Is There A Doctor in the House?

No, I don't need another doctor...it's just that we've seen our share of them lately.

First up was Abbie, who saw Dr. K on Monday for her next-to-last puppy appointment. She weighs 20.8 pounds, which sounds like a lot, but means that she didn't double her weight from Month 3 (12.4) to Month 4. Still, Dr. K feels that Abbs will top out between 40-44 pounds (supposedly, you can arrive at a good guesstimate if you double the dog's weight at 4 months). So, a few puppy shots and one rabies vaccine later...and a mani-pedi for some severely sharp little nails...and we were back in the car, headed home. Here's a pic I snapped as we buckled up for the ride.

While we were there, I tried to talk to Dr. K about ideas on dealing with the chew, chew, chewing. Abbs is such a sweetie-pie...most of the time. But when she is over-tired or over-excited, she puts those needle-like teeth into action, with painful results. Both Mr. T and I have the scabs, scars, and scratches to prove it. However, from the moment she entered the building, Abbie was a quivering jelly-belly...and Dr. K just laughed at me. "What? This sweet little puppy...biting?!" Right.

Next up: me! Saw my GP (do they even call Family Practice doctors "GPs" anymore?) today for my six-month checkup. Bloodwork taken on Monday was excellent, blood pressure and cholesterol great, and my weight continues that slow but steady drop (more on that in a sec). Biggest complaint? Ah-choo! Seasonal allergies...just like many of his other patients, I'm sure. I have been trying to manage things with a prescription nasal spray and Benadryl, although I did try (yet again) to use the Allegra-D he's prescribed before. I simply can't handle the "D" part...the decongestant that I need which comes in the form of pseudo-ephedrine, which causes me to want to curl up in a ball...so depressing. So he's changing it to just Allegra, and adding another nasal spray. We shall see...

I chatted with him about living with Bell's Palsy. That's how I've started thinking about it, you know...as opposed to "recovering from" BP. I still have some muscle weakness in my left jaw, my taste buds have never returned to normal (leading to a decreased ability to enjoy food...and a downright aversion to some things I used to love, like pizza...hence that weight loss I mentioned), and I deal daily with the synkenesis or involuntary muscle movements, like a twitching and winking left eye. In all my reading about BP, I'd come to the conclusion that whatever level you reached at the end of six months was what you were likely to have to consider your "new normal." Today marks 10 months for me, if you are still keeping count with me. So I assumed this is it...live with it.

Dr. K (no, not Abbie's vet...my GP...:-) said to give it some more time. His view is that it takes 12-24 months to recover completely from other neurological "events" like a stroke, so why should we cut off hope at 6 months. OK. I'm game if he is! He wants me to continue with my therapy exercises and start back with daily doses of Gabapentin (to help with the nerve recovery). And to "hang in there."

So, that leaves Mr. T. And this is a case of saving the worst news for last. Many will remember he endured a couple of surgeries on his right knee, including a total knee replacement, 8 years ago. Now it's the left knee. He's scheduled for an MRI on Friday to see what is going on in there. And then we wait until next week to hear the results from the orthopedic surgeon. And we all know how much Mr. T likes to wait.

What? You thought I was going to say "we all know how much I like to wait?" This one isn't about me...and, trust me, he makes me look like a most patient patient.

What is going on with all these knee replacements lately? Everywhere I turn, I hear about one. Friends, friends' husbands, cousins...well, technically one is a cousin-in-law. But MA has been in the family as long as I can remember, so I always forget to attach that "in-law" part.

Anyway, we have seen/will see our share of medicos this week. Mostly good news. Maybe our luck will hold through Friday. Fingers crossed...toes, too.

It's All Coming Together

Time has such a funny way of slipping up on you, doesn't it? It seems like only a year or so ago that we were moving back to NC from MO...when in reality, it's been almost four years ago next month. Wow...time flies...!

What brought this to the forefront was the blossoming of our pink dogwood tree and our azaleas this past week. We just missed this annual rite of Spring that first year we moved into Casa 3917...had to wait 11 whole months to see what pretty colors we had purchased...:-) And, to learn that the previous owners had NOT planted a single, solitary daffodil or iris on the property, and only a piddling few daylilies. No worries...we fixed that little oversight.

Pink dogwood blooms in front-2013

Azalea in bloom in backyard

And then in July of '09, we embarked on our four-year plan to turn the back quarter-acre of our property from an unused, overgrown eyesore into an oasis. As I paused today between weeding and watering, I realized how close we are to turning that plan into a reality. Well, not exactly that 'first' plan, but a later much-revised version, don't you know?

Yes, we have done a ton (or ten) of work on our property. And, that is not only an investment of time and money, but also of faith...that we will actually be here to enjoy it. Remember, we have been married 36 years (soon to be 37, end of May) and have moved a total of 13 times (not counting a few temporary housing situations while waiting for our house to close, etc.). That means that making it to the 4-year mark is rare...based on the law of Adsit averages. Making it to harvesting fruit from an orchard we planted is unheard of.

So, you will understand how thrilled we are that almost all of our 20 fruit trees we've planted in the Orchard (or NW quadrant of the Way Back) are flowering this year. And, how nervous I've been with our recent cold spell, fearing a nip in the buds. Just one apple, please...and maybe a plum, peach, or pear. Is that too much to ask?

The Orchard was the one part of the original four-year plan that didn't change very much from design to completion. We found, after we began planting, that we could expand the number of trees from 14 to 20, especially since we discovered dwarf fruit trees. And, these 8-to-12-foot-at-maturity babies work perfectly, because we have a 15-foot height limitation (due to the easement that Duke Energy holds for the transmission lines). All we have left to do in this quadrant is a Pollinators Bed, designed to attract the bees and butterflies. Remember: no flowers, no bees; no bees, no fruit.

The strawberries, which were moved last year to their permanent bed in the Berry Patch (NE quadrant of the Way Back)...and because of this move, carried very low expectations for production this year...are flowering and showing signs of putting on fruit already! Yea!! We may only get enough for a few bowls of cereal...or an ice cream sundae or two...but that's OK. It's their "growth year." We are also seeing blueberries forming on all 9 bushes...and if I get the bird netting on them this year, we might harvest enough for a pie...or some muffins...and some homemade jam. The blackberries are healthy and growing, with tiny green buds foretelling flowers to come. Of course, if they were already in flower, Nana/Momma/Edith would have called this cold snap "Blackberry Winter." They are a little more tricky to cover with netting due to thorns on a couple of the varieties, but we are ready to make it happen when the fruit starts setting. Am I counting my blackberry cobblers before they hatch?

While technically not a berry, we have the two Concord grapes and the six new Flame Seedless grapes in the Berry Patch, too. I pruned the Concords severely this Winter, as they have had no pruning since we planted them three years ago, and I don't mind telling you I was worried that I might have been a little too enthusiastic with the shears. All's OK, though, as I noticed new growth swelling at several nodes on Saturday. Whew! (Still no sign of growth on the newbies, but I'll give it a couple more weeks before I begin to fret.)

I'm proud to say that every single rose bush in the Rose Garden (SE quadrant of the Way Back) is leafing out and budding up! This was last year's big project (before 2012 went off the rails at the end of May), so seeing visible signs of success does this gardener's heart good. We have filled in some of the gaps this Spring with three Queen Elizabeths (pink, Grandifloras), two First Prizes (pink, hybrid teas), one Kordes Perfecta (yellow to white with pink edges, hybrid tea), three Always and Forever (red, hybrid teas), and one Pope John Paul II (white, hybrid tea...I kid you not...:). That brings the grand total to 68 roses (15 in the back yard, 53 in the Rose Garden/Way Back). Yeah, we are nuts...about roses...:-)

And that brings me back around to the SW quadrant of the Way Back, where we have our Kitchen Garden. Here is where we began the transformation by planting two rows of tomatoes and peppers that very first year...and that let us know we had mountains of work to do with our less-than-perfect soil. The genesis of the four-year plan. In that original plan, we had stretched the Kitchen Garden over the center path, covering both the SW and the SE quadrants. Ah, such enthusiasm! Of course, coming to our senses and reducing the amount of square footage dedicated to producing food for two people allowed us to create a garden dedicated to scent and beauty.

So, this quadrant has undergone the most change. The biggest change this year has been the addition of raised beds to what I've previously called the Cool Season garden...and the creation of wide, raised rows in the Warm Season (or Row) Garden area.

Purple iris reblooms in front - 2013

So, that's a verbal tour of where I spend most of my waking hours. I'll try to post pictures to keep you updated, but you'll understand if my posts are sporatic during the hectic Spring months, won't you?

And, what's next, you might ask? Well, we have all but ignored the front yard. I did plant those daffodils and iris (like this purple one that's in bloom right now), so I could have my favorite flowers welcoming us home. And we cleared out a few cedar trees that were blocking our view of the street.  But because we weren't concerned about a move in the near future (read that: in the first three years we were here), we were least concerned about "curb appeal." I have ideas about some changes, but for now, I'll let the lawn service take care of things. Status quo, don't you know?

Meanwhile, I think I'll take my coffee on a walk to see what has changed in the Way Back overnight. Always such a pleasure...especially when I can see how the plan has come together. Ahhhhhh....

A Trainer By Any Other Name

Whoosh! There went Spring...here comes Summer!

Seven short days ago, we were concerned about a Frost Warning posted on the News 2 Weather ap. Today? It's going to top out at just under 90 (85 already). Talk about running hot and cold...or rather, cold then hot!

I even had to turn on the air conditioner yesterday...because of the heat, as well as the pollen, which is covering everything (like our neighbor's normally shiny red truck) in a powdery yellow. Can't sleep with the windows open when you shouldn't be breathing the air! I may need to refill my nasal spray prescription by the gallon. Want proof? Here's a shot I snapped while taking a rest break on the garden swing. Reminds me of a saying one of my Lunn cousins used to say: "You may write in the dust, as long as you don't date it."

But neither heat nor pollen will deter me from my Spring gardening activities! And, what a long list that would be...

I was thrilled to see asparagus spears shooting up through the asparagus bed a couple of days ago. Such a taste treat...and presented in such an odd manner. Everything else sends up the leaves then flowers in preparation of the bounty to come. Not asparagus. You get the bounty first, for a few short weeks in the Spring, then it spends the rest of the year sporting the fronds and the berries

The eagle-eyed among you might notice those odd holes around the spears. Abbie loves running through the asparagus bed, on her way to jumping into the potato bags. Sigh. She's so cute...but she's going to significantly affect our yield this year, don't you think?

Learning from last year's problems, we are trying to nip the ever-present weed issue in the bud...and attempting to combat one of the issues with clay soil at the same time. Clay soil...which has high mineral content and high water-retention properties...has at least one awful characteristic: in high temps and baking sun, it clods up and crusts over like a brick.

I think I've mentioned that we have been amending our (awful, terrible, horrible) native soil with copious additions of leaf mold and compost. But, we could stay here for 20 years without making a dent in this much soil, working on the whole 1,000 square feet. So, we set up 4 wide rows and three equally wide aisles last Fall, in the Warm Season garden, tilling in more leaves, etc., and making progress, but alas the brick-crusting continues. Until I noticed that the soil under some bags of top soil was moist and workable. Hmmmm. What if we kept the rows covered at all times? And not just with straw, as in the past.

Enter a giant roll of Preen's landscape fabric! We've used it in the Rose Garden with some success, and this year we will be trialing it on the long rows and the aisles. Here's a shot of the rows I covered this morning. In the heat and pollen-choked air. Please be impressed, since I had to move 44 40# bags of top soil to make it possible. Ahem.

And now to the fun part...and how the title relates to this post...

Mr. T finished the tuteur that fits perfectly inside the Center Square of the new raised bed garden. A Tuteur, used as a tower to support vining vegetables and flowers, is a French word meaning "trainer," which is apt since I spent most of my adult life as a corporate trainer. He made one for Missy M's Secret Garden, and I have wanted one ever since. Ours has copper rails (I <3 copper!) and a purple topper, painted to match the shed doors. We even found a pot that fits perfectly...and I planted it with petunias, vinca vine, black-eyed Susan vine, and morning glory vine, that will soon be trailing down. I also seeded the Center Square with Scarlet runner beans, sunflowers, and nasturtiums, that soon will be filling out and up. Grow babies, grow!

Whatcha think?

Tote That Barge, Lift That Bag

Why does everything in the garden have to weigh 40 pounds? Or, better yet, 50?

I was taking a break this afternoon when it dawned on me that we have moved 2 tons of top soil from the driveway to the back yard and the Way Back Garden in the past few days. TWO TONS! Do the math: 100 bags of top soil at 40 pounds per bag = 4,000 pounds, or TWO TONS.

And that's not all, either. 50 bags of cedar mulch @ 40 pounds per (so far...still have 100 to go). One ton done, two to go. 25 bags of mushroom compost @ 40 pounds per (so far...we'll need another 25 before all's said and done). One ton in all. And 20 bags of Black Kow composted manure @ 50 pounds per bag...those are outta my league, I'm afraid. All I can do at that weight is cheer Mr. T on. He has a large wagon; I have a smaller one...and together we have put several miles on both in our efforts to move 4.5 tons of soil and amendments. Makes my back ache just writing it all down.

Not really. I have been very careful with all this lifting...warming up cold muscles before working, being realistic about my limits, and taking adequate breaks. I have been diligent about stretching and flexibly exercises over the Winter, to help meet the challenge of Spring. I know I'm playing with fire, so to speak, and a "bad back attack" is the last thing I need or want. No time for that...

Today I started getting the roses ready for their growing season. While I had already pruned them about a month ago, I had held off on the Spring Feeding just in case we had more cold weather...which we did. But all the rose bushes are leafing out now, so it is time to take action and get them ready to put on a show this Summer.

First I rake back last year's mulch. Then each bush gets a big helping of Patricia's Special Rose Potion: 1/4 cup Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate); 1/2 cup bone meal; and 3/4 cup 10-10-10 granular fertilizer. I scratch this mixture into the soil from the main cane out to the drip line. Then I add 1/3 bag of mushroom compost as a thick mulch in a circle around the base of each bush. Water in...and voilá! Happy, healthy bushes. I finished the 15 bushes in the back yard today, with "only" 45 more to go in the Rose Garden.

Then, I'll turn my attention to the Orchard, where I'll need to mulch all 20 trees with more mushroom compost (no fertilizer yet, as none of these babies have borne fruit). Then ditto with the blueberries, blackberries, and grapes...all of which get both fertilizer and compost.

Are we done yet?!

I am under a deadline of sorts, in that April 15 is looming large...that's like the starter's pistol for the Warm Season Garden. After the Average Last Day of Frost for the Piedmont, we can begin planting all those summer goodies: tomatoes, peppers, melons, corn, beans, okra, etc. So, I want to be done with the other gardening chores by then.

A lot of work? Heck yeah. But oh so good for body, mind, and spirit. That's why I do it...for the joy it brings!

Just remind me of all that joy in the morning, when I won't be able to get out of bed! I wonder if I have any Epsom salt left? Supposed to be a good soak for aching muscles, right?!


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It's not all work-in-the-garden here at Casa 3917. I've also been writing about working in the garden...😃! Latest article published online, I Say Tomato! is located here: http://guilford.ces.ncsu.edu/2013/03/i-say-tomato/. Enjoy!