health

Homestead Update

/ cahall63 / Leave a comment

Since Ed updated you on the bees I thought I would  update you on the rest of the homestead.

A couple months ago, I found out I had an umbilical hernia. While we waited for the insurance company to decide if I could have surgery, and then get said surgery scheduled, my doctor gave me one order: No lifting and no straining. Great.

I had visions of spending another summer completely out of commission. I am now happy to report that I had the surgery, it was a success, and I have just been given the go ahead to gradually increase the work I am able to do. Yes, I am obeying the “gradually” rule because I really want to get better.

Since I didn’t know for sure if I would be able work outside this summer, I decided to not have a garden. For the first time in years, I did not buy any seeds or plants. I keep feeling like I’m forgetting something. I am going to use this summer to plan next year’s garden, and work on getting the ground ready.

My camera got knocked off the table with the lens open, and suffered some damage. Sometimes, it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Chicken Girl took these pictures, and had trouble getting consistent focus.

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Thyme growing inside the tire. If you look closely at the right side of  the picture, you might be able to make out the blue flowers on the Borage plant.

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Love in a Mist

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Wild grapes

The thyme survived the winter, and there are some volunteer sunflowers.  Last summer, I planted some Borage and Love in a Mist, but they just decided to come up now. Gotta love those unexpected blessings. I’ve found wild grapes growing in one of the fence rows, and some of the mulberry trees are producing like crazy. The blackberries we planted last year survived for the most part, and a few plants even have some green fruit.

The lawn and weeds have taken off too. Unfortunately, one of our weed eaters, and both lawn mowers are out of commission. Ed will probably want to tell you about that. I did pull a few weeds yesterday, but I got tired quickly, and decided I probably shouldn’t over do it.

The dogs have finally decided to stay put. Ed is two thirds finished with a new dog house, and they have already moved in. Libby is still digging like crazy, but she has found other places beside the fence. We just have to watch for the sink holes!

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Meeko and Chicken Girl “helping” Ed build the new dog house.

My mom’s best friend decided that Chicken Girl needed a better chicken coop, so she bought one and had it shipped to us. Moony and his girls are living there, and Sunny and company were finally moved from the oldest coop to the new one that we built. Everyone seems happy for now, and the eggs are coming steadily again.

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Moony and the girls in the new coop

Chicken Girl and I finished the school year, and we were both ready. Several months ago, I told you we were getting ready to start dissection in Biology. She did one crayfish, and begged me not to make her do any more. I didn’t, but I adjusted her grade accordingly. Oh, she just had a birthday. She’s seventeen. Time sure flies.

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Chicken Girl and the unfortunate crayfish.

Last week, we had three days in the 90’s and three nights of some intense thunderstorms. We didn’t have any serious damage; just a few limbs down off the big elm tree near the garage. One of those mornings, I stepped out on front porch just to take a quick look around. The weeds all survived. So did this guy.

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Frog just off the front porch.

This morning about 5:00, Ed and I heard a dog barking in our front yard. It wasn’t one of ours. We got up, looked, didn’t see anything, and went back to bed. When we got back up later, I realized two of the cats were outside. Captain came in, but Adora didn’t. We found her this afternoon. She was alive, and she didn’t have any marks we could find, but she was obviously not good. The vet couldn’t find any marks either at first. She has super thick fur. When he finally did find them, there were three or four bite marks and they were on her back end. So, he gave her fluids, antibiotics, steroids, and liquid nutrition. He said to bring her home, keep her warm (her temperature was below normal), and call him in the morning to let him know how she’s doing.  Now she’s covered up in a box in Chicken Girl’s room.

This is a picture I took of her a few days ago: A living bookend. I thought the glowing eyes were funny. IMG_2114

Well, that’s all the news for now.

Connie

 

 

 

Two Weeks Down

/ cahall63 / 4 Comments

It’s been two weeks since my surgery, and I went back to see the surgeon today. He said I am healing well, took my stitches out, and put me in a boot. The great news was that I can take it off at night, and I can take a shower (seated, of course)! The not so great news, which I already knew, was that I’m still going to be off my foot for quite a while. Originally, he said three months. Last week, he said eight weeks. I go back in two weeks. I guess we’ll see what he says then. In the meanwhile, it’s either the bed, a chair, or the scooter. Maybe the Lord thinks I need to work on my patience!

All of our entrances have steps, so Ed built a ramp so I can get in and out of the house. It’s really kind of a work in progress. We use it, and then Ed works to make it better. He really takes very good care of me. He’s working on getting a wheel chair, so he can take me outside to look at the tomatoes and other things I planted last month.

He says we have a bunch of green tomatoes, but nothing turning yet. From what I’ve heard from some friends, it might not be the best year for tomatoes around here. We had one volunteer cucumber plant come up this year, and it had tiny cukes on it before my surgery. I reminded Ed about it and he checked them a few days ago. Kat took this picture tonight. I should have told her to put something with them to show scale, but I didn’t. They are huge; really too big to eat, so I’ll have to see what else I can do with them. I would appreciate any suggestions.We didn’t plant cucumbers this year, so  what ever we get is just an added blessing.

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Our neighbor’s cantaloupe patch took off and he’s already brought us three melons. We’ve only eaten the first one, but it was the sweetest I’ve had in a long time! Looking forward to the others! He said to let him know if I wanted more. He also brought me some of his ripe tomatoes. We gave him some honey.  Oh, Ed told me today that we have a volunteer watermelon coming out of the compost pile! There is at least one melon on it. We don’t know if it will be any good or not, but we didn’t expect it. So, again, anything we get is just  another added blessing!

That is kind of how we feel about this years honey harvest too. We weren’t expecting any this year, so the two gallons we have are just extra blessings. Ed checked the bees yesterday, but they are still working on the frames we took last time, so he is going to leave them alone and let them do their thing for awhile.

Katherine has taken over most of the kitchen duty. I still have to tell her specifically what to do when, but she does what I tell her, and she does a good job.  I have been able to get in there an do some cooking with her, and plan to do some more tomorrow. We can only eat so many sandwiches. She’s doing all the laundry too, as far a washing and drying goes. I can do some of the folding, but she and Ed are putting everything away. For the most part, everyone is doing a great job picking up the slack. It’s still hard for me to just sit and let them do it.

I’m looking at some projects I can do from this chair. I’ll let you know what I decide next time.

Have a great week.

Connie