I so want to get back into the garden.
Maybe I can try again....
My arthritis has made it near impossible but my heart wants to garden!!
I had occasion to go to the Dollar Store earlier today & was dismayed to see Christmas wrapping paper on display & a few other Christmas items .... right in the middle of all the Halloween stuff. :-(
That being said, I do give my great-nieces and great-nephews Christmas presents. For their birthdays, they get a card with a number of dollar bills corresponding to their age ... they love getting a little cash. As for presents, I have one rule: NO Junk. No cheap toys, the latest trendy items, etc. I have done puzzles, books, flash cards (for fish - the older boys love to fish), etc.
So today, I ordered a 9-book set of Little House on the Prairie for my two great-nieces (8 & 10). One in particular loves to read big time & the other will get interested & read as well. They are living on a small homestead so the pioneer/living off the land themes should resonate. Ma & Pa are good role models, too.
As for the great-nephews, who are dinosaur cRaZy, I ordered them a 10 book set of Dinosaur Club books where 2 kids have adventures with various dinosaurs. It’s a bit ‘old’ for the youngest, but it should help the older boy (kindergarten) with his reading - he’ll be highly motivated. Their mom can read them the books, too.
Still noodling over the two youngest boys ... one will be 2 in February & the other just turned 4. They are more ‘city’ (subdivision) boys than outdoor ‘country’ boys. Both are very smart, so I’ll come up with something that meets my ‘no junk’ criteria. If you have suggestions, I’m all ears!
(It's not me, but it could be!)
Thanks Diana for the nice new warm October thread!
Mrs. Pete really liked this warm Halloween picture post! (I do too!)
Mostly warm and dry here in the Middle of Misery over the past few weeks.
I’ve been making a point of avoiding the computer. Nothing but bad news and sitting in a straight chair aggravates my back pain so I’ve been leaving it alone.
Ten days ago I had the first RF nerve ablation procedure done on my right side lumbar region. The procedure was extremely unpleasant, but the results have been nothing short of amazing so far. I’ve gotten more chores done in the past week than I did in all of September. I go back on the 21st to have the same thing done on the left side. They tell me the relief should last about a year. I’m starting to feel some relief in my upper back/neck from the last botox treatment. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, but it’s better than it was.
Been pecking away at property projects. Mrs. Augie’s chicken house has been given a good tune-up, a solar-powered automagic door, and a couple coats of primer. We’re going to hit the Lowe’s store this morning to pick up a couple tubes of window caulking and the topcoat paint.
Square bales of alfalfa/orchard grass hay for the horses were picked up yesterday. We have plenty of big round bales but it’s nice to have small squares to feed when the winter weather has the horses wanting to be under roof.
Good neighbor Dave baled a second cutting from my hayfield a few days ago. It made a little less than half compared to the first cut. Not bad considering how dry it’s been here for the past two months. He needed the hay for his cattle and I’m happy that I don’t have to run $4.50/gallon gasoline through the tractor to put the field to bed for the winter.
My big garden is still producing peppers, pole beans, and tomatoes - in spite of no irrigation for the past six weeks or so, and the bottle gourds are maturing. Everything else is finished. It’s about time to clean it up and add a layer of composted horse poo.
I’m going to seed some lettuce and spinach in the raised beds later today and install the cold frames on top. With any luck we’ll have fresh salad greens for the next couple or three months.
Howard is doing really well. I let him out in the mornings and he terrorizes the neighborhood foxes, coons, and groundhogs until he decides it’s time for his breakfast. Then he comes home and barks at the front door to let us know he’s back. Yesterday evening while we were out for a walk he saw a couple deer cutting across the hay field. Naturally, he took off after them barking his fool head off. I gave one beep on his training collar and he stopped dead in his tracks, turned around, and came back to us. Good boy, Howard.