Sabado

Ten miles walking was not achieved today.  Five and a half miles was though.  My step count total for the day is over 16,000 and that totals over seven miles.  Fifteen more miles tomorrow if I am to reach the full 100 mile in May.

Since I just feel asleep at the keyboard I think it is time for a happy for today.  What made me happy today is that I got some boxes emptied.  We have stopped unpacking and were concentrating our efforts on other things.  Today I emptied some kitchen boxes of items we don't often use.  

Beans came up!

Iris!

Sunset.

☮

Keep your distance.

Feliz

Last night I couldn't get to sleep.  At some point I decided that I couldn't sleep because I had fallen asleep during the day.  I put the webinar on that I fell asleep watching during the day and fell asleep... around the same spot.  If I could figure out the secret to keeping people interested and engaged during a prerecorded slide show webinar I could start a business right now.  

Today I took a personal day so that I don't lose it when the school year ends next week.  I walked.  I did a little over two miles before breakfast, two miles around four this afternoon, and then two miles followed by a pit stop and then just over a mile with E after dinner.  I'm almost at 25,000 steps for the day.  This brings me hope for getting the hundred miles in before the end of May.  Given that I can walk tomorrow (like physically didn't mess myself up today) I might be able to do this.  On this morning's walk I met an older gentleman from up the street.  He was out getting his newspaper and thought he might recognize me (because he knows just about everyone in town).  We had a nice little talk and I learned where other possible places to walk might be.  I'm going with tonight's walk with E for my happy for today.  Because spending time with the future daughter-in-law is important and it was fun too.  

Other things to be happy about: E and Four made homemade pasta and sauce for dinner tonight, watching K play in the mud/clay, seeing a friend today, and seeing C being happy about being productive today.

This is the big tree I saw on Mother's Day, now with leaves.

Yellow water-lily.

Lilacs down the street.

Yay mud!

☮

Wash your hands!!  

Luna

During the month of May I was supposed to try and walk 100 miles.  At this point I am not there yet.  Many things didn't go as I had hoped, mostly because of my own inability to motivate myself.  But also the kidney stone.  I have three days to get enough steps to cover 28 miles.  Dang... not sure if I will be able to do that and plant in the garden and other things I want to do too.  

K bought a sprinkler for the garden.  It is already making watering the garden easier.  Place it, turn it on, set a timer, do something else, come back and move it, repeat until done.  The sprinkler she bought is supposed to cover some 3000 square feet, it doesn't.  Tomorrow we hope to also change the hose and maybe increase the pressure.  If that doesn't help, we will just keep moving it around.  

For today my happy is planting the radishes, cucumbers, and some squash into the garden with E.  Every little bit is a step closer to fresh food later in the season.

Most of this tray got planted today.

Rows, some are planted, some are not.

Clouds.

Moon.

☮

Stay safe.

Baile

If someone had told me a year ago that I would be working with my family on planting a garden and contemplating raising chickens I don't think I would have believed them.  I wouldn't have believed them if they told me that my world would also be rocked by a pandemic either.  This is a year filled with unexpected things.  

There is again new growth with the same seed planter as yesterday.  Here is yesterday's again:

And here is the same planter this morning:

Hopefully tomorrow I will put some things in the ground.   Today the temperature was over 90 and I thought that might be too hot to plant.

My happy for today is watching E and Gideon dance after dinner tonight.  I wish I had taken some pictures.  

More flowers coming soon!

☮

Wash your face!

Today is Wednesday

The plants I wrote about in yesterday's blog were planted on May 21st.  Today they look like this:

The first group on the left are cucumber and the second are radish.  The last four groups to the right have yet to sprout.  I tried to work by the planters this morning, but the traffic was too loud when on the Google Meet.  

With so many people in the house we have started to take turns cooking dinner.  Tonight was my night.  I made chili.  Four helped me get the beans ready.  K made some corn bread to go with it.  I also made more friendship bread while dinner was cooking.  This time I remembered that the pans needed to be lined with shortening as well as cinnamon and sugar.  K helped with that too.  I wasn't thrilled with how the chili came out, but the friendship bread was good.  

For today my happy is that I have finished the two prescriptions that I started taking because of the kidney stone.  Meals had to be planned around them.  Hopefully I can get some energy back with them gone. 

This is the first tray I planted seeds in (days before the rest).
There are still some that haven't sprouted yet.

☮

Don't touch your face.

  

More new growth

At the end of last week meals got organized so each adult can pick a weeknight to plan the meal for that day.  I have been way out of my comfort zone and trying new things.  Tonight the new food was beet burgers.  They were really good.  I like beets so I am not surprised that I liked them, but they exceeded my expectations.  They aren't meant to replicate a hamburger, just the method that a burger is eaten.  They are vegetarian.  Tomorrow is my turn; I'll be trying to make veggie chili.  

My happy for today is not just the beet burgers but that some of the seeds planted inside the house as starters are coming up.  There are some seeds that I think I already wrote about coming up, but they were planted over a week ago.  These were planted on Thursday, I think, so I didn't expect to see anything spouting yet.  

Petunias.

Beet burgers with some homemade (and some not)

burger rolls.

☮

Wash your Hands!

Day off

Yesterday's production seems to have warn me out.  Today included a nap and time out on the hammock swing.  There were a few small chores sprinkled between.  It turns out that lack of energy is a side-effect of one of the medications I am on for the kidney stone.  Ideally that will mean I will have some energy again when I am no longer on it.  My happy for the day is swinging in the hammock.  I haven't quite got the knack of keeping a steady swing going while curled up comfy like in the hammock swing.  K gave me one big push that I was able to sustain a bit.  It was peaceful.  

Views from a hammock swing.

☮

Keep your distance.

Gardening

It was an early morning so we could get the rest of the tilling done and start planting.  Z and Four did an awesome job of finishing up the tilling and we got some things planted.  There is also what looks like the tiniest pieces of  fruit on the tree that K calls, Tucker.  Yes, she has named some of the trees.  After the busy morning I was beat and pretty much took the rest of the day off.  I don't feel like I have much sustained energy lately.  Gardening is my happy for today.

☮

Stay safe.

Tilling

Today was my last Friday to work this school year.  I took next Friday off.  Z had the day off though so we rented a tiller and ground has been broken on most of the garden area.  We have so many seeds and have a few things started.  I'm doubtful that some of what we have for seeds will work because we just didn't get everything together in time.  Some seeds we are right on time for though, so-good!

I tried to use the tiller but don't have the upper body strength right now.  It was a little bit of an awakening.  Perhaps combining that with the kidney stone it should be a bigger awakening.  If nothing else I am reminded that I am a grandmother, not a spring chicken.  

Some of the seeds I started last week have broken ground.  My happy for today is that we got enough prep work done today that some things will be planted in the morning. 

☮

Keep your distance.

Mostly Pictures

Before lunch E and I went for a walk.  We ended up by a swamp/pond area up the road a bit.  We sat and watched salamanders (I think) swim, frogs sunning themselves, and possibly a turtle swimming behind some plants.  It was peaceful with only a few cars driving by.  That is it... my happy for today.  Nature.  

Frogs.

Body of water.

Not sure why, but I like this picture.

Salamander?

More Salamanders?

They liked to swim.

Plant that I want to remember to check out again
 soon and see how it grows.

☮

Wash your hands.

Cemetery Day

It was a good day.  Yesterday I was in the ER with a kidney stone.  Today the pain is mostly gone but it isn't over yet.  I pulled myself together and went with the family to plant flowers on some family grave stones before Memorial Day.  We met with my aunt (today is her birthday), some cousins, and their partners.  It wasn't the quite the experience it usually is.  The day had the reality of the world we live in now.  The face masks, inability to be close, and hug ones family will continue to wear on me until this is over.  When it is over, how hard will it be to take off that mask?  Only time will tell.  

We didn't plant on as many stones as usual.  There was a closed bridge that would have added about an hour to the task for one cemetery.  My aunt wasn't feeling up to doing another one.  It has been determined that flowers are super expensive.  Once the garden is planted, I hope to try growing geraniums on my own.  That should save us some money going forward if I am successful.  My happy for today is getting to spend time with family.  

                                

                                                                           

                                                       

☮

Stay safe.

ER

Earlier today I wasn't feeling well.  I was feeling so bad I ended up in the emergency room at the local hospital.   Long story short, I have a kidney stone.  Considering things that my imagination had conjured, a kidney stone is better.  The pain had subsided while waiting for tests.  I was released today with some prescriptions and walked out without assistance.   I needed assistance to get to the car and into the hospital.  Now I get to watch for the 3 mm stone to pass.

In other news I was taught a new game after dinner tonight.   It is called wikirace. Basically,  people start on one particular wiki page and race to a different, unrelated particular wiki page.  It was fun... and a little frustrating when I couldn't find cheese for a while on the milk page.  That is my happy for the day-well, and being alive and not in the hospital. 

What I really am is grateful.   K, Z, C, and E all helped me in one way or another to get to the hospital.  I don't even know if Four or Gideon knew what was happening.  The hospital staff was great, a little serious maybe,  but they tolerated my swearing -not at them- just about the pain.  K let people know.  If you are one of those people and I didn't get back to you, my apologies, going to the hospital and pain is tiring.

Today's temporary jewelry.

☮

Stay safe.

What day is it?

We have been in this new to us house for a little over a month (almost six weeks).  There are still routines we are making and some we are breaking in.  There are others that just haven't turned out the way I had hoped.  That last one for me is that I am not walking as much as I would like.  With a pandemic, there are things that are just different.  Today is Monday.  I kept wanting to wish everyone a nice weekend when I was on the Google meets for work.  It is MONDAY.  I guess I am ready for summer break when Monday feels like Friday.  

My happy for today are the routines that are starting to fall into place--meal times and dishes.  And the one that I think is starting to fall into place as well--gardening.  Today I started to prep more starters for seeds.  It is late in the season perhaps, but tomorrow many seeds will be sown.  At the end of the week we will be renting a tiller to get the garden ready to plant.  Doing it by hand was just not in the cards for us this year.  We have quite a few seeds and if there is a green thumb among us, maybe there will be a harvest in the fall.

About ready for seeds.

☮

Wash your hands

Keep your distance.

Strawberries part 2

Z and I went to see my protege to pick up some things we were storing at her place.  Social distancing can be hard.  I am a person who likes to hug.  It is hard to see friends that I would normally share a hug with and not be able to do so.  It is good that the majority of my friends are being cautious and doing the right thing by wearing a mask and social distancing.  It is hard to not be able to sit by a fire and share a story.  I think we are getting closer to being able to try this, with masks and at a distance.  We had other friends come by today and give us some things--Outside, with masks-- and had a short wander on the property.  

The strawberries are planted!  I forgot to take pictures.  I gave them a lot of room in hopes that they will spread.  Now comes the task of keeping up with the weeding and watering.  I'm hoping to find the right rocks to place within them as stepping stones.  It got to the point that I was feeling bad about pulling so many of the flowering weeds to make room.  I'm going to try to watch for the time after these weeds are done blooming and before they seed to pull more out.  The bugs and bees seem to like this weed.  Hopefully the bees will like the strawberries too.  Strawberries and seeing friends, even with a mask on, are my happy things for today.

K made that table with a little bit of help from  Z and C.

☮

Wash your hands!

Saturday Stroll

Taking Friday off this week has really made it feel like I am getting an extra weekend day.  I'm not sure if that is good or not because, I am starting to think about work on Monday, but tomorrow isn't Monday.  Only a few weeks left before summer vacation.  I had considered signing up to work summer school this year.  Then the pandemic, the move, and C, E, and Four coming here for the summer has changed my mind.  There still hasn't been an announcement about whether there will be summer school or not.

Errands were run, cleaning, and preparing the ground some more for planting happened today.  After dinner I went for a walk.  Someone I know posted a get-off-the-couch challenge on Facebook.  I was going to walk this morning, but did the errands.  So when I hadn't walked yet after dinner I knew I had to get out.  I walked four miles.  Good job me!  The walk is my happy for today. 

☮

Wash your hands!