Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Long Day

It's 52 and drizzling. It rained last night. It will probably rain most of the day today. I'll be at work by noon. And, I officially have a cold.

On Saturday, I let Carla and Grady borrow my truck to move a piece of furniture for Linda, Grady's common law wife. Carla came to work yesterday with a cold. She was popping DayQuil like candy. Grady was sick on Monday. Yesterday, he and Linda were both out with this crud. It starts in the nose, moves to the chest, and eventually becomes a long lasting cough. This morning, my chest feels like the cat slept between my nipples. Not good. Did I mention it's cold and raining? Yeah, gonna be a great day. Moral of this story, never let a common law husband borrow your truck on a Saturday.

Fortunately, I have the next 4 days off from work. It was a fluke that the schedules needed to be rearranged and I happily obliged. Now, it looks like I'll be stuck inside most of these 4 days trying not to turn a simple chest cold into pneumonia. We're still going to chop the tree up on Saturday. My dad is bringing the tractor which ought to be interesting since I don't have a good path to get something so large into the back yard without running over dozens of things I've planted this summer. He promised he'd be careful. It beats hauling large pieces of wood by hand out of the wild green yonder.

I know, I could stay inside the next two days and work on the kitchen. But I won't. We've got temperatures in the low 40s forecast for next week. I want to start cutting down the brugs before the frost gets them. All of them are covered with buds. On the largest, I stopped counting at 75 that won't become blooms. If I had another month of warm weather, it would be spectacular. I just can't risk not taking cuttings for all the people who have been promised plants next spring.

Instead, I'll be outside putting together one of the raised beds for next year's potager. At 16' long and 4' wide, it will make a great base for the hoophouse this year. All my annuals and some tender perennials will be wintersown in the hoophouse like I did this spring. It worked out really well. It's not the typical way of doing things, but nobody can claim I'm typical. I have promised myself not to sow any of those containers and seeds until December 21st, the official start date for wintersowing. I've been known to break my own promises, usually within a couple days of making them. It's my only flaw, really. ;)

For today, the next 3.5 hours will be used to do some basic household chores. There's laundry in the machines downstairs. There are a few dishes that need washing. The floors are covered with sand and straw and pine needles brought home from work in various pockets and my shoes. I've got a pile of seeds next to my desk that need to be sorted and packaged. But truth be told, I'm content with sitting here, drinking my coffee, and blowing my nose every 5 minutes.

Thanks again to Trevor for the appropriate banner. Today is also my sister's birthday. I'll give her a call as soon as my cellphone battery is recharged.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear about the cold, after your big plans for the four days off! Colds suck!

Nell Jean said...

Don't make me have to come up there with a bottle of Castor Oil. Rest, fluids, some over-the-counter cough medicine to thin and bring up the 'gunk' and try not to get chilled or too hot.

Hot and Sour soup from the Chinese restaurant is my soup of choice. Hot Ginger Ale is the beverage of choice according to the waitress at the Chinese restaurant in T'ville, for a cough.

Go to the doctor if you get chills and fever. Now say, 'yes Ma'am'

Kris said...

Hey Tom. Lovin' the Halloween theme both on the title pic and the orange background. Looks like a pumpkin exploded all over your blog. Woohaha LOL

Hope you get well soon and that you've had your flu shot for the year. Gonna be a long nasty cold/flu season ahead...

F Cameron said...

Take care of that cold. Hope it isn't H1N1.

Since it rained, I took time to sort my seeds and sent some your way in the afternoon mail. Everything that I sent can be sown directly into the ground after the first frost.

Cameron

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

Yes Ma'am.

I've already decided tomorrow will be a day spent watching movies and rubbing the cat. I've got nyquil to sleep tonight. I'm heating up the last of my beef stew and plan on cooking a pot of beans tomorrow whenever I make it out of bed. I'll be no good to anyone on Saturday if I'm still feeling this way. I've seen the future in Carla's eyes, and it ain't pretty.

Thanks Tim. Nature does not hurry...

Kris, glad you like it. I'm thinking the orange isn't too bad.

And thanks Cameron. I'll set the seeds aside patiently awaiting the first frost.

Ya'll have a good night.

Laura said...

kudos to trevor again! really good job on the banner

happy birthday wishes to your sis :)

um...my "cold" turned into the flu. still have a little hack. took a good 2 weeks not to hit lulls during the day. TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF!

Jill-O said...

Love the banner. I wish I was clever like that. Half of the staff in my department at work are all out sick with the same sort of bug. We are all scrambling, trying to cover shifts and I am trying to not let anyone breath on me.

Jeff Vandiver said...

Sorry you have a cold, Tom. I checked out the seed exchange, and guess I will pass. BTW, would you like me to send you some japanese maple seeds? I have 200-300, and will gladly give you a dozen to try. Send me an email if interested.

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

Laura, he did a good job, didn't he? I needed to change the background cause the green just wasn't working for me with that banner. Sorry about the flu.

Jill, don't touch your face. Wash your hands a lot. Lessons learned.

Thanks EG, but I have about 200 seeds from last year still waiting to germinate in a container in the backyard. Sometimes it takes them a couple years.