July 26, 2021 - long time - no blog!

 July 26, 2021 – long time – no blog!

 

         To start your day, below is a photo my brother sent to brighten my morning a few days ago, as I seem to be under the cloud of multiple misfortunes.

 

         Part of it is the WOKE culture and being afraid of being CANCELLLED, I have actually been hesitant to write.  But then again, recently most of my life has been cancelled by one thing or another.

         First, we had COVID19 and the masking and the stay home to help the curve.  Then the madness surrounding locating a vaccine – needless to say, our county wasn’t stellar with that episode and we had to travel to a neighboring county. 

         Next, it became the first spring with my greenhouses and I put in extra time and energy into growing plants from seeds. Mostly successes, some failures, but I chalk it up to a learning curve.

         Then, my husband is aging right before my eyes and not only am I his hearing-ear-dog, but I am now his seeing-eye dog and his can’t-remember-where-anything-is dog to the rescue.

         Finally, the straw that broke the camel’s back as one would say, I thought I had plantar fasciitis, yet I actually had a hairline broken bone that was causing the pain.  So, I have jerked around with that for almost four or five weeks before I came to the conclusion, "this isn't working" and found a foot doctor.

         Tried to make an eye exam in June and the next available appointment is November?  Having the foot looked at – next available appointment two weeks – or drive to another county for a next day appointment. That was an easy choice.

         My husband’s doctor is retiring and that general practitioner’s office of 3 or 4 doctors has been down to one doctor, his, for several years and just now – after a five-year search, a replacement is stepping in to fill a vacancy, and then my husband’s doctor will retire. So, up one and down to one again in a matter of six months.

         I switched out of one smart phone to another – which seems less smart because the G towers are being changed out and the first phone would be useless in a matter of months.  I still can’t get a decent signal in my own house, and just last night I tried to have a conversation with a neighbor about my little lawn tractor not working and if I turned my head only a quarter of an inch, he couldn’t hear me.  Maybe I should have opened the window and shouted to him two doors down.

         The last three venting paragraphs have to do with living in RURAL AMERICA.  But, it is a little more peaceful here.  The local paper does have local shootings and killings, mischief and mayhem – we are not isolated on that front.

         It has been a 90-day period of excessive gardening, and excessive one-step-forwards seems like three-steps-backwards for me.

         The good – we have rain – YUP real rain, not just wetting the dust rain. And, we have had it for weeks now.  Never have I seen this much rain in July in North Carolina since we moved here in 1985.  I wonder what August will be like.  Have you noticed the weather forecasters are no longer saying El Nińo or La Nińa.  I wonder why – don’t you wonder as well?

         I successfully grew tomatoes from seed and picked the first red one before July 4^th – so I passed the imaginary Southern competition vs. my brother in the North.

         I have successfully gotten the kudzu under control on one third of the property line.

         I have successfully emptied, screened, and used almost two compost piles.  I started four more to handle the influx of debris from the gardens.

         I pulled up the brick patio and tore out the nasty wiregrass and put the patio back in order.  Maybe I will get 4 years out of it this time.

         I harvested an 8 x 16 foot patch from acres of wheat that a local farmer grew along with the patches of wheat and rye that I grew and have it hung to dry in the shed.  Soon I will tell you about my wheat weaving adventures.

         I dug up and am curing the two different types of spring shallots which gave me a 300% return on bulbs in compared to bulbs out.

         I have an abundance of butterflies and the feral cats have given us a litter of adorable kittens to enjoy our summer days.

         I did manage to plant out 14  perennial Chrysanthemums, and the French melon is growing out of its bounds with ample blossoms, pictured below.

 

         The broom is to brush the leaves back to see if I have any fruit setting.  More blossoms than fruit setting at the moment.

         I am trying the tarping technique on turning over gardens for next season and I have ordered fresh seeds and am planning my fall/winter garden. I will blog soon with the tarping method.

         So, considering all the turmoil above noted, and me being stuck in a boot to heal the left foot for several more weeks, things are looking up.  Soon you will be getting more book reviews, since I’ve had more than ample down time to read across the spectrum.