Wow, that's a lot. Love that neighbor of yours! haha At the end of these kind of physically exerting days, I get into a hot bath with Epsom salts and bubbles until my whole body tingles. It's a habit now and it does wonders. Have fun playing in the dirt today. I know I will! We're having great weather here and I feel like I can see the roses smiling and growing by the minute.

What I've been doing is taking two Aleve (on a full stomach) after finishing working in the yard, even if I don't feel sore. I gave up NASIDs a few years ago, but I admit this has helped me a lot. I don't wake up feeling like I've been run over by a truck. I will check out the Lowe's sale, I have a $50 gift card from them and I need lots of mulch. I do recommend help if you can get it and afford it. I had my helper dig out an old butterfly bush and a large rose. Years ago, we did tie a shrub to our riding mower to pull it out. That was fun!

I also bought the mulch on sale at Lowes

I feel for ya Beth!! My husband and I were out til dusk last night weeding out my oddball bed just below the front porch. It's about 6ft x18ft, and full of spring grasses, chocolate mint (that I stupidly planted 10+yrs ago) and various other annoying weeds. My husband turned 60 in Jan and I'll be 59 the end of this month, and we're both so out of shape, well I'm worse than he is. I could stand to lose at least 50lbs! He's just getting tired. We both were aching after bending over pulling weeds for a couple hours. We both take Glucosamine and we started doing turmeric and honey tea a few weeks ago. It seems to help a lot, altho nothing helps completely. I used to eat Ibuprofen like candy, practically, for my aches and pains, but since I've been using the turmeric and doubling the dose of Glucosamine, I'm using the IB alot less. I also am trying desperately to stop consuming sugar. It's really hard when everything has it in it pretty much. I feel less achy after I've had a couple of days with none or very little. Diabetes runs heavy in my family, so I really need to eliminate the sugar as much as I can. But it really amazes me how much better I do feel when I haven't had it for awhile. I never really related it to my aches and pains... but it does seem to make a difference.

Today we have to go out and pull more weeds... up above the driveway. The beds up there are infested with the dreaded VETCH! I hate that stuff! It's almost impossible to get rid of. I think now that it's getting warmer and we can get out and do more... once we get used to going out and working out there, the aches and pains will subside a bit more... Hopefully!!

Hmmm... I wonder if our Lowes has that mulch sale going on?.....

You might check Lowes. It was only a 5 day sale so tomorrow is the last day. They also had garden soil for $2 a bag. As I was making my trips to get the mulch I noticed multiple people in pickups buying their bed full. One guy bought 300 bags of mulch. I'm guessing he is in yard work and will probably charge his customers twice that.

Beth, I can identify with you... I used to be achy and on daily ibuprofen, out of shape, overweight, and addicted to sugar. My blood sugar was up as well as my blood pressure... I was on medication for my BP. I got to the point that I was ready to stop gardening and promised myself that I couldn't dig any more rose holes. :)

Then in October of 2014 I decided I just was getting worse and I couldn't continue the way I had been. I decided to join a online plan called Lose It. God helped me get off of sugar, and all processed foods, and I lost 25 pounds. I have been maintaining that weight loss for 1 year. Getting off of sugar made a huge difference for me. The best thing is my blood pressure and pulse are now normal without medication (I had been on heart medication for 30 years). I am fit from year around exercise and no longer take daily ibuprofen. I just finished digging 6 rose holes that are 18" deep and feel like a million bucks!!! I take only 50 mg of ibuprofen now after hard work, if I need it. I am 65 years old, soon to be 66!!

It is so important to take care of ourselves as we age, if we want to continue to be dirt diggers. I will say that I am hiring someone to remove my huge raised bed vegetable garden this year because it is sagging and rotting, and replacing it with a smaller "retirement garden" with raised beds that I built. That one should take me through my 90's, Lord willing.

I wish everyone the best in their aging years. I hope I don't offend anyone. I just wanted to write this so that others could know that it is possible to feel younger as we get older. I encourage you all to take that leap like I did and find the new you!!

Rebecca

I am sooo much like you Beth. I need to lose 80 lbs. I love sugar. I know that if I got off sugar, my BP would go down, and I would lose weight. But I love sugary things. I can't imagine not eating sugar in my life. And yes, diabetes runs strong in my family too.

I got off the ibuprofen by taking OmegaXL. I can get to sleep now without taking ibuprofen because of the OmegaXL. My dad has really bad rhematoid arthritis. Taking OmegaXL has made a huge, huge difference in his life. He can walk now and use his hands.

I need to get off the sugar - but I'm so addicted.

Carol

Carol, I was hugely addicted to sugar!!! I ate a quart of ice cream for lunch every day!! That was only the beginning. I substitued chocolate muffins, m&m's and chocolate bars for real food so I wouldn't gain so much weight. I felt like a walking junk yard... I was crabby and slept terribly, only 3-4 hours some nights!! I was living on ibuprorfen for the aching joints and muscles. I knew I had to stop the crazy eating and I was so tired of the addiction. When I got on Lose It, I found a book called Made To Crave that changed the way I think about life and food. I highly recommend reading it. It was so worth it to me.

Rebecca

I guess I could check out Lose it and the book. I just don't want to get rid of the sugar. So you can never eat desserts again?

Maybe we shouldn't talk about this anymore - I think we've left the original topic far behind us. :)

I'll check those things out. But I don't want the OP to get annoyed. Thanks!!

Carol

I am convinced gardening will keep me young and it helps people live longer! I think the problem is that it is hard to do gardening tasks in small groups. It is always one huge task....like the time I found out my irises were on their way from California so I was digging out the bed starting at 9 pm at night using a spotlight because it was 100 degrees during the day. That didn't make me feel younger! Plus transplanting and planting and moving things around is was more exhausting then you would think it would be.

Carol, send me a message, and we can chat about it.

Gibson girl, I agree with you and you are a person after my own heart... Do all gardening things in excess and pull back only when you are over your head!

Rebecca

Guys, sorry if I got things off topic! I just know I'm tired of hurting and I really need to get out and weed weed weed! My husband and I were out for a bit and did some more weeding, trying to get the vetch out. OMG! It's so dry! We decided to take a rest and go visit my Mom in Hospice and then I'm coming back and watering so the weeds will be easier to get out. I haven't watered since the last rain which was almost 2 weeks ago. That area up there is in full sun almost all day, and the sprinklers can't go up there because it's up-hill and the water valve closest has the least amount of pressure. So I gotta go hand-water!! And I really need to mulch up there too. I started to in the fall, and even cleared out most of the weeds, but they came back with a vengeance with all this rain we've been having! (I'm not gonna complain about the rain...)

You deserve to be tired and achy today! That's a lot of work you did. Take a rest.

I used to be able to work outside for 7 or 8 hours every day and not feel it. Now I find 4 or 5 is about my limit. And not every day either. I usually have to take a day off now and then to recuperate. But I love being in my garden!

Yes, it's hard work - but it DOES keep us young. Better working outside and getting exhausted than sitting in front of the t.v. for hours on end. And the result keeps our spirits young.

Today, my hubby got the propane tank out (fire blaster thing) and fryed the grass growing in our rocks. We're almost at the point where we can just maintain (after 7 years!!!). We let the backyard get away from us when we were doing flower beds, etc. So it's so rewarding that we can see maintaining in our future instead of "Oh my Goodness What are We Going to Do With This Backyard!!!

Carol

Pulling shrubs out with a truck works great but our neighbors used there pickup truck to pull shrubs out and knocked the rearend out of there vehicle... :-/

Sounds like your making some great changes! Congrats! :-) Sorry your sore though...

Diet can make a huge difference. I had lots of tendinitis (from pruning!) and I started an auto-immune diet (I have several AI conditions) and after giving up eggs for 5 days, the pain my elbows disappeared! Sugar can also do bad things to you. A friend of mine went on the candida diet (no sugar at all) and lost 67 lbs! I haven't had that luck, but at least I'm not in awful pain all the time.

And yes, it's not the maintenance, its the new beds, digging up and digging holes for new roses. hauling 50 lb bags of stuff around the yard. watering, weeding spraying. It never seems to end.

We dug out 15 four foot tall red tip photenias today. The first two came out pretty easy but had to use a chain and the riding mower to get the rest of them out. Tomorrow I have to dig out the roots we left behind then I'll start prepping the bed for the delivery of roses tomorrow. I'll be digging holes for eleven to go in the ground in a few days and just placed an order for 10 more. I'm thinking I'll just take Aleve first thing in the morning to stay ahead of it.

I have paid attention to your discussions about sugar and need to go on a no sugar diet again. I've done that before and did feel better.

I went on a no sugar diet and I felt like I was 20 years old all over again. This sounds like quite a project and I can't wait to see pictures! If it makes you feel any better, I am working on a similar project. We are taking out lots of trees and roots but it is on a hill and it is covered in poison ivy. (Learned that the hard way) can you do a before and after pic? Good luck!