Scrambling With a Long List

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!