Wilson River Gal

Today's a recovery day for me, so I'm off from work. Not exactly sitting around watching Hulu in my bathrobe  - at least not today, anyway. Early summer in the forest, all the berries are ripening all at once and demand to be picked and preserved for the long wet winter. Saturday morning I went out and picked raspberries and blueberries, which went right into the freezer. Last evening, after supper, B and I moseyed around the upper end of our road and up Lester Creek Road a bit and picked thimbleberries, early huckleberries, some blackberries and some amazing salmonberries - including a bunch of purple ones (they're so sweet!). We picked just enough for a batch of "bumbleberry jam" - which is a mix of wild berries. This morning, after B went to work, I went out and picked an additional 3 pounds of wild blackberries (brambleberries, for those that know about these things). It's great having berries growing adjacent to our compost pile! I barely left th...

  Treatment #5 is history. Yay, team! Dr. Dan sent me in for another CT scan today to check something going on in my left cheek. Could be related to a minor-league sinus infection on the right side, but we don't know. We'll see what's up when we get the results of the CT (aka Cat) scan. Meanwhile, we're still in the market for one or two good barn cats. The moles, voles, and other assorted varmints are practically eating us out of house and home outside, although the chipmunks and squirrels haven't shown up yet for some reason. Perhaps the weasels have eaten them all. :) So - if you hear of anyone local with a surplus of barn kitties - send 'em my way! And no, weasels don't eat barn cats. Cat scan item #3: the new color work cap is coming along slowly, given the only time I work on it is when I'm home by myself and can concentrate. The second part of that equation is the problem, of course. I've got a raging case of oatmeal brain going o...

I like to spend time futzing around in the garden. Weeding, planting things, helping things grow. All kinds of things: veggies, flowers, herbs, trees, whatever. It's not so much that I like to eat (but I do!) but that I like to grow things. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when gaze out over our nicely-kept garden. This season is pretty weird for me. As much as I want to have a beautiful garden with lots of vegs, flowers & herbs tucked here and there, it just isn't happening. And that makes me sad. I just don't have the energy for it, although I have plenty of will. But will's just not enough to get the job done. I went out for an hour this morning, pulled a half-wheelbarrow full of weeds from the main garden and weeded the new asparagus shoots. I deadheaded the roses. I planted a flat of seedlings that needed to be in the ground nearly a month ago. I watered the asparagus and newly-planted area by hand, after running the soaker hose in the raspbe...