This and That

With Gracie’s help, I’ve finished the wool neck scarf I started a while ago. I’d ordered the kit from Mountain Meadow Wool Mill in Johnson County, Wyoming, a place we visited when we took Clara to Yellowstone. They buy wool from the local ranchers, trying to keep that industry alive. They also buy wool from university herds, then weave blankets in school colors. The alums love it. 

I checked, but University of Florida’s sheep are grown for meat, so no blankets from them. Not surprisingly, University of Miami and Georgia Tech don’t teach agricultural so no sheep. Besides, I have no use for this warm scarf I’ve knitted, much less a heavy wool blanket.

Now I’ve started a baby blanket in a washable wool for Molly and Spaulding’s baby, due late November. They are coming in mid-September for a baby shower, so I have an earlier deadline. The pattern isn’t as complicated as the scarf, however there are a lot more stitches. Only 1 more stage of the Tour de France to knit through, but the Tour de France Femmes is next week, and the Vuelta de España is in August. I have a chance.

I continue to work in the yard. This week I cashed in a certificate I bought at the Orange Audubon auction for 3 hours of gardening services with CC, a birder and native plant enthusiast. I’m trying to have our yard vacation-proof, with the beds finished and some staff hired to take care of them when we travel. It’s discouraging to come home to towering torpido grass among the wildflowers and all my edges blended into the grass paths between them. If I could have a knowledgeable person come and weed while we’re gone, perhaps the invasive grasses could be kept beat back. And, of course, if I’d get all the paths made into chips trails, a lot of the work would disappear. For that, my current deadline is by next spring. It could happen.

In any case, CC came, and we weeded together in the front bed, which I’ve ignored while working on the canal side gardens. Two people can get a lot done in 3 hours. While I’d hoped she would help me trim the wild lime, which has gotten scraggly, that seemed more than she was willing to handle, so we concentrated on torpedo grass and Mexican clover (Richardia brasiliensis). CC wanted to deadhead the salvia, which I let happen for a while. That’s too fiddly for what I needed when lantern vine (Momordica charantia) is taking over a bed. I encouraged her to move onto pulling unwanted plants. We can deadhead when we chop back old stalks. 

We worked steadily in the heat, and I was thankful when our 3 hours were up. The certificate was valued at for $80, which I assume is her going rate. That’s comfortably between the $25/hour and $35/hour I’ve been quoted for knowledgeable landscape people, not just the mow, blow, and go guys. However, she not likely to do heavy lifting or digging. Perhaps I’ll have her come once a month to get a feel for what I need and what she’s good at. I can hire the couple who helped with the boathouse path for more muscular work. 

Being outside I had to worry about more sun on my face, because I got too much at Lake Apopka on Saturday, and now have a fever blister on my upper lip. I thought my sunscreen and hat were enough, but I was wrong. I began using my vintage acyclovir and called my doctor, who got back to me a couple of days later. By then, my lip was on the mend, and the left side of my face was less swollen. My eye has mostly quit weeping. He prescribed oral meds for the next time, which should absolutely never occur since this is a sun-related reaction. Easy to prevent: avoid too much, which means any, sun on my lips. Evidently, this is beyond my ability.

Dr. Nakhwal had also prescribed generic Fosimax, to see if I can slow down my osteoporosis and a generic Estradol so I have one hormone floating around. Since I plan to live another 20 years, I have to keep patching, patching, patching. To that end, I have gotten back on my exercise program, dutifully doing either core or arm exercises every morning. I’ve also began the Lose It! app again to keep me on track to knock off the 8 pounds I’ve put on, plus maybe a couple more to give me some cushion. Or give me less cushion. I certainly enjoyed gaining them on our train trip. Now time to cut back a little. So far, 5.5 are gone.

On the other hand, the dinner of beer and buttered popcorn at the movies last night was no help. We decided to pass on the Barbenheimer extravaganza of seeing both movies in one day. Five hours in the theater seem excessive. We opted for Oppenheimer first, then Barbie tomorrow. We also get to eat movie foods two times that way. I may try the nachos.