fall garden?

Ever since those lumberjacks destroyed my private and shaded backyard, I have been brainstorming all sorts of ways that I can make the most of the situation. I have decided on two things: 1. I prefer instant gratification, and 2. I am going to attempt a fall garden. The instant gratification part is pretty tricky, since there is no such thing when it comes to gardening. But! I can totally attempt a fall garden. Yesterday I spent some time laying out my floor plan. I am going to use some vertical gardening concepts, but I don't think I am going to sheet mulch or use raised beds. I have always sworn by sheet mulching in the past....but honestly I get tired of dealing with all the materials. So, I am going to attempt a modified row garden, with some vertical aspects, and dense planting. Whew. If this works, I will be amazed.

Basically it's one giant experiment. So far my gardening experiment this year has been a colossal failure. My potato plants died, my squash died. Birds ate all my figs, peach tree is too old to produce. Blueberry bushes #2 and #3 probably died from our heatwave the other week. The only things that haven't been a failure are my 12 basil plants. They have all somehow survived.....and I have been harvesting every weekend. I hope to have enough pesto to last through the winter, but I keep eating it....

the wind bludgeons and blows...

third tree to lose it's head

Working down below

Saddest backyard ever. Ugly house. Tears.

So, last Friday lumberjacks did their worst to my trees. No more shade. No more privacy. No more...grass. I feel like I lost a part of my home or something. It's hard to explain. I know it needed to be done, but there is something unsettling about sudden change, even when it's expected.

In other news, the lovely H&B came to visit for the weekend. We ate food and drank drinks and rode bikes. Yup! Little gimpy me managed a 8-10 mile ride on Saturday. I wasn't able to ride my bike, but borrowed H's (I thought the clips might be a problem). The only time I felt gimpy was while going up hills. My knee needed a 30 minute ice bath and some ibuprofen afterwards, but all in all it went as well as my wildest dreams would allow. Afterwards, we made cake!

That's about it. I am going to eat dinner now so I can justify eating leftover cake.

and the winner is....

This week just doesn't want to end. And it's really hot. Everywhere. Pieces of my car are melting off. My yard is crispy brown. Emma refuses to go outside. It's just plain oppressive. I woke up on the bad side of awake today....I should have just stayed in bed. I am frustrated by my immobility. I walk like I have a peg leg. It hurts. I cringe. I am gonna whine.

I am grateful that my injury was not as severe as I feared. While the doc guessed I tore my meniscus, it turns out I merely tore my MCL. But the tear was just a partial tear, which means no surgery and a fairly speedy recovery. I can do as much as my leg will allow me to do without hurting. At this moment that basically leaves me watching crap on Netflix to the point of complete boredom. I haven't jogged in weeks. I haven't walked my dog since getting back from the camping trip. Luckily it doesn't hurt much to go up and down stairs.

Anyway. I am just frustrated, and woke up cranky. Tomorrow will be full of awesome I am sure. I have a three day weekend coming up since I took Friday off to be here while the lumberjacks chop down the remainder of my partially-alive trees. H and B are driving down for the weekend, so that will be super awesome. I am going to go on a bike ride if it kills me, and it might, since it will be 1000 degrees outside. I should just go to bed, only it's a million degrees in my room and there is not going to be easy sleep tonight. You know how when you are in a bad mood you only seem to be able to think about the bad stuff? Well, that's me tonight. Gross.

I am old and falling apart

It's true. Pretty sure it's all downhill after 30. I mean, there may be some peaks from time to time, but seriously. DOWNHILL. At least as far as health and wellness are concerned. I went to the doc this week because my knee was not getting better, and was actually getting a little bit worse. I think the reason it was getting worse was because I wasn't able to move around much at work, and when I got home I was trying to be responsible and take it easy and try to be as immobile as possible. Funny thing is, the more I keep moving, the better the knee feels....but I don't want to risk further injury. After making an educated guess that I had a torn meniscus, the doc ordered an MRI. MRI was an interesting experience. I have never had one before, but the experience was made all the more interesting by listening to 90s rap on the headphones during the MRI. I will say that MRI noises go really well with old school rap. But anyway....I haven't heard from the doc yet. Knee still hurts, mostly right after I get up from being still. I can bend it and sit cross-legged no problem, but I can't bend it to walk, and turning over in bed is now a major ordeal. How weird is that? Anyway, I am going a little nuts feeling like a gimp. My life is now ruled by ice and heat, Netflix movies, and the desire to do anything, ANYTHING, but stay still. ugh.

In addition to the knee issue, I seem to have something lodged under my eyelid that I can't get rid of. My left eye is starting to turn an amazing shade of red. I have been rinsing it with water, using eyedrops, rubbing the crap out of it. Nothing seems to be working. I wish I had one of those eyewash stations from high school biology glass. Then I would be set. And it would look really bad ass in the kitchen.

So, my world is currently painful and frustrating and red. And I can't read because my eye keeps leaking. Now I am just complaining. I'll shut up.

Day by day....

One of my goals this year is to go more places, do more things, live life a little more intentionally. It is not so easy to do, especially within the confines of life that makes it so easy to settle into routine. I really am making an effort. Even while I try to stay in the moment and not worry about the future,  I find myself almost involuntarily trying to prepare for the unknown and the what ifs. I find myself on this wandering path, not sure how I got here, not sure how to leave it behind. Not sure if that is even what I should do. Ok, so that was a bit tangential to what I was intending to write about, but at the same time exactly on point.

Not too long ago I found myself having a conversation with an almost stranger about the possibility of going on a camping trip. While this almost stranger was vouched for by a trusted mutual friend, I was still not convinced it would be entirely responsible or wise to run off to the woods with this guy. I took a step back and remembered my vow to myself to try new things. To go on more trips. It was like a test. All new experience, all new person, so many unknowns, so many risks. So, despite the little voice in my head screaming "Disaster!!" I decided to roll the dice....

And I lived to tell this tale....

I was thinking I would do a play by play for the folks who read this blog, but talk is cheap. I will say that I am glad I went. Glad I took a chance, because I was able to see some amazing things, take my dog on an amazing adventure, and get to know a pretty amazing person in the process. I didn't walk away completely unscathed though....I have a feeling I tore my meniscus during a hike the first day out. I will be limping around for quite a while I think.

So, I will conclude with some pictures of paradise. I will remember to take more chances, both with life and with people. Tempered always, but hopefully less so as time goes on. Life is too short, and I have watched far too much of mine pass me by already. So kids, let's go. Let's do this.....

I've got words coming soon

Sorry for the unexplained absence. And the phone calls I haven't yet returned. I will post soon, and call you back, and show you pictures. It's just late right now, and I am devoting my energy to sending happy thoughts to a brave little kitty.

I will update soon...until then, I hope all of you are happy and healthy.

Three day weekend!!!

I love three day weekends, but that should go without saying. Everyone loves three day weekends. I have decided to thoroughly enjoy the time I have over the next few days. I didn't make any plans, but that was intentional.

A fella came and mowed down the empty lot next to my house, which meant I was able to get over in the empty yard and cut all the vines and baby trees that are growing up and in my chain-link fence behind my wooden fence. So, there I am, grabbing these vines and pulling and pulling and pulling and walking backwards and it just keeps going and going. Seriously. These are some massive vines! Most of them are basically living barbed wire. I managed to get cut quite a few times, and my legs had dried blood trickles all over them when I came inside. Anyway, the work is far from done. I am charging my little battery powered chainsaw so I can go out there and make short work of some baby trees. Oh the joys of homeownership!

I wanted to give an update on my experiences with my Vibram Five Fingers (VFF). I have worn them some part of each day since I bought them. I really have enjoyed them in the yard. They aren't hot or bulky, they don't come off my feet like the clogs I sometimes wear in the yard. I generally don't like wearing shoes if I don't have to, so the first thing I do when I get inside is take off whatever is on my feet. I decided to leave the VFFs on and see if my feet protested the obstruction. After an hour or two of wearing them inside, I wasn't uncomfortable at all. They meld so well with my feet that while I was obviously not barefoot, I was pretty darn close. I have gone on two walks and two jogs with them on. The first jog was just over a mile around my neighborhood. The first thing I noticed was a very distinct and loud slapping noise every time my foot hit the pavement. Immediately after the run I could feel a little tightness in my calves, but otherwise I felt fine. I later did some research, which I should have done prior to the run, on proper running form while wearing these suckers. It turns out the reason my feet were making the loud slapping noise was because I was doing it all wrong. I was still running as I would if I were wearing my running shoes: heel - toe. In the VFFs, you are supposed to run on the balls of your feet, with your heel barely touching the pavement. hmm. So, I tried that yesterday. I ran another mile, this time on the balls of my feet. I gotta say, this did not come naturally to me. I felt sorta like I was prancing the entire time. I mean, try it sometime. It's odd. At the end of the run I felt my big toe on my right foot wanted to form a blister something fierce. Luckily it's holding out so far. My ankle took a little of a beating as well. The most noticeable result of running this way was what happened when I woke up this morning, a mere 24 hours after this prancing run. I could barely bend my ankles to 90 degrees, and the tops of my feet were sore, and my calves, oh good lord, I have never felt such tightness before!! Holy smokes! Well, apparently all these things are normal and are a result of me using better form while on my job. Hrmmm. We shall see. For now, I am unable to go for another jog. It might be a few days. Everyone says to ease into it, not to get crazy with it. I might have overdone it. Who knows. I will keep you posted. 

In other news, I managed to wake up by 6:30AM every weekday this week. Today I slept in until 7:30, but that's okay. I was pretty tired though, because I wasn't able to get to bed by 11, which was my goal. Ideally I would be going to bed at 10, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I will see if another week will even me out. 

I am off to run some errand. I have a big trip in the woods planned for next weekend, so I have to venture out into commerce to secure supplies. Oh yeah.