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May. 24th, 2012 06:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckYesterday, my sister-in-law came down to visit. We'd talked about getting together a couple of months ago but hadn't done anything to plan it. She decided to take me out to lunch for my birthday (which is Saturday) and to help me with some gardening and errand running as a birthday present. I had no ideas for physical birthday presents, so I gave people a list of tasks that I can't do and that Scott doesn't have time to do. My sister-in-law left it up to me to choose something off the list but needed to leave no later than two-thirty if she was to be home in time to take her son to the doctor.
I narrowed down the choices to weeding and planting the raised beds and shopping for dress shoes. I decided on the yard work because I've managed two years without dress shoes and because I really didn't want to drag around to store after store in an increasingly desperate search for dress flats. I thought that disassembling the ramp wasn't something my sister-in-law has the skills for (and I couldn't help at all), and new wallpaper in the bathroom (Delia, a few years ago, in a fit of curiosity, peeled bits of the existing wallpaper off. Scott glued them back into place, but they're not right and curl at the edges) would take more than a single day.
We weeded the two bigger raised beds in the morning, while they were in shade. We also transplanted a sage plant that was growing between the raised beds. The third, smallest raised bed is full to bursting with rue and is going to need Scott and a shovel. We also weeded by the corner of the house where we've got mulch over a plastic sheet. That kept the weeds down for about a year, but this is the third year, and there was a lot growing there. Fortunately, most of it came up easily. The plastic sheet was doing its job, and the roots didn't run deep. We will have to get more mulch, I think, because the weeds carried away quite a bit of mulch in their roots.
We went to lunch at Cafe Marie. I had my usual, the grilled cherry chicken with onion rings, and my sister-in-law had a turkey reuben with sweet potato fries. The onion rings weren't very good which is unusual for Cafe Marie. They were incompletely breaded and kind of lumped together.
After lunch, we went to the Produce Station to buy plants. There's construction on State Street, so getting there was a bit slow, and we couldn't take State Street home. I bought four dill plants, a golden sage, a pineapple sage, a lemon verbena, a grape tomato (Delia likes grape tomatoes and will, I think, be excited about picking them herself) and some decorative plants. I bought three bags of dirt and a bag of mulch.
We stopped at Salvation Army on the way home so that my sister-in-law could look for hiking boots for her son. We had no luck on that front, but she found him a pair of shorts.
My sister-in-law and I spread the dirt. I put the tomato plant into a recently emptied pot. We still need to get a cage for it. The Produce Station didn't have any. I placed the plants where I wanted them, and my sister-in-law planted them. Then we spread the mulch. We didn't have nearly enough for two beds.
I think I'll buy more dill and use it to fill in gaps between plants. It's not dreadfully robust and won't crowd anything else out, and Delia likes to eat it (she doesn't like it used as a seasoning, unfortunately). I also need to get a spray attachment for the hose. The current hose reaches far enough to water everything, but the water comes out hard enough to knock over the plants and make gouges in the soil.
This morning, I helped out with a workshop at the school. It was four hours on my feet, and I probably shouldn't have done it. I was wiped out by the end of it. I was too tired even to eat lunch. I think that lying down for an hour has given me enough energy to cook dinner. I hope so, anyway, because that meat has to be cooked tonight.
The workshop was for awareness of disabilities for the fourth and fifth graders (Delia was too young this year, so I hope they'll do it again next year). There were different stations with different bits of adaptive technology for the kids to see and try out. The wheelchairs were greeted with enthusiasm up until the kids realized just how hard it was to follow the little course laid out which included going in and out of the gym, opening the door both ways.
I was stationed at a table with stuff for eating, drinking, self care (getting dressed, grooming, etc.) and braces and prosthetics. There was also a TV remote with large buttons and a phone with large buttons and a switch for increasing the volume. The two leg prosthetics were old. One was disintegrating just sitting on the table. The music teacher (who organized this workshop) is married to a man who manufactures prosthetics and who, himself, has a prosthetic leg. He told us that the models we had in hand are no longer manufactured.
The kids were curious about the stuff on our tables, but we couldn't compete with the other stations. We didn't have anything for them to try using. The other two stations in the gym had walkers, crutches, wheelchairs, a vibrating device to simulate a hand tremor and so on. I don't know what was in the other room. I was too busy to go down to take a look.
Scott's taking tomorrow off to spend with me. I'm looking forward to it. I'll have to think about what I want to do and what, if any, chores I want to ask him to take care of. We'll have about seven hours child free. Right now, it looks like Scott has the entire weekend off, but that could change.
I narrowed down the choices to weeding and planting the raised beds and shopping for dress shoes. I decided on the yard work because I've managed two years without dress shoes and because I really didn't want to drag around to store after store in an increasingly desperate search for dress flats. I thought that disassembling the ramp wasn't something my sister-in-law has the skills for (and I couldn't help at all), and new wallpaper in the bathroom (Delia, a few years ago, in a fit of curiosity, peeled bits of the existing wallpaper off. Scott glued them back into place, but they're not right and curl at the edges) would take more than a single day.
We weeded the two bigger raised beds in the morning, while they were in shade. We also transplanted a sage plant that was growing between the raised beds. The third, smallest raised bed is full to bursting with rue and is going to need Scott and a shovel. We also weeded by the corner of the house where we've got mulch over a plastic sheet. That kept the weeds down for about a year, but this is the third year, and there was a lot growing there. Fortunately, most of it came up easily. The plastic sheet was doing its job, and the roots didn't run deep. We will have to get more mulch, I think, because the weeds carried away quite a bit of mulch in their roots.
We went to lunch at Cafe Marie. I had my usual, the grilled cherry chicken with onion rings, and my sister-in-law had a turkey reuben with sweet potato fries. The onion rings weren't very good which is unusual for Cafe Marie. They were incompletely breaded and kind of lumped together.
After lunch, we went to the Produce Station to buy plants. There's construction on State Street, so getting there was a bit slow, and we couldn't take State Street home. I bought four dill plants, a golden sage, a pineapple sage, a lemon verbena, a grape tomato (Delia likes grape tomatoes and will, I think, be excited about picking them herself) and some decorative plants. I bought three bags of dirt and a bag of mulch.
We stopped at Salvation Army on the way home so that my sister-in-law could look for hiking boots for her son. We had no luck on that front, but she found him a pair of shorts.
My sister-in-law and I spread the dirt. I put the tomato plant into a recently emptied pot. We still need to get a cage for it. The Produce Station didn't have any. I placed the plants where I wanted them, and my sister-in-law planted them. Then we spread the mulch. We didn't have nearly enough for two beds.
I think I'll buy more dill and use it to fill in gaps between plants. It's not dreadfully robust and won't crowd anything else out, and Delia likes to eat it (she doesn't like it used as a seasoning, unfortunately). I also need to get a spray attachment for the hose. The current hose reaches far enough to water everything, but the water comes out hard enough to knock over the plants and make gouges in the soil.
This morning, I helped out with a workshop at the school. It was four hours on my feet, and I probably shouldn't have done it. I was wiped out by the end of it. I was too tired even to eat lunch. I think that lying down for an hour has given me enough energy to cook dinner. I hope so, anyway, because that meat has to be cooked tonight.
The workshop was for awareness of disabilities for the fourth and fifth graders (Delia was too young this year, so I hope they'll do it again next year). There were different stations with different bits of adaptive technology for the kids to see and try out. The wheelchairs were greeted with enthusiasm up until the kids realized just how hard it was to follow the little course laid out which included going in and out of the gym, opening the door both ways.
I was stationed at a table with stuff for eating, drinking, self care (getting dressed, grooming, etc.) and braces and prosthetics. There was also a TV remote with large buttons and a phone with large buttons and a switch for increasing the volume. The two leg prosthetics were old. One was disintegrating just sitting on the table. The music teacher (who organized this workshop) is married to a man who manufactures prosthetics and who, himself, has a prosthetic leg. He told us that the models we had in hand are no longer manufactured.
The kids were curious about the stuff on our tables, but we couldn't compete with the other stations. We didn't have anything for them to try using. The other two stations in the gym had walkers, crutches, wheelchairs, a vibrating device to simulate a hand tremor and so on. I don't know what was in the other room. I was too busy to go down to take a look.
Scott's taking tomorrow off to spend with me. I'm looking forward to it. I'll have to think about what I want to do and what, if any, chores I want to ask him to take care of. We'll have about seven hours child free. Right now, it looks like Scott has the entire weekend off, but that could change.
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-24 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-24 11:57 pm (UTC)