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cmsienk

Sorry to hear you're in such pain, Kim. Praying that it will lessen soon.

We haven't had rain in a while... And the next week here looks like fully sunny skies. We have Rainbird sprinkler heads in the backyard, and fortunately, my strawberries and new blueberry bushes are in the path of one of the zones. We've set them to run at 5 a.m., so the leaves will be plenty dry before the heat of the day. My container garden herbs are taking off nicely, but that's because I'm home to water them regularly. When my husband and I both start traveling for work, I'll have to rely on rain then.

We finished the new raised bed for my Mother's Day blueberry plants... no cage yet. Can't decide if I want to put the effort into the pvc variety or just try netting...

Restfinder

How beautiful! The first year we did just netting on the blueberries, but it kept blowing off, even when we would clip the different nets to each other (we had five plants). Wade made a PVC stand to go over the plants and we hung the netting from that, draping it over the plants and then putting weights on the netting to keep it from blowing. It made it a little easier to get to the berries that way. I think you can see it in the picture I put up.

Still having some trouble with the side effects of the antibiotic (now just taking one since both were doing a job on me), but as the day wears on the effects become less until the next time I take the med. Five days to go - not bad. People suffer stuff for a lot longer than that! The pain itself is gone, and for that I praise the Lord.

connierandel

I am home from 5 days at Mom's. I am exhausted from taking care of Bill while there, and answering the same questions from my mom every 5 minutes. I need to bring her here, but i just can't move her dog, and the dog wouldn't make it this far.

Anyway, we have a visiting nurse coming tomorrow to look through the house and help make a list of tools and adaptive things that medicare will cover. Then we have a doctor's appointment on the 13th so the doctor can write the prescriptions for them. On the 8th, I am paying for a chair lift for the stairs. I just am so scared of Bill going down all of those steps to get out of the house. When I made the Dr. appt, I told them that it had to be after the stair lift was installed.

My next thing is taking a caregiver's class online, and having a nurse come to the house for caregiving advise and training, After that, I need to find options for help down the road. Unfortunately Medicare does not cover memory care and I just need to find our options in home health and possible memory care at some point. This may take legal help...we will see.

Restfinder

Connie, I am so glad that you are seeking some help to know how to best help Bill. We tried to get in-home nursing for Mom, but they didn't come out to where we live, or at least that is what we were told at the time. I think if we wanted intermittent help we could get that, but not daily. It would have made things so much easier if we only had to help her overnight - and believe me that was as hard as the day. I even asked her NP if she would give us something to keep her asleep at night because she was calling for us every 15-30 minutes, and then she couldn't remember what she wanted. Most of the time she just wanted to get up! No Mom, it's 2:30 in the morning, time to go to sleep! Ugh, it was hard. Memory care just makes physical care that much harder because they don't know how to help you. We were very blessed in that the place Mom ended up placed on her record that she was there for re-hab from her broken hip. She did come right out of the hospital's rehab to that place so they were continuing that care. Medicare paid for all of it. We got one bill for less than $1,000 for her last days in the hospital. God was watching out for us in that. I hope that you will have that kind of kindness shown to you. I keep you constantly in my prayers. I hate that your Mom is so far away too. God will give you an answer! Love you

cmsienk

Good morning, ladies. I haven't had much time for reading, although I did talk about audio books with Beth, who is also a reader. She's unable to read right now (that would be so disheartening for me) but us starting to use Audible.

I'm getting ready for work. Today's program is outside in a tent (!). I remember from two years ago how sweltering it got in there, so I've packed my table top fan to take with me. There won't be much walking today, so I'm glad I got quite a few steps in over the last couple of days. I ended yesterday at just over 10K. Today I'll be lucky to reach 1,000.

Have a blessed day

Restfinder

Oooo, sounds like one of my days, Cindy. Hope it doesn't get too hot!

We've had fairly mild weather for here, so I am grateful for that. I did a little bit in the garden yesterday and was really hot when I came in - not sure why, it wasn't that hot outside. Maybe a antibiotic/sun thing! We are working on a trellis for the tomatoes, one we saw on YouTube. I think we let the tomatoes lie down too long though, when we try to stand them up they are all crooked! LOL! Oh well, live and learn!

cmsienk

Kim, I bought curly poles the first time I grew tomatoes and stuck them in when I planted the young plants. They didn't need them that early, but they were already there when it was time. And I learned a tip for the next year. The first year I planted them in the middle of the pots... but I decided they'd do better closer to the pole. So the next year I offset them towards the back and that was better for tying them off

Restfinder

Thanks for the info, Cindy!

cmsienk

I'm really excited! I just picked up a copper insert bowl for my 4.5 quart Kitchenaid stand mixer. It was an ebay purchase with a local pickup - 27 minutes away. I saved $17 in shipping and I get up use it sooner.

Restfinder

How awesome! I know that using copper makes some things easier to make, like whipped cream!

Did a little bit of shopping today and then went and sat by the water of the Sound for a little while. Not a lot of boat traffic today, but still a relaxing time with Wade!

cmsienk

Apparently copper reacts with the protein in egg whites - albumin - and makes fluffier eggs and meringue with more peaks. I'm excited to experiment

cmsienk

I got my tomato plants repotted in their bigger pots the other day and lined up the poles they'll climb. I hope I don't have any trouble with tomato worms this year. 🤢

Restfinder

Oh, so pretty! Here's my garden so far:

We have several growing zucchini and flowers on the tomatoes. The blackberry bush is quite full as are the blueberries. I need to go ahead and pick some of the ripe ones from them. Peppers have some flowers too and the potatoes (in the bags) are growing like crazy. We have one sweet potato that we are nursing along too. Oh, and there are onions mixed in there as well. Loads of fun! My flower garden is doing really well too. I hope that your tomatoes do really well for you!

My glasses are ready. I got a pair of computer glasses, distance at the top and reading at the bottom, but the largest portion is the computer distance. Right now I am using a pair of reading glasses which are working alright, but they aren't the right strength. Hope they work out!

Hope you ladies have a great day!

cmsienk

Your garden looks great, Kim. Things are further along for you, but I'm assuming that's because you're further south than I am. I need to get the netting up around my blueberries or the birds will get them all!
My strawberry bed isn't as full this year as it was last, but there are several berries that are almost ripe enough to pick.

Great day wishes from me too!

connierandel

I am so jealous of the fresh veggies, but right now I don't even want to think about any type of garden.

The nurse the other day was very little help, but very nice. She did tell me that I should talk to the doctor about hospice. She said that he isn't "thriving" and should qualify. It would be a blessing, but I have a friend that is a manager in a local hospice provider and she told me that they changed the qualifications for hospice during the pandemic and she doesn't think he would qualify now.

I was going to buy a new mattress and boxed spring for our bed because it is so high that Bill has had trouble getting in bed. I went to three places yesterday. One went out of business and the other two didn't offer delivery and pick-up. I really needed the old ones gone. Then I got the bright idea to take the shorter mattress that has rarely been slept on out of our guest room and put our 15" mattress in the guest room. I did that this morning. It does decrease the height quite a bit and didn't cost us anything. I will probably get a new foam mattress pad, but right now it just isn't quite as plush, but we like firm, anyway. I am exhausted and sore, though.

Restfinder

Oh, Connie, I feel for you! It took three of us to get Mom into her bed at night! I'm glad Bill at least has some mobility, that has to make things a little bit easier. Wow, having that shorter mattress on hand was a great idea!

Cindy, the strawberries look so yummy. Wish I could eat them, how refreshing to bite into one on a hot summer's day! I need to get some blueberries picked today. We have a ton of figs on our two fig trees as well. Wade has a net spread over the one and has another net coming for the other one. The birds love those blueberries and figs! The figs came with the house, I'm not into them, but Wade and our pastor and his wife are, so they just pluck them off of the tree and eat them fresh!

Prayers and love, Kim

cmsienk

Been working on a container/trellis project for the cucumber plants I was gifted. I left the smaller plant in the round planter with a vertical rusty metal trellis (someday I'll take a wire brush to that trellis and repaint it). I moved the slightly larger plant to a 'new-to-me' planter. I got the planter for $2 at a garage sale, and I got a free piece of a vintage ladder that I coated with boiled linseed oil and then two coats of wax. (I was going to offer her $2, but before I could she said, "Today is your lucky day. I'm going to give that to you. I cut it off a longer ladder this morning.") I'll post a picture of the finished project later this afternoon. I'm waiting for the second coat of wax to dry

Restfinder

Wow, that was an awesome deal! Can't wait to see the pictures.

Wade's been trimming our tomatoes and zucchini, we want the bees to see the flowers as well as for airflow. I have to wear gloves when working with tomatoes, they make my hands itch.

Having those across-the-forehead headaches again when I wake up! Ugh! The meds make me so sleepy!

We're going to a homeschooled graduation party this afternoon. Two of the guys in the Church have graduated - awesome. Both already have good jobs as well.

Have a blessed weekend, and enjoy your time with the Lord!

cmsienk

So sorry to hear about your heachaches, Kim. Praying for a release from those.

Here are my ladder before/after pictures. And my finished cucumber container. I was going to move both plants to it, then decided to see which container works out better - vertical trellis or horizontal ladder. My summer experiment. lol

cmsienk

I'm feeling very good about my $2 planter purchase. I was at Home Depot buying pvc, netting and zip ties for my blueberry cage project and saw the exact planter for $29!