"Tony" Thought Journal 3.0

[Don Alaska]

I know the frustration of hiring people and they don't do the job right and they charge a lot today.

My problem is my family still thinks I'm 30 years old and can just get up and work whenever I want. They don't realize that days are lost because I just can't do it that day, even with painkillers.

Example this morning I was carrying my seedlings outside to get them acclimated, I could not go through the patio sliding door with trays of seedlings in my hands, because the step down was about 6 in., I had to lay them down go out the door and pick them up.

Carrying anything and going up and down stairs is very difficult for me, there are times walking and carrying something is difficult.

I started thinking how much I really did when I was healthy I work 7 days a week at one point and still kept the 50x55 garden plot, plus I always did the grocery shopping, the Christmas gift shopping, birthday gift shopping, fix things around the house that were down or broken. Worked on my car.
I must admit my wife tried to Slow Me Down, I would go into the weekend with a list of 20 things I wanted to do. If by Sunday night one was left and I didn't get to it I'd get depressed.

Now I want to become my favorite chair potato, it's looking more and more appetizing this definitely will be my last year for the garden.

@Tony Page I have discovered that when I begin to ache, I should just sit down and rest a while. If it don't, I sometimes take days to recover. I try to push myself occasionally in an effort to build myself up though. My wife can work circles around me, but even she has slowed down as she ages.

 

[Marie Miller]

Tony, can you have the step to the patio changed into a ramp with a rail? A cart may be useful. If it is small enough you can drag it through the house.

 

[Tony Page]

@Tony Page I have discovered that when I begin to ache, I should just sit down and rest a while. If it don't, I sometimes take days to recover. I try to push myself occasionally in an effort to build myself up though. My wife can work circles around me, but even she has slowed down as she ages.

Don,
I do the same thing as I mentioned in another post I actually put chairs in all the areas I would be working so that they're not far from me when I get to the point where I need to sit.

I try not to push it, but would rather lay down for half an hour then go back out and start over again.

I try to do as much as I can sitting for instance I put the 80% of the raised bed together in a chair last year.

I wish one of my grandkids would like gardening as much as I do. I would love to train them not just for the help but to share some of the things I've learned over the years.

 

[Don Alaska]

How is the move to South Carolina coming along @Tony Page ? It will certainly be life-changing should you move there.

I am fortunate that our children seem to be getting into gardening. Our daughters both garden but in a small way, but all of our sons have become big gardeners. The two eldest both have multiple greenhouses, and our youngest is scheduled to finish his greenhouse construction next weekend. His wife has already put in her orders for cucumbers and tomatoes from us as soon as the construction is complete. Considering that this is the woman who once said she would never garden, never have chickens, never garden and never homeschool her children...now does all of those and I am so proud!

 

[Tony Page]

@Don Alaska
I'm leaving it up to my wife and daughter to figure out. I've been through this before and it got nowhere. They made the trip to South Carolina spoke with real estates, reviewed a few of houses, my wife saw one she really liked. They stayed at our nephew's house, he and his family have been down there for a while now. They got firsthand information about living down there, and were given a tour of the area. They live in Simpsonville.

I mentioned to my wife we should be packing to move and put the house on the market soon, if we want to be down there for the next school season. My wife is now telling me that my son-in-law is not sure he wants to change jobs. My daughter has been separated from her husband for about a year now, I don't think she can leave without him agreeing to it. It's a complicated situation. A few months back we were all in agreement about moving.

Looks like we're in limbo again. My wife and I will not leave without our daughter and our grandkids.

As far as I know we are still going to have a garage sale to start thinning out our stuff.You would think after
the truck loads of stuff they took out of this house and brought to the dump, because of the fire, I wouldn't have much stuff left. They had 180 plus cartons of stuff in storage until the house was completely renovated. Those cartons are now in my basement we've gone through maybe 40% of them. It was over 50 years of accumulation. That's without the stuff that was stored in my barn.

I had an old detached garage full of stuff also, I clean that out already, and had the garage removed. I kept very little of what was in it, just my record albums I donated the rest of the stuff that was worthwhile to charities and the library.