We have been taking advantage of the nice weather to get as much done outside as we can, because starting today or Wednesday the temperatures are going to be up into the mid-80s. That’s not terrible, but it does drain us doing too much in the heat. And, of course, we’ve got a lot more heat coming our way in the months ahead.
Yesterday we covered the wood we put in Terry’s raised garden bed with four bags of compost and four bags of soil. The bags weighed between 20 and 40 pounds each, and I sure was glad we had the Mule to carry them in. Even so, by the end of the day, my back was letting me know I had pushed it almost too far.
Once everything was dumped into the garden bed, Terry spread it around evenly.
Then she planted seedlings of five varieties of tomatoes, four varieties of peppers, cucumbers, and basil.
After she was done with that, we spread organic repellent powder in three widening circles around the planter to hopefully keep deer and other critters away. With that done, I turned on the tripod sprinklers to give our new sod and the hay and grass seed mixture the landscapers put in a good soaking.
Not everything we did was outside yesterday. I wrote another chapter in my new Tinder Street book, we spent some time on the telephone talking to our accountant and found out how much money we have to send off to the IRS today for our 2022 taxes, and e-signed the tax forms.
Today I will read through the new chapter and make any needed corrections I see, then print out the last four chapters I wrote for Terry to edit and proofread before I send them off to Judy and Roberta to do their thing. We also need to hit a grocery store and restock the larder. There is a small Piggly Wiggly not far from us in Gordo, but the selection is limited and the prices are higher than in Northport or Tuscaloosa.
Something else on our To Do List is to find a new primary care doctor. We’ve been getting suggestions from local people and I put a call into one of them to see if they are accepting new patients, but all I could do was leave a voicemail. Hopefully they’ll get back to us today or tomorrow. I can use the local VA hospital, but since we have Medicare, I prefer to use civilian doctors so the VA can handle other veterans that don’t have that available to them.
And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.
Thought For The Day – Ignorance lies not in the things you don’t know, but in the things you know that ain’t so. – Will Rogers
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
The deer really appreciate those raised beds. It makes it much easier for them to browse the buffet when they don’t have to stoop too low. Best of luck!
I read that you use Voltarin (sp) on your back. The VA provides me with the prescription form of Voltarin. Also, the provides me with lidocaine patches that work wonders. Keep in mind that I am VA rated for my back, but it might serve you well to check into getting these two items through the VA system. These are at no charge for me. The lidocaine patches are a miracle worker.
You may need to put a fence around those plants. If the deer there are like here in Georgia that repellant does not hinder them. They will eat them within a few days.
You have made a very nice deer buffet, they will happily munch all up. We found some 4′ high panels of heavy wire used for making dog enclosures, on Amazon. It is a little pricey, but it is easy to use, and it has kept the deer out of our gardens for years now. They could easily jump over it, but they haven’t yet, and we have some VERY hungry deer come the end of the dry season here in September. If you search Amazon, you will see what we have. It comes in boxes that hold 16 linear feet of 48″ high fence and it is very easy to configure and move around.
MidWest Foldable Metal Dog Exercise Pen / Pet Playpen