Garden Update #1

I am a few days late in getting my pictures uploaded and this blog post written. What can I say? It is summertime...we have had a crazy schedule with Will's football practice...and I just haven't made the time to write.

But I did take pictures on Monday morning as promised. So...without further ado, a view of our garden.

You probably can't tell from this picture, but the first plant on the second row looks very different from last week. Here is a close up of our lone bell pepper plant from last week's photo.
Isn't it beautiful? However, last Tuesday (just after this photo was taken) Jim came home to find most of the leaves gone. We wondered why the deer would eat the pepper plant and not the peas...well, that is because it wasn't deer.

While watering the garden, I found a manduca quinquemaculata (otherwise known as a tomato hornworm) hiding on the stalk. My pepper plant now looks like this. :-(
Our first loss. But look how good the peas in the second row are coming in. :-)
Oh, and this past weekend, Jim and I put a flower bed in the back yard.
You can't see them, but there are iris tubes from Lea Ann's garden planted in the left half of the bed. I had a couple of society garlics and a Mexican heather that were supposed to go by the mailbox still sitting in pots, so we planted them at the edge of the iris's so that we wouldn't disturb them when we finished the bed.

Jim, Will and I planted the last row of the garden Wednesday evening with broccoli. Those sprouts should be showing up in a little over a week.

Stay tuned for next week's update. I will try to post the pictures in a more timely manner!

Doo, Doo, Doo...Lookin' Out My Backdoor

(I apologize for the fuzzy looking pictures. I was taking them through a double paned window with a sceen.)

. "What are you looking at?"
"Haven't you ever seen a squirrel eating breakfast before?"

"Dog food? What dog food? This is squirrel food served in a special dish. I'm not a dog."

How Our Garden Grows

August asked to see pictures of our garden. She is wondering what 'method' of gardening we are using. Well...it is the only one I know and it looks like this.

Jim used the bucket on his tractor to remove the grass from the highest spot in the yard and put in 5 rows approximately 50 feet long each. The first row is planted in tomatoes. The second and third have peas (plus one bell pepper plant and one cilantro plant).

(That first plant to the right is a bell pepper plant...and between last night and this evening it has lost almost all of it's leaves. Jim thought the deer had eaten it but couldn't understand why they didn't eat the peas instead. Well, while we were staking the tomatoes tonight we found out what really ate my plant. I noticed the stem of my pepper plant moving. It was a HUGE green caterpillar! He must have been eating off that plant all day!)

This is one of the pea plants from Sunday evening...and it is nearly twice that size already.

This is either a squash or an okra plant...I think it is okra. The third row is planted with half squash and half okra.

The fourth row is half cantaloupe and half cucumbers...but they aren't quite peeking out of the ground yet.

We still don't have corn in the ground...and due to recent information Jim has obtained, we may be planting broccoli instead. Evidently, you need at least three rows of corn for it to cross pollinate properly.

I will try to post pictures from the garden every week or two to let you see how things are coming along.

"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration." Lou Erickson

Right now it is mostly Jim's perspiration...but I think he will have me investing soon!

We Shall Overcome

After two weeks of feeling mediocre at best, we are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Bri has been off most of her pain medication, which is a huge improvement. She is still not sleeping well...but we are hoping that it is only temporary. She and I got out last night for dinner and a movie with Meagan (Kelli was unable to make it). She was exhausted by the time we got home. This led to a few hours of sound sleep, for which she was very thankful.

My pain level has been pretty low since the middle of the week, but I have had little to no energy. On Thursday I left work early, came home to take a two hour nap, was up three hours for dinner and then went back to bed and slept all night...now that is bad! So, on Friday I decided to start taking vitamins since I am still not able to eat much. I am just not hungry and when I try to eat, it is only a few bites at a time. I was able to make it through a short day of work and then get Bri out of the house for the evening...a big improvement over Thursday. I still have a little bit of indigestion and nausea after I eat, but even that is getting better.

I saw my surgeon on Wednesday and he said that I would not see daily improvement, but each week I should be able to look back and see it. I finally got a full explanation of what happened and what they did to fix it. I was relieved to know that I am progressing as expected. It is just going to take longer to recover from the setback than from the first procedure. I see the second surgeon on Monday and we will schedule the removal of the stint. Not looking forward to that!

Okay, enough about us sickos!

The guys are doing well. Jim's garden is looking amazing. The peas are growing like crazy and we are seeing sprouts from the okra and the squash. No sign of the cucumbers or cantaloupes yet though. Have I told y'all what an amazing man I married? He has taken such great care of me and Bri. I really don't know what I would have done without him. I know I have called him My Hero for some time now...but for these past few weeks he has become MY HERO! For sure! He has told me that when he gets old and sick I have to take care of him in return. No problem, baby!

Will got his report card in this past week. Sophomore year, here he comes! He has been taking care of Bri while we are at work during the day. I don't know what we would have done without him. He has the kindest heart and works really hard helping his dad. It is time to look into football camps and driver's education for him. Can you believe it?

Brian moved home last week. He will be here until time to head off to college in the fall. He needs to save some spending money for his freshmen year. He has decided after a year of hanging pipe that maybe this isn't the career he wants for the rest of his life. It is interesting having a formerly independent child move back home...so y'all please keep us in your prayers. I know several of you have already gone through this stage, but for us, it is brand new!

Well, maybe I will have something more exciting to talk about next time and you will not have to endure our medical updates!

Thanks to all of you who have supported us through this time. We love you all!

Check Out The Bling!

Bri and her blinged out walker...complete with neon pink duct tape!

Her surgeon was so impressed that he had to take a picture of it and send it to his wife. He says it is the first blinged out walker he has ever seen. She is thinking of making this a career choice! Ha!

Fresh Air And Sunshine

Finally! I was able to get out for a few hours this morning. It was tougher than I had thought, but well worth it. I had made plans a month ago to meet a friend for her birthday lunch. We live an hour apart, so we had planned to meet in the middle.

Thankfully, it was away from Houston...because I had to take it easy driving. The curves and bumps get to me. I am still very tender in the upper abdomen. But even that is getting better everyday.

Anyway, I was able to get out to Navasota today to a cozy little tea room tucked into a garden center. It was nice to be out in the sunshine after being cooped up for a few weeks. We had a nice lunch that was topped off by a very decadent chocolate cake to celebrate her birthday. After lunch she picked up a few new plants for her yard while I bought a package of tea (Orange Spice) and a few seed packets (okra and squash) for the garden.

Other than getting out for Bri's visit to the surgeon on Wednesday, we have not been out of the house. (Her visit went very well. Her surgeon was very impressed with her blinged out walker, which she has to use for the next four weeks.) We call her our 'little senior citizen' with her walker and her shower chair!

Tonight the family will drive over to the Lozanos to celebrate Tressa's graduation. We may not be able to stay for the whole event...but we are glad to be going.

I think a little bit of fresh air will do us all good!

Next time I will try to get pictures of Bri's walker (she is still working on it) and of the garden Jim put in for us. Right now we have peas and tomatoes, the okra and squash will go in tomorrow and maybe a little corn as soon as we pick up the seeds from Kelli.

I will try to write more in the days to come. I have kind of been "out of words" since the second procedure. It is hard to explain, but after all the pain...I just didn't have much energy to talk or even to think.

But with some more fresh air and sunshine...maybe I will have more to say tomorrow!