Blessings Darlings!
One of the things about being sick is that, having cut out as much physical activity as I could from my life (the better to rest and heal - being unable to breathe is exhausting!), I have more time to meditate. So my daily meditation has risen from once a day to 3 times a day. I increased the meditation as soon as I got sick, so by the middle of this week - when I had two regularly-scheduled workings to do (Commune With Divinity and a Coven Crystal Charging) I was in a particularly good space to do them. I may have gotten past my problems binding with the new crystal, and I got a moon cycle (at least!) worth of tasks from the Stag.
And goodness knows what the wind is blowing in and out today, and for the rest of the month of March!
Frondly, Fern
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Exercise While Sick
Blessings Darlings!
I'm not over the pneumonia yet, not by a long shot. But I'm breathing much more easily.
So I started back with light exercise today. Upper body weights, using the shoulder/arm muscles I keep getting tendonitis in. I did this because I really really need to keep those muscles in play now that they aren't hurting on a daily basis. I used the lightest weights I have, and not many reps, and only 3 sets.
Felt GREAT. But after a week on the couch ... it was absolutely all I could do without having to take breaks.
Maybe Friday I'll be able to do a moderate bike workout!
Frondly, Fern
I'm not over the pneumonia yet, not by a long shot. But I'm breathing much more easily.
So I started back with light exercise today. Upper body weights, using the shoulder/arm muscles I keep getting tendonitis in. I did this because I really really need to keep those muscles in play now that they aren't hurting on a daily basis. I used the lightest weights I have, and not many reps, and only 3 sets.
Felt GREAT. But after a week on the couch ... it was absolutely all I could do without having to take breaks.
Maybe Friday I'll be able to do a moderate bike workout!
Frondly, Fern
Monday, March 11, 2013
Pnuemonia
Blessings Darlings!
So, yeah, I have pneumonia. They gave me an impressive assortment of drugs for it on Saturday, and I'm getting closer to feeling functional now that there is more oxygen in my bloodstream.
Uh ... about those drugs ... They gave me three types of steroids and an antibiotic. The steroids - one long-acting/slower onset one by pill, one nasal spray for my sinus', one fast inhaler for my lungs - are aimed at opening my airways so I can breathe. And the fast ones HAVE worked fast. There was improvement within 6 hours. But HOW do steroids do it? Wait for it .... wait for it .... wait for it ....
They do it by inhibiting my body's ability to fight infection. So I'm breathing better, and the antibiotic is doing it's part about the infection, but my body is no longer as fully involved in the battle.
I'm seeing if I can stop the fast-acting ones today, as per the Dr. instructions, and take the pills two more days. The antibiotic I get to take for 7 more days. Oh, and remember, there's no alcohol allowed while on antibiotics, because the liver, in the face of both alcohol and antibiotics, quickly breaks down and excretes antibiotics. So I can't take my elder extract while on the antibiotic even after the steroid phase ends.
Tis a mad, mad world.
Frondly, Fern
So, yeah, I have pneumonia. They gave me an impressive assortment of drugs for it on Saturday, and I'm getting closer to feeling functional now that there is more oxygen in my bloodstream.
Uh ... about those drugs ... They gave me three types of steroids and an antibiotic. The steroids - one long-acting/slower onset one by pill, one nasal spray for my sinus', one fast inhaler for my lungs - are aimed at opening my airways so I can breathe. And the fast ones HAVE worked fast. There was improvement within 6 hours. But HOW do steroids do it? Wait for it .... wait for it .... wait for it ....
They do it by inhibiting my body's ability to fight infection. So I'm breathing better, and the antibiotic is doing it's part about the infection, but my body is no longer as fully involved in the battle.
I'm seeing if I can stop the fast-acting ones today, as per the Dr. instructions, and take the pills two more days. The antibiotic I get to take for 7 more days. Oh, and remember, there's no alcohol allowed while on antibiotics, because the liver, in the face of both alcohol and antibiotics, quickly breaks down and excretes antibiotics. So I can't take my elder extract while on the antibiotic even after the steroid phase ends.
Tis a mad, mad world.
Frondly, Fern
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Too Windy to be Green
Blessings Darlings!
The wind is killing me today. I'm one of those traditional types who prefers to do laundry on Mondays ... and dry it on the line. But in winter/early spring, I can only get one load dry on the line on a GOOD day. So I end up doing laundry pretty much every available day of the week!
So I hung today's laundry - linens. Big top and bottom sheets, which catch the wind. And boy is there wind today! I had to come in to the house to put gloves on, because the wind chill while handling wet laundry was killing me. In the 2 hours since I hung the laundry I've been out there twice to recapture what has blown off the line (and I put a LOT of clothes pins on each piece) and re-hang them.
And the wind hasn't just been screwing around with me on that. The newspapers and cardboard I used last week to help smother grass in the area I plan to garden in have had their protective heavy mulch blown off - I've been chasing after them in my 3 acre yard (and I think I see some in my neighbor's yard as well).
The weather folks promise that the wind will die tonight ... if I make it that long. And if we get the promised snow storm on Wednesday, that will help settle the garden, but with rain starting on Tuesday and the storm on Wednesday, those are at least two more days I can't hang laundry.
I'm going to get a nice HOT cup of tea now.
Frondly, Fern
The wind is killing me today. I'm one of those traditional types who prefers to do laundry on Mondays ... and dry it on the line. But in winter/early spring, I can only get one load dry on the line on a GOOD day. So I end up doing laundry pretty much every available day of the week!
So I hung today's laundry - linens. Big top and bottom sheets, which catch the wind. And boy is there wind today! I had to come in to the house to put gloves on, because the wind chill while handling wet laundry was killing me. In the 2 hours since I hung the laundry I've been out there twice to recapture what has blown off the line (and I put a LOT of clothes pins on each piece) and re-hang them.
And the wind hasn't just been screwing around with me on that. The newspapers and cardboard I used last week to help smother grass in the area I plan to garden in have had their protective heavy mulch blown off - I've been chasing after them in my 3 acre yard (and I think I see some in my neighbor's yard as well).
The weather folks promise that the wind will die tonight ... if I make it that long. And if we get the promised snow storm on Wednesday, that will help settle the garden, but with rain starting on Tuesday and the storm on Wednesday, those are at least two more days I can't hang laundry.
I'm going to get a nice HOT cup of tea now.
Frondly, Fern
Friday, March 1, 2013
Tomato Talk
Blessings Darlings!
I've been looking at my tomato planting options today. I'm not 100% happy with the variety of seeds I bought. Unless otherwise noted, all these tomatoes are open pollinated, tho' not all are considered 'heritage'.
I bought Beef Steak tomatoes - a GREAT large fresh-eating tomato. I will happily use them for that. But they aren't a great variety for canning and drying, as the seeds/goo are spread thru' the tomato and not in a few large, easy-to-emply cavities.
The selection of cheap seeds also had Mortgage Lifter tomatoes. I don't want those - they are way too large to can easily, and are low acid tomatoes so they can't be water-bath canned unless you add vinegar. These were developed in southern West Virginia, which has a pretty significantly different climate/growing season than we do here in northern West Virginia.
Often I grow Roma tomatoes, also known as Italian tomatoes. They are great for canning, drying, and sauces, with thick flesh and easy to remove seeds/goo. They are also a determinant variety, unlike the previously listed tomatoes, which means that all the fruit on the plant ripens at about the same time, rather than continuously producing over the season - this is one of the things that makes them great for canning. OTOH, their flesh is grainy and their taste peaks when cooked, so they aren't great for fresh use. These were developed close to where I used to live - at the Agricultural Research Station in Beltsville, Maryland (same place they developed modern big-breasted turkeys!).
Rutgers is another of my go-to tomatoes. Developed at, yes, Rutgers University in New Jersey, they were one of the first Wide Spread Industrial Farming tomatoes. Meaty without being grainy, thick-skinned for their time (thin skinned for our time!) for less problems when shipping, good flavor, easy to can, nice size for canning at about 8 ounces each, and determinant.
Juliet tomatoes are a variety I'm fond of - but, alas, are a hybid. They are a large grape tomato - I'd call them between grape tomatoes and Roma tomatoes in shape and features. Nice flavor. Great for drying.
Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes - what a great taste! But how easily they split! And another hybrid.
What I'm going to do is use the Beefsteaks, and also see if I can get my existing (but old) Rutgers seeds to sprout. If not, I'll see if I can get more of them or some Roma seeds, even if I have to pay Burpee prices for one packet.
What are your tomato considerations, and favorite types to grow?
Frondly, Fern
I've been looking at my tomato planting options today. I'm not 100% happy with the variety of seeds I bought. Unless otherwise noted, all these tomatoes are open pollinated, tho' not all are considered 'heritage'.
I bought Beef Steak tomatoes - a GREAT large fresh-eating tomato. I will happily use them for that. But they aren't a great variety for canning and drying, as the seeds/goo are spread thru' the tomato and not in a few large, easy-to-emply cavities.
The selection of cheap seeds also had Mortgage Lifter tomatoes. I don't want those - they are way too large to can easily, and are low acid tomatoes so they can't be water-bath canned unless you add vinegar. These were developed in southern West Virginia, which has a pretty significantly different climate/growing season than we do here in northern West Virginia.
Often I grow Roma tomatoes, also known as Italian tomatoes. They are great for canning, drying, and sauces, with thick flesh and easy to remove seeds/goo. They are also a determinant variety, unlike the previously listed tomatoes, which means that all the fruit on the plant ripens at about the same time, rather than continuously producing over the season - this is one of the things that makes them great for canning. OTOH, their flesh is grainy and their taste peaks when cooked, so they aren't great for fresh use. These were developed close to where I used to live - at the Agricultural Research Station in Beltsville, Maryland (same place they developed modern big-breasted turkeys!).
Rutgers is another of my go-to tomatoes. Developed at, yes, Rutgers University in New Jersey, they were one of the first Wide Spread Industrial Farming tomatoes. Meaty without being grainy, thick-skinned for their time (thin skinned for our time!) for less problems when shipping, good flavor, easy to can, nice size for canning at about 8 ounces each, and determinant.
Juliet tomatoes are a variety I'm fond of - but, alas, are a hybid. They are a large grape tomato - I'd call them between grape tomatoes and Roma tomatoes in shape and features. Nice flavor. Great for drying.
Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes - what a great taste! But how easily they split! And another hybrid.
What I'm going to do is use the Beefsteaks, and also see if I can get my existing (but old) Rutgers seeds to sprout. If not, I'll see if I can get more of them or some Roma seeds, even if I have to pay Burpee prices for one packet.
What are your tomato considerations, and favorite types to grow?
Frondly, Fern
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