stubbed toes and mud pies

[flowerbug]

all the peppers are planted, break for a few minutes and then get out and plant the tomatoes.

a few of the pepper plants already had peppers on them the size of a quarter that i did not see hiding down in their leaves. after they get rained on and settle in for a few days i'll give them another look to make sure no blooms have set yet. i did pinch off some already but there are more...

 

[Dahlia]

all the peppers are planted, break for a few minutes and then get out and plant the tomatoes.

a few of the pepper plants already had peppers on them the size of a quarter that i did not see hiding down in their leaves. after they get rained on and settle in for a few days i'll give them another look to make sure no blooms have set yet. i did pinch off some already but there are more...

I love when I get surprised by vegetables growing in hidden areas in the garden where I didn't know existed!

 

[flowerbug]

tomatoes did get planted, it took me an hour to dig the 12 large holes and then i layered in the worm compost with soil from around that same garden that didn't have quite so much clay in it. overall it gives me an idea of what the soil in the entire garden is like so that is also fun. finished up watering the plants in about 6pm and it started raining at about 6:15pm as i was bringing all the tools, buckets, etc. in. almost four and a half hours to plant 12 plants? seems really long but i did have to lay down and take a break for a while when my back said it needed another rest. so i had my garden pillow and sprawled out on the gravel pathway and enjoyed listening to the birdies.

the killdeer pair that had their nest about 6ft from the end of the garden i was planting were at various times doing their calling and flapping to try to lure me into chasing them, but of course i know better and they eventually would settle down when i got to working in the other end of the garden (away from their nest). so as i rested the one sitting on the nest was quiet but always making sure to be keeping an eye on me - the fact that i never have harmed them in all these years doesn't quite sink in, but these two are much tamer than the ones we have nesting out front.

after planting was finished i came inside, drank more water, stretched out for a few minutes, did a little reading and had a large bean and cheese burrito, 400mg of ibuprofen with dinner, about a half hour later i fell asleep for most of the evening. woke up to say goodnight and went back to sleep. this morning i wake up at 5am hyper as all get out, a common side effect of ibuprofen for me, i'm glad i did not take more before going back to sleep, but that was the plan.

we had a nice gentle soaking rain through the evening and it looks to be sprinkling a little now too, but not enough to worry me. there is a lot of rain in the forecast this week.

all i have left to do now to finish planting all the gardens is weed and plant beans for the next few weeks and to pick some strawberries and whatever other projects come along. none of this involves digging large holes or taking the worms and worm compost out to the gardens so the umpteenth annual running of the worms is now complete. i have already restarted two of the buckets and have one more to restart today and that will get me back to five buckets. i normally have ten buckets going so those other ones will eventually get set up and have worms added to them as i get a chance to do that. this season i evicted many many thousands of wood lice that had taken over my worm buckets. i'm not sure the remaining few buckets of worms i have left have many wood lice, but i hope to not get back into such a situation again. i think it disturbs or interferes with the worms too much once the population of wood lice goes above a few.

i have not been able to find the composting worms i really would like to add to the new buckets yet, but i hope to be able to do that eventually - i need to get the systems going again. i have currently two or three species in the worm buckets, red wrigglers, our native earth worms and then some of the green worms (only a few and perhaps none since i took eight of the ten buckets out and used them almost completely). it will probably take a few years to get the overall population of worms built up again and maybe seven buckets will be enough, it depends a lot upon how much cooking Mom wants to get into and in recent months she's been more into baking cookies and treats and not as much into fruits and veggies (which when she makes a lot of fruit salads for a lot of people would mean i had to have enough buckets to spead all those melon rinds around). in the past i kept as many as seventeen or eighteen buckets going, seven would be a low point since the 2nd year or so when i started this adventure. at the moment i'll probably plan on ten total again and see if i actually make it back that far...

 

[digitS']

A cart would likely be a help if you are carrying them, flowerbug. It might be a job for the "little red wagon" around here.

Naproxen was the final NSAID the doc had me taking before that also was decided to be a no go because of the stomach. I had the longest relationship with that NSAID, probably still measured in months but thought that it might be THE pain reliever I needed to turn to during distress. Nope.

I'm surprised that Tylenol works fairly well but try not to use anything after so much trouble with the stomach and seeing how opting for some pain relievers effectively remove some people from life.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

...
I'm surprised that Tylenol works fairly well but try not to use anything after so much trouble with the stomach and seeing how opting for some pain relievers effectively remove some people from life.

i only use them when i absolutely have to. glad to say i feel fine today. not normal, but at least not hurting either. it's been quite a while since i last used them.

 

[flowerbug]

went out and picked strawberries to fill up a box. there are still more to pick but i'm not going back out today to finish up. i'll do the rest tomorrow if i can.

i should be able to put up a jar or two of freezer jam and we'll eat whatever is left.

this is the first year in quite a few i've had many berries. reducing the chipmunk population has really helped but also i don't see any signs that the raccoons or groundhogs are raiding so perhaps i finally bagged the varmint...

 

[flowerbug]

we lost most of yesterday evening due to a power outage and some chicken soup that Mom made we're going to have to ditch because we really don't feel comfortable giving it to the person who requested it.

i had strawberries to process last night, i got them sorted and made Mom a bowl of them but i didn't want any for myself because i'd been eating some when i was picking them. still have a pile of dishes this morning from all of Mom's cooking yesterday, i got half of them done before the power went out but there were still some needing to be done. so that is my morning chore once i get up.

all night i could barely sleep as i was worried about all the food that Mom had just made that was needing to go in the fridge. at about 5:30am i got up and unhooked my computer backup power supply and plugged the fridge in and that gave it half hour's boost. really ready for a nap. power was restored about 7:30am which was five hours later than their estimated time. they missed seeing the problem in the night and did not find it until they went back and rechecked the line. stuff happens, i don't really mind, but i do mind when food goes to waste and i have a lot to do and less time to get it done... ok, enough complaining, time to get back to it and then take a nap...

foggy outside now so at least i'm not going to be missing anything there...

 

[flowerbug]

after picking strawberries yesterday i decided to make two batches of freezer jam. i really miss it when i don't have it so instead of just a few jars i have eight jars. i'm calling in 100 dollar jam because that is how i feel about how much i'd sell it for a jar. somehow i have to find room in the freezer for six of them.

i still even have some strawberries left to pick if i want to go through the patch with a fine tooth comb and get the ones that are close to ready and also i have some berries i didn't get prepped last night which i could also finish up and turn into jam or eat them, but none of that is likely going to happen today, i have a schedule and doing strawberry anything isn't on it until tonight at the soonest and it won't include any picking. that's just too hard on me at this moment and i need to get some bean planting done this morning and then other things required of me this afternoon. it being a hot day in the forecast i'll ok with not working out there too late plus it looks to be the warmest day in the forecast for the next week.

 

[flowerbug]

yesterday when Mom got home i was unloading the car and really rang-my-chimes (aka bumped my head on the car door really hard - i saw stars!). yeah, it left a mark... no blood though. i haven't looked in the mirror yet this morning (that'd mean i'd have to get up and i'm not quite ready for that yet either scary stuff in the mirror first thing in the morning, nope, not for me...)...

...

it's one of those three dot days...

 

[Branching Out]

yesterday when Mom got home i was unloading the car and really rang-my-chimes (aka bumped my head on the car door really hard - i saw stars!). yeah, it left a mark... no blood though. i haven't looked in the mirror yet this morning (that'd mean i'd have to get up and i'm not quite ready for that yet either scary stuff in the mirror first thing in the morning, nope, not for me...)...

...

it's one of those three dot days...

It could be prudent to take it easy for a couple of days flowerbug. Even with no external mark you could have really rattled things on the inside. Ever seen the movie Concussion? It's one of my favourite films of recent years. (Probably not great viewing right after a head injury though.) Maybe time to change the name of your thread to Bonked Heads and Mud Pies? Lol. Take good care-- and hope that you are feeling better soon.