The Mountain Thymes

After a week of continuous rain amounting to over seven inches, overflowing our riverbanks into cow pastures, and contributing to rock and mudslides, the sun beamed into my kitchen window at 7:11 this morning. There is a zero per cent chance of rain today with 15 mph winds  all day as the front passes through. The creek at the bottom of our acreage sounds closer than it is. I hope to get down to the garden later today and pound in some fence posts for a few new ideas to try this growing season.  With the clay this wet, it's easier to drive posts into the ground. My neighbor up the road juices vegetables and brings me the skins and debris the juicer throws out for my composting.   This year the compost is full of huge worms thicker than my baby finger.  As soon as vegetables begin rooting and growing, we'll be diligently proactive in  our vole and varmint eradication.  Seems the mice problem is under control in the garage.  Moth balls and traps w...

My little sister turns 70 today!  How did that happen so quickly?                                                            Retta, Chip, me Happy Birthday, Retta!!!

  Cliff has been taking online Con Ed hours not only to keep up his EMR certification but also because he loves that field, the women and men he responds with, and it keeps his brain sharp. He spent last Sunday online finishing his February course requirement and his 500-word essay. In March he'll register for his April course which will include material on congestive heart failure among other emergencies. Thank goodness for medical responders, flight medics, and all other medical personnel.  I couldn't do it.  Talked to Michael, up in Ossipee, last weekend and he's thrilled to have been hired by Walgreens and put in the manager training program.  As soon as a position opens for a store manager, he'll get his own store but for now he'll continue as assistant manager in Ossipee. December marked our tenth year of retirement in Murphy.  I've enjoyed the journey of making new friends and exploring new routes, the challenges of gardening on a mountainside and liv...

As I type this post at 5:15 pm ( Thursday Feb.7) our temperature is still 74 degrees.  When I poured my coffee at 6 am this morning, the temp was 64.  It's been over a week with crazy high temps for February.  As a cold front moves through tonight, the high tomorrow may reach 45 and windy.  It's the sudden drastic changes in pressure and temperatures that play havoc with my RA causing flares.  The last one was about two weeks ago when the severe cold set in during the night dropping the temperature to 9 degrees with a 30 degree high during the day.  It was brutal on the left hip.  Cliff drove me to the doctor the next morning for a depomedrol injection in the hip, followed by Epsom soaks, Motrin, and two days later I was able to walk again like a normal person.  The negative side of the depo injection is that it accelerates cataracts but if I don't get the inflammation under control, it'll destroy the joints, the arteries and the organs.  S...