Welcome to our family blog to keep you updated on all the happenings around the Walker cottage and "farm". Even though we live in a rural section of the Tennessee Mountains life is far from boring as you will see.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

SEPTEMBER WALKER NEWSLETTER


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

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