Before I begin…
Thanks to the bunch of you
that left me such wonderful wishes and comments on my last post! Your kindness and encouragement were a
wonderful dose of strength I’ll need for the next few months to come. I only hope all of you were given the day to
feel special as well. And it doesn’t
matter if you have given birth to children of your own. If you’re raising animals of any kind…
You’re a Mother!
Dwayne and I are cramming
all we can into the next couple rounds of days off. Each round has been shortened by a day to
join in on some teamwork - covering for a co-worker that just lost his father. And reality has bitten me in the ass. It’s looking all too obvious. I will be going in for 2 surgeries – Carpal
Tunnel surgery on each hand.
We just keep putting one
foot in front of the other – without looking back. But my quiet efforts with ‘ picking my
battles ‘ has come out of the closet. It’s
been a while. Dwayne is only now
beginning to see the obvious. And I
think the math is beginning to add up.
Much of my irritability and anxiety over the course of a year – or more
– has been due to fighting those chosen battles and being forced to face a few
I could not avoid – with all this pain in both hands and arms.
The soonest they were able
to schedule me for the nerve conduction test is the first week of June. That screwed us out of the idea to contact
our local 4-H and have the Director come visit with us and see our place. We were hoping it might be a source of
parents with kids that might be willing to help out around our place during the
12 weeks I’m told that I will be out of commission.
It could have been a great
learning experience for summer projects.
But with the way the medical profession around here tends to drag ass –
the kids will be back in school before they even manage to get around to doing
the first surgery. Even so - that
medical community will expect their money.
You can bet. Wouldn’t it be nice
if we could charge them for mucking up our lives!
And again - We just keep
putting one foot in front of the other.
Only in this case – I’ve decided to keep a particular vision in my mind
to help me get through all the mess. Without
looking backward still – is a vision of walking through the door to our house
after my very last PT session - post second surgery – my left hand bent behind
my back – using sign language.
There. Now you can all have fun with that same
vision. Sarcasm and Girl Power are no
match for Idjits without conscience in this friggin’ world!
As I was saying – Dwayne
and I have been cramming all we can get done into those days off. Not easy.
The more I do – the more I lose use of my hands. I have to pick my battles. I have to take a lot of breaks – just to wait
for my hands to wake back up. But the
pain never goes away. My hands are always
asleep – always ‘ buzzing and vibrating. ‘
Despite wearing braces on
both hands during sleep at night - stupid stuff is beginning to happen. I was washing dishes last evening. Dwayne was rinsing. Got all the way down the line to a 5 quart
pan – when without the least bit warning – a huge wave of dishwater came up out
of the sink. My blouse was totally
soaked. A cloud of suds over water
spread almost 4 feet across the floor – all the way to the refrigerator.
Dwayne finished the
dishes. I am learning to appreciate that
little voice that – usually - comes to warn you, “ You’re going to drop this! “
– just before you drop anything so quickly and unexpected.
I’m missing that.
On Wednesday – we managed
to go get 2 more scoops of garden mix from Out of Eden Garden Center in
Maryville - for the 2 tractor tires we’re using in the garden. We ended up with almost a whole scoop left
over. But you can bet – there’s not much
of that left! We’ve always got a place
for dirt! LOL
We also picked up some
landscaping fabric - for the bed around the driveway – as well as some posts at
Lowe’s in Alcoa. We had filled the 2 tractor
tires with garden soil after we got back home.
Soaked the soil to get the dirt to settle before going in for supper.
Came back afterward and topped them off with more dirt.
Dwayne took on building a
shelter for Killian’s paddock on Thursday.
It took a few minutes to help Killian understand that the truck was not
a toy and head butts were not allowed.
And Dwayne ran out of time. But
he got most of the job completed.
I worked out in the garden
and around our Driveway. After I packed more
dirt into the tires ( those puppies hold a LOT of dirt! ) - I got Melons planted
in 1 of the tractor tires – Squash in the other! Added peat moss and lime to the first box we
filled with topsoil from the first place we went to buy dirt.
Bought several more tomato
supports and got those installed. Got
several more seedlings of different varieties of Peppers planted – as well as
seeds for other goodies to pop up!
Completely overhauled my
strawberry pot!
I ended up with 13 extra
strawberry plants to share with others after all that re-planting! Believe it or not – this all began with only
1 strawberry plant – only 2 years ago.
Dwayne helped me get our
new Azalea and Sweetheart Rose bushes planted after we finished filling up the
2 tractor tires with dirt on Wednesday.
He scraped some of the weed layer off the top of the bed along the
driveway. I finished that up on Thursday
– before dumping garden soil over the top.
Some would say I
cheated. Others would tell you that the
earth worms are gonna love me! And I did
find one heck of a mess of earth worms!
Anyway – the landscaping
fabric will be going over this. I’ll be
measuring before going after edging to keep everything in place. And then we’ll be laying bark nugget over the
top to help keep the soil from drying too fast – and for protection in the
fight against weeds.
This spring season has
been so strange for us all. One other
oddity I am seeing this year is happening with our Azaleas. They’re almost a whole month late in
blooming. The Salmon Pink Azalea is just
now beginning to pop its blossoms. And
the event is coming on slow as molasses pouring out of a jar. Not quite sure what to make of it. Massive greenery. Almost as if the greenery is coming before
the bloom – as well.
At any rate – I’ll wait
until both have finished blooming before I begin some serious pruning to get
them up off the ground. The pink azalea
will need pruning away from the white one – and away from under the landing of
the staircase.
I’m most anxious to see
the white Azalea finish its bloom. I
noticed a small branch beginning to propagate from the ground on this beauty a
couple years ago. This year is safe
enough to separate the cutting from the main plant and get it to a home of its
own!
I’ve reached a point where
all my extra seedlings ready for planting will be going to work with
Dwayne. There’s always somebody who
knows somebody else – at the very least! But I did pot up a Yellow Bell Pepper plant and some Chives for Jen and Josh!
As of yesterday evening –
the last of our 15 Buff Orpington chickens was bid farewell. Dwayne had cleaned out the chicken coop and
revamped the perches – while I was grocery shopping and taking bills to be
mailed off.
Today – I’ll be relocating
10 Rhode Island Red and 15 Americauna munchkins from our basement to their new
home.
Of course – I’ll have to wait
for the break in the rain and get beyond feeding the cattle. But in the meantime – I’ve already begun
knocking out the laundry.
The next thing on the list
– breaking out the FoodSaver and busting up meat.
There’s always something
to do around here!
