The Mountain Thymes

After working outside for about four or five hours yesterday, I am happy to report that I made it through the night without shoulder, wrist, or hip discomfort.  Yeah!!  Now.... to not get too cocky and overdo today. Cliff installed the light-weight chicken wire dog-barrier yesterday on three sides of the vegetable garden.  We used some old stronger gauge pieces that had been saved from other projects plus the new wire.  Later we'll pick up more and finish the lower end of the garden.  We have to invent an easy way for me to enter the garden safely.  The deer barrier ribbon is 30" from the ground and the new wire is 2' high just to keep the dogs and bunnies out.  Before the wire was installed, I just bent under the 30" barrier to do my gardening.  I have long legs and can stride over the 30 " deer barrier but that's really not a safe practice. To build an entry gate, we'll need to use a heavier/sturdier gauge than the chicken wire that we ...

SPRING EQUINOX Mornings have been in the twenties so each evening I still cover some of the tender greens.   By mid-afternoon it's sunny and in the sixties.  Today Cliff assembled the new pressure washer while I had lunch with the gyms girls.  When my mother used to say she was going out to eat "with the girls" , a voice in my head echoed "don't you mean the older women?"   Things come back to haunt us.  After getting the pressure washer ready, Cliff adjusted the tines on the Mantis and started it up.  Next couple of clear days we'll get mushroom compost from Wayne's Feed and Grain and till it into the garden.  Today I strapped on wrist bands, loosened the soil before pulling weeds, raked some of the leaves away, and moved some of my compost to the flower bed.  So badly I wanted to keep going but I rested in my garden chair, hydrated, and quit, especially because I did an hour of Zumba dance and yoga this morning.   Hopefully, my wri...

I started a new posting a week ago but left it when something interrupted me, don't remember what, maybe the supper timer beeped for me to stir something on the burner or the dryer buzzer annoyingly let me know the clothes were dry.  It wouldn't take much for me to lose my train of thought.  Much later when I returned to the post and reread what was started, I realized I had no idea where I was going with it, but I also can't tell jokes anymore because I forget where the joke is going. So I'm starting fresh knowing there will be interruptions as sweet potatoes are baking at 350 for another 30 minutes, broccoli is prepared and waiting to be steamed and cod will be baked in the oven when the potato timer tells me they're ready to be removed.  I have paper and pencil here by the computer to jot down ideas/thoughts of where I am going this time.  March is a transitioning month, bringing us slowly into spring.  Even though we may experience wintery days before the ...

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...