her able hands

So, happy Tuesday! The past five days have been a bit of a blur so I’ll just recap in bullets:

• Thursday Tyler=strep, missed four midterm exams.
• Thursday evening, Lila fever of 106. Trip to urgent care. Strep, double ear infection.
• Friday worked at home, both kids home sick. Ty stayed in his room and slept. Lila moaned on the couch, fever hanging out around 101 even with Motrin.
• Saturday afternoon, Lila’s fever back up to 105. Trip to ER. The Zithromax she was on apparently not covering the hidden, undiagnosed pneumonia in her right lung.
• Sunday afternoon, massive allergic reaction to the new antibiotics. Benadryl helps the swelling, but the red dye makes her certifiable.
• Sunday night, mama drinks a big goblet of cheap wine and goes to bed with massive headache, then stays awake all night for the third night in a row, listening to the water bubbler sound of Lila breathing. But she’s breathing, so we’ll take that with thanks.
• Monday trip to pediatrician reveals that first prescription for Zithromax was at a 50% dose given over ten days, rather than the 100% dose over five. Thus the non-coverage for the developing pneumonia. So back on Zithromax at correct dosage and lesson learned: even though urgent care is only three minutes away and the co-pay is $50 instead of $100, it’s better to pay the extra and drive farther in order to get to the ER at Children’s Hospital where they know what they’re doing for little ones.
• Tuesday—hey! It’s Tuesday! And yes, I’m still attempting to work a little bit from home while Lila hangs out on the couch watching movies, reading, drawing maps and coughing. Oh, the coughing. I’d like to be able to bring her back to school tomorrow, but I’m just not sure. Fever’s gone, but this cough when it hits—it just knocks her out.

So my two boxes of seeds are still sitting on the dining room table, waiting for my attention and I’m thinking I’ll just dive in and do that today. Make a list of what I have, then compare that to what I want to order.

Is it too late to start a few cartons of winter sown perennials out on the porch? We’ll still have at least one more deep freeze here in Ohio, right?

Also thinking a lot about this Victory Garden Drive that’s the hot new garden challenge with an excellent mission. I had vowed to myself that I would not sign on for any blogging challenges this year, and instead just focus on my own little path, explore the topics that I want to write about in relation to my city acre and my goals for building a more self-sufficient life. But this Victory Garden Drive is such a great idea. I’ll have to sit with it some more to see if/how I want to be involved blogwise. But I’ll be planting my Victory Garden, as always.

Interesting to note that the area down the length of the driveway where Chris piled all of the mulched fall leaves has melted off first. The area with leaves is big, but not very deep, maybe four or five inches. So I don’t think it’s composting heat that’s melting the snow. Across the driveway where we didn’t manage to get any leaves piled is also melted. I think it’s more sun, so I’m very hopeful that this is just the right area for my sun-loving vegetables.

Oh! And I had a vision! Sorry, I know that sounds hokey. But it’s true. While browsing through the Fedco Tree Catalog, trying to decide on what Pear varieties to grow, I saw them espaliered—one tree on either side of the front steps. They’ll get plenty of sun and good drainage, be protected from some of the winds, and in several years we’ll have a living wall along the front of the house. I can see how magical the front porch will become when it’s in bloom. The fragrance of blossoms, and then the rich, fermented ripening pears hanging right there in front of us while we eat a late summer supper. I’m very excited about this! I’ll transplant all of the Evening Primrose to another bed and plant a half-ring of Comfrey around the drip line to help pull up nutrients and loosen the clay on the outer edges.

Gosh, it’s almost 50 degrees out there today! I want to get out and start right this minute.

But no, first things first. Seed inventory! Winter sowing! Clean off the light table and finish mounting the lights so I can start my onions, and shallots inside.

Spring is well and truly on her way, people. Which means some of these nasty-asty germs we’ve been burdened with will begin to die off, right?

Please?

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