Category: fear

I’m OK, but…

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A bit shell shocked.

I have been having a bit of memory problems for the past year or two.  It was worrying me.  The most obvious clue was not being able to remember the names for rosemary and tarragon. 

In the case of rosemary, I could see the plant in my head, but when I tried to find it’s name it was like there was an empty bubble in that spot.  Now with tarragon I could remember it’s nickname, The Dragon, but not the herbal name.

Then I went out to make a video of my garden flowers out front and suddenly couldn’t remember the names of many of them either!  So, now I am really freaking out!  These plants are perennials and biennials that I grew from seed and suddenly I can’t think of their names.

I didn’t post the video because I was embarrassed about my lapses.  I will post it at the end.

Bringing this story to a rapid close I will share with you that after a visit to the neurologist and a  massive amount of testing,  I have apparently has several small strokes in the past, which he claims are normal for my age.  He says it isn’t Alzheimer’s, but still prescribed medication for memory.  I need to do a lot more research on this, because before being prescribed the medication, and with a concerted effort, I was able to make a new pathway to the name for rosemary!  If I can do that without the memory med, then shouldn’t I be able to make new memory paths for the other lost names?

OK, so here is the embarrassing video.

One last thing, finding all this out and being able to retrain my brain has really lifted my depression.  Not being terminally depressed has made me a maniac in the garden this spring, and having Bob home full-time to help me (yes, he is finally retired) means that I, make that WE have really gotten a lot done in preparation for spring and summer this year.  Color me very happy!

❤ ❤ ❤

 

Video tour of Garden changes coming soon

 

 

Things that explode in the night

28 Comments

I always read myself to sleep on the couch each night and then when I wake up at what ever ridiculous time in the AM I go to bed.  It has become a annoying routine, but one that assures I will sleep when my head does hit the pillow.  Unless of course I am sick in which case sleep does not normally allude me.

Monday night’s routine was going according to habit and plan and I had just dozed off when there was a horrendous explosion right outside in front of our house…  Now don’t think bad of me or hold it against me, but after being so thoroughly jarred from slumber at 12:45 AM I jumped up and was heard to shout, to nobody in particular:  “What…the…he…!!!” (twice actually).  The house had now been plunged into total darkness and silence.

so much for sliding into slumber.

I stood in the dark trembling and then began fumbling for my little flashlight that takes me from couch to bed without burning out my retinas or waking Bob from his slumber, and then went out to the front porch to see what had made the explosive sound.  Silly to tell you this, but that feeble little light only showed me business as usual; grass, shrubberies, fence-line, cars in the drive… Oh, and that the rest of the houses on our street were in darkness too.  Hm, I thought,  the transformer is on a pole at the roadside just in front of our orchard/gardens…

“Yeah, that’s it.” I told myself

So, I came in, locked the door, and found Bob fully awake and standing up in the dark by the bedside.  Groggily he asked, “What happened?” Then said, “My CPAP quit.”  I told him I thought it was the transformer, and we put ourselves to bed.  Well, about 4:00AM we woke up to big truck sounds and chainsaws right outside our bedroom window! The light from said trucks was very bright and leaking in around the blackout shades!

WHAT NOW?

We got up again, went to the front room window and then out onto the porch to find this…

click for a larger view

The work to clear away the tree, restore power to the house on the other side of said tree, and to reconnect telephone and electricity to all the homes from our house down took all day.  Strangely, our power came online very quickly, but new lines to all the neighbor’s houses and power were not restored until about 9:00PM last night.

All things considered, even with missed work and no electricity, this was the best possible outcome: Right into the street and not onto their home and vehicles.

😎

 

 

 

Short and Scary!

34 Comments

There is an old joke that goes like this:

Q:  What is worse than finding a worm in your apple?

A:   Finding half a worm.

So this is no joke…

Q:  What is worse than finding a half or whole worm in your apple?

A:  Finding a dead Brown Recluse in the bottom of your apple bowl!

I filled the bowl before Christmas with Granny Smith apples and have slowly been rooting and whittling away at them; using them up.

What a shock to empty the bowl and find one of these!  Dead thankfully.

Brown recluse (Loxosceles) spider legspan size

Image found here:  https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-tell-its-not-a-brown-recluse-1298236

I assume it died because it couldn’t crawl out of the bowl.  However, questions remain:

  • Was it there and dead when the apples went in?  The bowl had been stored awhile.
  • Did it come in with the apples from the grocers?
  • Did it just find its way up to the table top and then into the bowl?

I am guessing the first.  The butler’s cupboard as we call it is dark and the items on the top shelves are rarely used.

Still it is creepy to contemplate

 

Hard to see in this very dark bowl.

 

 

 

 

But there she is!

 

 

 

 

What dangerous creatures have you unwittingly stumbled upon on?

Newsflash!

33 Comments

We are slowly being surrounded by avian flu here!

It started in south Tennessee and has now shown up in our county here in North Alabama.  It is mostly in the big producers chicken farms, but there has been one instance of a backyard flock becoming ill.  There is no cure and the all the chickens in these groups have been destroyed.  It is spread by wild birds. 

What does this mean to me here on the Farmlet?

If my chickens get sick they will also destroy my pet geese, Polly and Fredrik.

I have a knot in my stomach.

LOCAL NEWS on the subject:  http://whnt.com/2017/03/14/bird-flu-suspected-in-3-north-alabama-counties/   (On the lighter side; don’t you just love Commissioner John McMillan’s southern accent?  😀 )