Orange Currant tomatoes after the photo was taken. I think there were about 6 or 8 in total. Those vines are covered with sprays of tomatoes – so many!!! – and they’re all very green! The girls tell me the Orange Currant tomatoes are very delicious.
We did pick the one red Manitoba tomato, but it ended up going into the compost pile. The skin on that one got damaged while it was still green, and it was in pretty bad shape. There are more, but none are turning red yet.
Our single Arikara squash is getting huge.
Tomorrow, my daughter plans to harvest beans. She got the one golden zucchini that was ready, this morning and the garlic is ready to have their roots trimmed off and the soil brushed away before they come inside. She had planned to do a few things in the garden for me today, but got side tracked with having to drive me to the ER! I’ve been ordered not to have any more medical emergencies. 😂🤣
Meanwhile, at the moment, I’m feeling much better. The pain is gone, though I’m still feeling really weak. I’ve got timers and alarms set for the different meds I have, though I will be out of one of them rather soon. If things get bad again, I might try the hydromorphone. I have a slight problem with trying one of my husband’s, though. The doctor said to take 1mg, and split the pill if he’s on 2mg.
He’s on 12mg, and they’re not tablets, but gel caps. It’s the highest dose they’re allowed to give out, if I remember correctly, but I didn’t know what the actual number was until talking to my husband about it and he double checked.
I will admit, though, that I have actually tried it before, when the pain got extremely bad some time ago. I took one before bed and it worked incredibly well. No bad reactions, and it actually killed the pain, unlike the T3s. It also helped with my hip and shoulder pain. I was able to actually sleep. This is something to avoid, though, if only because he’s already so limited on when he can get refills.
Hopefully, things will be better tomorrow – and stay better! I still have to call the specialist’s clinic on Monday, though, and get in to see her as soon as possible.
I felt so good after the surgery, but the more time goes by, the worse I’ve been feeling.
Now, it’s back.
The pain that the doctor said the procedure should end.
Still not bad enough to go to the ER, but that is a possibility.
My daughter drove us to the post office to pick up a parcel. I ended up giving her my debit card along with the mail key and staying in the truck, in case she saw something in the general store worth picking up.
There ended up being two parcels. My latest MI Gardener seed order was in, too. Follow the link to see what made me choose these specific varieties.
There was also a surprise complementary packet of seeds; a “Salad bowl” mix. Who knows. We might even try growing some of those under lights in the winter.
The new seeds should be added to my seed bin that’s in the cool of the basement, but I can’t do the stairs right now.
In fact, I think I’m going to lie down again in a bit.
In some ways, I am a really terrible person to myself.
I am doing very well, which means I want to do more than I should, without even thinking about it! I was doing so well, I was able to do a walkabout yesterday evening… with my daughters both joining me to make sure I was okay!
Here we are, past the middle of August, and the sunflowers are just starting to form their heads. In the second photo of the slide show above, the one tomato we have that formed the earliest is finally turning red, but it’s taken so long, the skin looks dried out and damaged. There are, however, a decent number of other Manitoba Tomatoes on the plants, though still very green. The Blueberry tomatoes have quite a few forming fruit, all incredibly hard. There are lots of Orange Currant tomatoes, and they’re the only ones in that bed that have had anything ripen, but only from the same spray of fruit. Everything else is solid green. Same with the Chocolate Stripe tomatoes in the main garden area. We might be able to bring them in to ripen off the vine, but it’s way too early for most of them. Meanwhile, we’ve had some surprisingly cool night temperatures lately. We dropped to 6C/43F last night! Overnight temperatures over the next while as supposed to be warmer. The app on my phone says we’ll get another drop like last night within the week, but that app is also saying it’s raining right now, has been for hours and will continue through the night.
It’s not raining. It’s not even overcast.
Looking at the weather radar, the system is passing to the north and south of us. We might get a bit of rain in about an hour and that’s it.
I was able to sleep last night, and even sleep in, as my younger daughter took over the morning routine. She made sure the catio food bowl had a generous amount of cat soup to lure the babies (I have not seem or heard them at all today), and she watered the garden. We talked about that for a bit and the potatoes will no longer be watered so the soil will dry out and they can be harvested.
Which won’t be by me.
Later in the morning, she and I headed out to town, stopping first to pick up a parcel at the post office that turned out to be three parcels. I’m really amazed by how quickly my husband’s Tei Fu order came in! This time, he got some oil as well as the lotion that my daughter will test out. I was up to driving, but my daughter ran into the post office so I didn’t need to get in and out of the truck.
Our first stop in town was the pharmacy so I could get my post-op prescriptions filled. My husband has a refill scheduled for delivery tomorrow and I was hoping to pick that up, too, but I was not allowed to. Being a “controlled substance” it was too early for a refill. Idiotic and frustrating. Both my daughters had refills to get filled as well, with one of those also being a “controlled substance” that had to wait until it was almost gone before it would be refilled – which means it would have been out completely if she waited for delivery day.
While we wait for the prescriptions to be filled, my daughter got a wrist brace for her sister and I ended up getting a thumb brace for myself. I wore it only for the afternoon, and it has already made a world of difference.
Wandering around the store started to be a bit much, though, and I didn’t want to push myself, so I sat in the waiting area for most of the time. My daughter got the meds for herself and her sister faster, so she paid for the wrist brace (their meds were both covered 100% by our province’s pharmacare insurance) then headed out to another store while I waited.
My meds, being new, got a discussion about instructions with the pharmacist. The antibiotics need to be taken every 6 hours until the bottle is empty. The number of days is a bit off, since I wasn’t able to fill it yesterday so, in theory, I’d already “missed” several doses. The other is to stop bleeding. I can take it every 8 hours, but only as needed, and the fewer I take of that, the better. It’s the same thing my older daughter has a prescription for, and she had asked if I was getting it. The prescription was hand written in a short hand, so I had no idea until the pharmacist named it as she gave it to me. My daughter was very happy to hear I got this prescription, because it works incredibly fast and well. It’s highly unlikely I’ll need to take it for more than a day or two.
Once done at the pharmacy, we decided to go to the grocery store for a few things; bread, eggs and milk, mostly. We ended up getting more, of course. They had several cuts of steak, plus beef roasts, on sale for prices I haven’t seen in a very long time. I ended up getting two packages of steaks for tonight, a small roast plus a seasoned pork roast that is always a good price. Pork is about the only affordable meat right now.
Before we could finish going through the store, though, I had to give my daughter my cards and turn the shopping over to my daughter, so I could head to the truck and sit down. I had only been walking around, using the cart as a walker as I usually do, but I could tell I had started to push myself too far and needed to sit. My daughter did the driving and, once we got home, I took my new meds and lay down pretty much right away, making sure to set a timer and an alarm for the two different lengths of time to the next doses.
The girls took care of all the stuff I normally would have done at least part of. My older daughter also cooked the steaks for supper, finishing off the last of our store bought potatoes, together with cabbage and beans from our garden, to go with it.
It was deliscious.
Before supper was ready, I felt well enough again to go outside for the evening cat feeding – promising my daughters I wouldn’t do anything else!
Then my older daughter saw me through the kitchen window, dragging the hose across the yard, and sent my younger daughter running. I was just taking it to the catio to refill the water bowl for Slick and her kittens, but they were afraid I was going to start watering the garden or something! 😁
My daughter stayed with me while I finished and brought the hose back, and we got to talking about how Sprout’s little one has gotten so talkative!
It has a squeaky little meow it gives off while waiting for us to distribute the kibble. It is so nervous about eating, and I’d had to use the hose to chase off a big skunk that had scared it way, just by being there. This poor baby is all alone. Mama doesn’t stay close to it anymore, and it’s too scared to come to the house, so it has formed no “friendships” with any of the other cats. If they come by to eat, she runs away, so we try to get them to eat from other bowls, instead.
Once the cats were fed and watered, my daughter chastised me until I went back inside. 😄
Along with the meds, I’m under some pretty strict instructions on what I can and can’t do. No lifting anything over 10 pounds. No “strenuous activity” for a week… I suspect digging up potatoes counts as “strenuous activity”. Apparently, I’m supposed to be eating a “light diet” or things like toast or soup until I can tolerate more. I have had zero issues with what I have been able to eat. The steak dinner my daughter made REALLY hit the spot! Of course, there are also the warnings to look out for that, if they start, I am to get to the nearest ER immediately.
So far, though, I just had that while where I could tell I’d pushed myself, and lying down was sufficient.
The down side of feeling so good after the procedure; I REALLY need to force myself not to just get back into my normal activity levels!!!
Meanwhile, my timer just went off… time to go take the next dose of antibiotics…
I admit, I’m writing this post in the morning, instead of the evening, as a distraction. Normally, after finishing my morning rounds, I would be making breakfast right now.
I’m hungry. And thirsty.
Unfortunately, I’m in the stage of my pre-op fast where I can’t even drink water.
My daughter is definitely doing the driving on the way in. I’m starting to feel quite light headed and ill, and my hands are getting shaky – and we aren’t leaving for another hour yet!
So, here I am.
I am quite happy with the harvest I got this morning. The beans didn’t get picked yesterday, so there was quite a lot.
These are quite nearly the last of the yellow beans. From what I could see, we won’t be getting more than a few green beans over the next while. The purple beans, however, are at their peak. I don’t expect to pick this many again, but the plants have lots of developing pods visible.
I also picked the one Early Prolific Straightneck squash that was ready. There is a second, smaller one and possibly some female flower buds, spread around the three plants.
Not very prolific, but then, none of the summer squash has been prolific this year. I can see female flower buds on the green pattypan squash plants, and there’s a single Golden Zucchini squash that should be big enough to harvest in a few days. No lemon squash. No Yellow Scallop squash.
Then, out of curiosity, I harvested some Hollow Crown parsnips. The plants are huge and I was curious to see how large the roots were.
Small. They are very small. Parsnips have a ways to go in the season, though, and are a cool weather crop, so maybe they will be better as we approach fall.
I haven’t tried to pick any of the beets. Their greens are huge, which we’ve left, because we are not big on beet greens. Beetroots, however, form right at the surface of the soil, so I can see how they are. These seeds were from a variety mix, and some of the plants look very, very different from others. I can see some roots forming from the red varieties, and they are really small. Other varieties that I am guessing are yellow, orange or white varieties, I can’t see any roots forming at all. Which is so very strange. Particularly for this bed, which has good loose soil, and gets “extra” watering from below, any time the sump pump goes off. Which hasn’t been often, lately, but with how wet things were earlier in the growing season, anything in this bed had a huge advantage.
Well, we’ll see when it comes time to harvest everything and clean up the beds.
So much for that one Yellow Swiss Chard that I was leaving to go to seed. Apparently, the deer like Chard.
The motion sensor noise maker is still there, so I moved it over to the former garlic bed, where the Yellow Swiss Chard is. Hopefully, the closer proximity will help? We shall see.
Meanwhile, my daughter just popped by and we are almost ready to head out to the hospital. Leaving early is good, since there is road construction on our route, so we’ll be heading out fairly soon.
I’m so looking forward to getting this surgery over and done with!!!
I almost forgot to get a “before” picture, so the first image is after I’d already cut away a couple of cabbage heads.
I got a dozen heads loaded up in the wheelbarrow. I left the stems and outer leaves for now. Those will be composted into the bed, later on.
Everything was very wet with dew, so I laid them out on the table under the canopy tent to dry. They have since been brought in, but are still a touch damp, so they’ve been laid out in the cat free zone. A couple of them have very loose heads, so those will be used right away. My older daughter was thinking of making some cabbage soup, or even just roasting them.
We won’t have any purple savoy cabbage heads to harvest. None have formed. The leaves, however, are still edible. The youngest ones, at least. So I might find something to do with those at some point.
After the cabbage was laid out, I got the wire mesh divider from the basement and set it up on a couple of sawhorses, then took all the garlic hanging around the perimeter of the canopy tent down. They were rather damp, too, and one bulb was quite soft, so that one got set aside. The rest were freed from the cord they were hanging from, and laid out through the wire mesh of the divider. I hope that this will allow them to finish curing properly, and they didn’t get so damp from the rain that they rot or start sprouting, instead! The largest ones will be set aside for planting this fall.
Also, Gouda photo bomb. 🧀🐈
The insect netting that was protecting the cabbage actually had things growing through them along the edges of the bed. I got as much as I could out, while stretching the net out to full size on the grass. Later in the afternoon, I hung it on the clothes line and took a hose to clean it off a bit, before it gets folded and rolled up for storage.
I think I will harvest all of the Golden Boy celery next – except for the two that have gone to seed, which I will leave to collect later. My older daughter seems to be mildly allergic to fresh celery, so we haven’t been using it a lot. I’m thinking to dehydrate it, then powder it to make celery salt.
Hmmm… There’s only so much I can fit into my oven to dehydrate, so maybe I’ll just harvest a couple of bunches at a time to dehydrate. I’ve dehydrated celery before and it’s amazing how small the pieces get!
I was able to get a new handle for my garden fork today, so I’ll be able to harvest the potatoes relatively soon, once the ground is dry enough.
Or I’ll get my daughters to do it, depending on how I feel after my surgery.
The Re-Farmer 