Sunday, June 26, 2022

Just Another Day of Retirement

 I've had a garden for the past 4 or 5 years now. My problem is that the garden is a half hour away and working full time and trying to get out to take care of the garden was a tough row to hoe. (See what I did there?) So the garden was mainly a weekend project. Anyone with a garden will know that's not enough time. 

Last year was probably the most productive garden I ever had, however, just about the time that tomatoes started coming in, we went on mandatory 10 hour days at work. It made me sick but there was no way to keep up with my tomatoes. I picked on the weekend, but there was a lot went to waste. 

This year, however, things will be different. I'm retired.  Everything that could go wrong did go wrong as far as my plants went. Jiffy Pots = absolute failure. Less than half my seeds germinated, and the ones that did germinate did not thrive. However, my sister and daughter-in-law always plant more than they need in case of plant failure. I took their left overs. It worked out well. 

After the initial disaster with my seeds, (aka the great chipmunk caper)  I got more and planted. 

I took a week to go east and we've been finishing the apartment and helping our new guy (he's got a bad heart and the heat has him struggling), so once again, my poor garden began to look pretty neglected. 

Today, I went up and worked for several hours. It felt good to see progress. I wish that I would have remembered my hat though. The sun was hot.

It felt nice to go inside. The camp required a major cleaning. The long hours at work last summer and into the fall made closing the place up for winter pretty slap dash. I was pleased to see that once again, mice haven't been a big problem, but still, I spent the afternoon cleaning, wiping and disinfecting cupboards and counters and the bathroom,  hauling all the bed linens home to be washed and returned. I didn't get completely finished but I got most of it done. 

After 7 hours of hard work, we headed home. Tim was pleased with the amount of brush hogging he got done, I was pleased with my own progress inside and outdoors too. We are both too tired to give two hoots. Left overs for supper eaten sprawled on our couches watching 'Better Call Saul'. We will both sleep well tonight.

Sounds silly, I suppose, to get such satisfaction out of such physically hard work, but the thing is, when you haven't had the time to do things properly for such a long time, it feels like a luxury to be able to turn your hand to that work. It was a very satisfying day.

Note to Ellie: I wish that you hadn't felt the need to remove your comments. I disagree with you, but your opinions are  your own and I certainly don't think less of you for them. I just think differently, and that's something I think that this country needs to learn: to accept that not all of us think the same. Still friends? 

17 comments:

  1. Still friends, I thought I had offended you and felt really bad, I know we are different in our ideas and thoughts. I am sorry for the things I wrote and it will not happen again. I enjoyed your garden post today. There are so many u-picks here it is easy to have what I need. Strawberries are just going out, corn is coming in plus a number of other things. We have few oranges here now. The trees have all died. My son in law lost his entire grove, he had to push the trees out and burn them, close to 8000 trees. He raises sod now, that is a big business here. Thanks for the note, I feel so much better, I was up set last night but friends can be different and still be friends.

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    1. No, Ellie, I wasn't offended at all. The only time that a commenter offended me, I mean really offended me was when he made the statement that I'd married my husband for his insurance. Why are the orange trees dying? (Never mind...I had to run right off and find out for myself. I had never heard of citrus greening before.)

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  2. C'mon. I am going to start associating you with hoes. I'm sure you don't want that.
    Does the tenant with heart problems have air conditioning? If not perhaps you could negotiate a deal with him. Say half and half.
    I remember the phrase 'Better call Saul'. I'd better look it up.
    Deleted comments are unfortunate, even if offering a very different view.

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    1. He pays his own utilities, and he does have window air conditioning. He brought his from his house. Tim installed it for him right away. Also the apartment is pretty well insulated, something we're always sticklers about. It keeps the heat out as well as the cold. Sitting on the riverbank, shaded by the trees, his place stays pretty cool.

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  3. it is as I say - wouldn't it be good if we were meeting, sitting around with a drink so that disagreements could be chatted over, laughed over and forgotten - writing them down so often makes for unnecessary ill feeling - glad it has all blown over.

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    1. I never really thought about it, but you may be on to something, Anon. Back in the day, before social media, people talked face to face. Disagreements were dealt with and accepted. Now people talk to each other on line in ways that would never be tolerated if people were face to face, and from that, division grows.

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  4. I think balance is the goal of retirement. Being busy enough to feel productive but not so busy that you are exhausted or neglect yourself. I haven't worked it out yet myself. I know how to relax, rest, read and waste time but haven't quite worked out my purpose yet!

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    1. As a person whose life has been lived in a very unbalanced way, learning to balance will peace filled accomplishment.

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  5. Physical work is satisfying because you can see actual results. You two work bloody hard but I'm guessing you two have worked all your lives.
    Are there photos of your garden? I do love a photo:)

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    1. You are right. I really suck at remembering to take photographs. I will try to do better. Stay tuned.

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  6. I agree with you that gardens are time consuming. I am a natural or organic gardener and can live with weeds or wildflowers and I will remove them some time. I think raised beds and planters are less maintenance dependent and great for increasing drainage and not bending to the ground to tend the crops and plants. Photos please Debby.

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    1. They are time consuming. Next fall, I plan to till it all under, put down a layer of diatomaceous earth, and then tarp it for the winter. I've got so many insects. Like you, I do not wish to spray, but they are doing damage to my plants and it will hurt my squash, pumpkins, and cucumber production this year. It is what it is though. We can only do the best we can with what Ma Nature has handed us, learn and look forward to next year. Simply having the time to work in the garden is going to make a big difference. I can see it already.

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  7. With a garden 45 minutes away, I can relate. It will never be on the cover of a magazine but I do enjoy what we get even if it wasn’t maximized.

    I can also relate to Ellie and always enjoy our discussions even if we don’t agree. I love that you don’t take it personally and am fascinated with your views on things. I wish more people were like you when having disagreements.

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    1. Ed, you allow me a vision into a different mindset. I do have to say that I wind up discussing you and your thoughts on things with other people a lot. Again, we do not always see eye to eye. Sometimes I am incredulous, but always, you are thought provoking and I feel glad that you are so willing to be patient with me.

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  8. Our garden is somewhat lacking at the moment. With the floods, supply chain and fuel price/freight issues over here, produce is also somewhat lacking on supermarket shelves. The "riotous" thing is there are people blaming the new government, who have had approximately 1 month to send us to the dogs so far. Social fragmentation by sound bites is not limited to any one country it appears.

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  9. Your retirement form work is involving a lot of work. 🤓

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  10. I can totally see why you get satisfaction from physical work. I feel the same, even if I just get out and do minor things in the garden. It just feels like something got DONE for a change! In other words -- tangible results.

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I'm glad you're here!

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