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Post by Mumsey on Aug 21, 2024 5:39:52 GMT -5
The last week feels like a blur of nothingness......been laying around with decreased energy. Was feeling really good by last Saturday so kind of overdid it in the garden. Sunday my head was stuffy, excessive sneezing and nose running like a faucet for 2 days. ??Rebound Covid, which apparently can happen after taking Paxlovid and lasts 1-3 days. Per dr, yesterday was the day to retest, so did that. Positive still. Bummer. So now I get to retest again in 5 days which will be Sunday. Luckily I have some of those tests in the cabinet. They are still good, used 2 yesterday, the newer one and an older one and results were both the same.
Was feeling some better yesterday, so washed all bed linens and dog's bed and cleaned the bedroom. Took most of the day but got it done. Today I'll start on the spare room and work my way down the hallway.
As for the garden, it's been somewhat of a disappointment. 18 tomato plants and I have no where near the crop I usually have with 16! They are slow to ripen if at all. So many mishappen shapes and sizes this year! Those Black Beauty tomatoes are not one I will ever grow again....though they do add a deeper color to sauce. The eggplant are a bust, plants wilting for no good reason that I know of. I've pulled out 3 of them so far. The Casper (white ones) seem to be doing OK, but they only last 1 day in fridge before getting brown spots. Celeriac was a failure, it grew great. No taste to speak of, I'm attributing a lot of this to the weather. Pole beans, vines, vines and more vines with what seems to be fewer beans than usual. Root crops are the best this year, aside from Celeriac. Cabbage does not seem to have the solid heads per usual. Water is not an issue this season, haven't watered the garden once. At this point, my mind has downsized next year's garden, which I probably should have done this year since it's only me now.
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 21, 2024 6:28:27 GMT -5
Rest and take it easy Mumsey. Hope you start feeling better soon. |
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Post by datgirl on Aug 21, 2024 8:06:35 GMT -5
Mumsey,I know taking it easy is hard, but in the long run, you'll feel better. My garden wasn't the best this year either. Between the rabbits and the rain early on. I have fewer tomatoes too. The ones I'm getting now are ok but not that big red tomato taste. Green beans have finally kicked in and the cucumbers too. Beets are all greens and skinny little roots. Peppers and zucchini are producing well. Lots of peppers, but hot peppers are not hot at all. I was able to get some cabbage that weren't full of slugs. Rethinking next years garden too. Not sure I really need as much as I plant. This year kind of proved it.
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Post by binnylou on Aug 21, 2024 8:44:34 GMT -5
Yesterday, I did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Daughter left during the night to catch her flight back home. She had arrived the previous Tuesday, spent the weekend with college suite mates, and shared a few meals with her brother. I did more cooking and far more cleaning in prep for her visit. I even fired up the rumba, which has been resting for a while. Resting for no particular reason…just laziness on my part. During her visit, I got the “lecture” about hiring some help to make life easier. I was expecting that.  |
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Post by Latitude33 on Aug 21, 2024 13:13:19 GMT -5
It's been too hot by mid morning to do much. Today the temps dropped 10-12 degrees with scattered thunder showers. Managed to transplant a couple of tomatoes in advance of the rain. Made an attempt at weeding the landscape only to be washed out. Fished out a couple of Sonoran toads from the cement swimin hole and set them free. Enjoying a good light show watching the lightning.
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 21, 2024 18:05:25 GMT -5
Yesterday was an early morning diabetic vision check-up for hubby and all is well. I made a run to the thrift store and was back before he finished and then he decided he wanted to go too. Found several pair of LuLaRoe Minnie Mouse leggings for kiddo and some 100% cotton denim jeans in wild colors for her rag quilt. What I like best about the leggings is that she'll get a few years use out of them. Hubby got the motherlode of DVDs which is good as we are keeping dad supplied too since they ditched satellite. Once home I washed everything and tended to a few chores outside.
This morning was a chilly 42° and even though the window was open I didn't get a bit chilly last night. Decided to tackle some inside chores until it warmed up and hubby and I both went outside around 11:30. He wanted to mow and I decided to tidy the yard a bit since we haven't mowed part of it in two months. I emptied pots, found a few things that didn't get planted but still have time to get in the ground before fall. I had a tote of water that I've been using to dunk containers in once a week and it was getting pretty icky looking, so hubby helped me empty it into jugs for watering and only displaced one frog. We've noticed that we haven't been getting attacked by bugs near as much as usual and am guessing it's due in part to the drought and the fact that any standing water either has frogs or tadpoles inhabiting it. Supposed to be chilly again in the morning but hope to get outside earlier tomorrow.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 21, 2024 22:15:47 GMT -5
It was quite cool here this morning, but my shade out front has been staying longer now, so I waited until 10:30 to start mowing my lawn, and could have waited longer, while in most of the summer it would be in the sun by then! This time, I had to wait a while for the shade to get out back, so I did some things out front and on the side. Eventually, the shade comes over those cherry tomatoes first, so I went and picked those, and trimmed those plants, and by that time, I could mow the back area. Already, it was dry again, with dust kicking up, despite the recent rain we had. I was trying to find some other things to do outside, before that heat comes back!
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Post by gardendmpls on Aug 21, 2024 22:48:29 GMT -5
During her visit, I got the “lecture” about hiring some help to make life easier. I was expecting that. Did she volunteer to pay for it? |
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 21, 2024 23:31:00 GMT -5
I got the “lecture” about hiring some help to make life easier. I was expecting that. Did you give her the "gardening like I'm gonna live forever" Or the "use it or lose it" talk? It might take me a bit longer to do things but I'm fully active and vital. Of course, there is something to be said for having some help with a few things. Some day. |
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Post by binnylou on Aug 22, 2024 8:01:28 GMT -5
gardendmpls, no, I wouldn’t expect, nor want her to pay. desertwoman, I should have used the “use it or lose it” response. Gotta remember, she has three young people in the house, so she is better prepared for presenting her suggestions. In the meantime, I found somebody to repair my golf/garden cart. Hubby loaded it on to the trailer, and we delivered it yesterday afternoon. With luck, I might have wheels by the weekend.
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 22, 2024 9:45:36 GMT -5
binnylou, I've always tried to respect the decisions of elders as I don't like being told what I "should" do either. My grandma made the decision when it was time to give up driving and to give up gardening. The first year without a garden I planted a single tomato plant in an old washtub and she got so much enjoyment from it that I planted two tomatoes and a pepper the following year. I started mowing for her regularly about ten years before she passed away with dad taking over when I was pregnant. We never forced anything upon her and if she didn't ask, we always ran an idea by her first to make sure she agreed My first husband's uncle was a spry old farmer who tended his cattle every day. When he turned 80 his kids insisted he give up farming and within six months he was a hunched over little old man who appeared to have aged 10-15 years. I know they feared he would drop dead farming one day, but that was his life and what he loved. Yes maybe he would have went downhill anyway but I think the lack of daily activity doing what he loved was a major factor. Oh and he lived to be 95.
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Post by breezygardener on Aug 22, 2024 14:14:42 GMT -5
Watered & inventoried what's going on. Okra still going strong, but no pods yet. Tomatoes are pretty much done, as this has been a terrible blight year, but I just may have enough ripe maters left to do another batch of sauce. Have a lot of nice green ones, so might take a crack at pickling them as my parents & grandparents always did. I'm not much of a pickler, so most likely will use a refrigerator recipe.
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Post by Mumsey on Aug 22, 2024 17:11:21 GMT -5
I've been hearing that "hire it done" lately too. From DS, so I asked him to be the one I hire......  I really only need his help a couple times a year with tree trimming and putting things away for Winter. Today started out to be a better day. Walked 1.8 miles this morning. Came home, ate breakfast and got an instant need for a nap. Like I couldn't put one foot in front of the other. So caved to the need to sleep. Woke up refreshed and ready to go. Put a pan of pizza sauce on to simmer. The rest of the day was good. Neighbor called and since I'm watching Mr. Grey for 2 weeks, had to go over there for all instructions. Masked up and hand sanitizer handy. She masked up too. She is going to Europe with a friend. Something new this time, she wants me to let him outside every day for a couple hours, to keep him from "grumpy" cat mode. We'll see how that goes. He's extremely food driven so that's how to get him back inside. The weekend promises to be extremely hot through early next week. I'm doing what I can outside tomorrow, then staying inside til the heat wave passes. I am sure hoping I test negative Sunday, need to go to town! If nothing else, I'll do an online order and pick it up. |
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 22, 2024 23:32:18 GMT -5
Not having kids, I don't hear 'hire some help'. And our niece and nephews know better. Also, they see us as role models and expect nothing less from us than to carry on. At least for now.
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 22, 2024 23:45:13 GMT -5
Today was a long day in the gardens. I followed the shade and with it only geeting to 87º it was doable. My annual feast is in 17 days so I want to get them in top shape.
The big job is to get the native grass areas (5) tended. I don't mow really short, they look better with a bit of length and 2 weeks before the feast is a good time to cut it back. Got 2 of the five done today, with a start in a 3rd section. Also dead headed flowers.
Indoors I roasted the first chiles. Enough to fill 3 quart bags. There is nothing that says Autumn more, around here, than the aroma of roasting chiles. It's all over- in town and in the villages of Northern NM.
And watched the last couple of hours of the DNConvention while doing laundry.
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I really only need his help a couple times a year with tree trimming and putting things away for Winter. 