Hello!
The dry humid hot weather has continued with having
to water stuff outside to keep things from drying up and dying. Due to the
hurricane hitting the East coast we are finally getting some much needed
showers up here in the Tennessee Mountains. When it is hot outside it's hard to
imagine needing a fire, but we know that by next month the temperature will
start dropping as autumn arrives. Dwight's friends from the body shop came and
took the wood-stove to the shop where Dwight welded a new heavier piece of steel
to the top of the fire box to get it ready for winter. We've also been getting wood in as well to
try and fill up the wood shed before winter.
The battle with the rats continues in the hen-house
despite consistent putting out rat poison. When Dawn and Randy was here they
with Dwight discussed the situation at length and decided as the hen-house isn't
worth repairing, the wire-covered chicken yard is larger than we need and its
sagging makes it difficult to maintain, along with the fact that I am getting
older (surely not) they are worried about all the steps I have to go up and
down since I have fallen a couple of times, that we need to move the chickens
and tear down the hen-house. There is a small barn shed close to the house that
I've wanted to convert into a garden shed, but ends up being filled up with all
sorts of stuff that would be perfect for the chickens. So I've cleaned out the
shed- it was quite the job- and moved my gardening stuff to the workshop, which
I can then focus on getting more organized and has plenty of room. So another
unexpected big project is underway. The next step is cutting down two large
trees to make room for the smaller chicken yard when Dawn and Randy come back
in a couple of weeks. I declare we shall get so organized around here until I
won't know what to do with myself.
I pulled the
bush green bean stalks as yellow bugs had gotten most of the plants and
the beans were nearly gone- gardening is not for the faint hearted for sure
between too much rain, being too dry, or battling insects that love to feast on
your veggies, but then that goes for life in general. I'm harvesting pole bean
seeds for next year and thoroughly enjoying picking ripened tomatoes each week.
Talk about pure bliss to sink one's teeth into a warm fresh tomato from the
garden! No store tomato can compare with the taste of your own home grown
tomato.
When I took Dana to the local
doctor, he was concerned about Dana’s continuing weakness on his left side so
scheduled an MRI and ultrasound to be done. Early one morning after getting
Dana out to the vehicle- he is so weak he had to sit down before he even got
out the door- we headed to the local hospital. For the MRI we were put into a
small room (think large closet) where there was barely enough room for me to
help get Dana undressed. Since the MRI
would take about an hour, I planned to pay a couple of bills and pick up milk
& bread. Unfortunately, his roll-aider was too big to sit around as they
were using a wheelchair so I rolled it out to our vehicle and load it again. I
came back unloaded the roll-aider and pushed it back into the hospital only to
discover that the MRI machine had broke down and we would have to reschedule
for the next week. I got Dana back to the vehicle loaded up the roll-aider once
again and drove home where for the final fourth time I unloaded the roll-aider.
I had planned to do some chores once I got back home- after all we were only
going for a short hospital visit- but by then I was so exhausted loading and
unloaded Dana’s roll-aider (Dana weighs around 336 pounds so his roll-aider is
extra large, not only bulky, but heavy as well) I ended up in the recliner for
the rest of the day feeling like I had loaded sacks of feed all morning. Who
needs a weigh set with barbells when you can heft a roll-aider about as big as
you around? The next week I had Dana take his fold up walker he used in the
house instead of the roll-aider to save my back. Lo and behold this time
although the MRI machine worked, they couldn’t get Dana’s head and shoulders
into it to take an MRI! If nothing else we got our exercise for the week.
One hot afternoon I got the hose and gave Tex a
bath- at least that was the original idea. It turned out to be a romping rodeo
with me using one hand on Tex’s collar while the other one aimed the hose at
Tex to get his fur wet, dropped the hose and scrubbed his body with soap, and
then danced around until I could get a hold of the hose again to rinse the dear
fellow off. By the time I got done we both were soaking wet.
This past week I did up and froze 10 dozen ears of
corn, which made 12 quarts. It was quite the job, but I love frozen corn. My
grandson, Case, does too. He declares my corn is the best tasting ever. I love
seeing my pantry and freezer fill up with food for the year. I realized one day
one does the deep knee bends when having to squat down and pull out the blender
from under the sink when cooking or canning. I used to be able to pop right
back up with blender in hand, but now I have to sit the blender down and use
both hands on edge of the sink to slowly get my body upright. According to the
health magazines, I should be the healthiest person around.
While there are days I battle not becoming
overwhelmed with all the tasks facing me, overall I am very thankful for
everything I am able to do- even if I am slowing down way faster than I would
like to and things take longer to get done.
I shall quit for now. It always amazes me how
quickly the days, weeks, and months fly by and how much is crammed into each
week. Meanwhile y’all take care until next month.
Dorcas
