Amy, I hope you and Kim feel better soon. I wont hardly go to Walmart any more because of the benches. I have not started using the scooters yet, in my head I say "those are for old people", I use to feel the same about handicap parking, but my doctor said that he thought it was a good idea, and I use it quite often now.

I am very clumsy and fall too often. People always say " be careful ". I feel that I am careful, I dont know anyone that falls on purpose.

My back, hip, and feet hurt all the time, and last Thursday was my feet appointment, I go about every 3 months. I had told Madge that it had become much more painful for me to walk, and told my doctor the same thing. The doctor checked my feet and bandaged up two toes that were bleeding, and gave me new inserts to put in my shoes, but I was still in pain, and not walking any better. That night when I pulled off my shoes to get ready for bed, a 3" #9 deck screw fell out. My pain was much less the next day. I think that I will start checking my shoes before I put them on.

What do you think my chances are of having a good garden this year with these critters hanging around? I know you are going to say, " its all your fault", and you are right, but I like to have critters around, and we feel that we are too old to get another dog. We feel that the dog would out live us, and there is no one to care for the dog after we are gone. Another reason we don't want a dog is the Vet bills.

Thanks y’all. I hurt the whole right side. Had a headache for a couple of days. Just came in from falling off the porch onto the irises. Poor things. Took awhile to get up from there. Not sure what’s going on but I don’t like it. Tylenol and bed.

Goodness, Kim! I'm so sorry you're falling. Do you feel dizzy?

And, Amy! You fell hard! I'm also sorry you're not feeling well. Do you think that played into why you fell?

Larry, I'm SO sorry that your feet hurt all the time, but I am laughing about the deck screw in your shoe! I have to laugh because it's something I would totally do.

If you don't mind sharing, what are the issues with your feet? I have very bad feet too. And have to pay a small fortune for my shoes.

I'm happy to be home and finally sitting for awhile. It's been a very long weekend.

I got home about a half hour ago and managed to get my broccoli covered. The broccoli in the hinged hoop is all starting to make heads. I sure don't want to lose them. It was dark out, but they're all covered now.

I bought a chair for my "new" office room. It's just what I wanted. An older chair (vintage!) from an older woman's home. A chair that sat in a formal living room that was rarely sat in. Tom picked it up for me because I was working. It's the little things like that make me feel so happy. Those older chairs are much better made than the new ones.

Not much gardening today, other than covering the broccoli.

Tomorrow is Monday and here we go again.

Maybe we'll get a snow day. And I can bake and organize things and dream.

Jennifer, I have been treated for arthritis and gout for about 45 years. Of course over time the conditions got worse and the pads on the bottom of my feet have gotten thinner causing my feet to be sore. I have not been out a lot of money for shoes and inserts because the Indian clinic supplies me with good shoes and inserts. I do buy a style of Clark shoes and buy some expensive inserts to use as backups to save my Indian supplied shoes and inserts ( the Indian supplied stuff is much better and I don't use it to work in unless I have to )

Madge buys the Clark shoes when she finds them on sell. By being careful I can manage my shoes and not be out much expense.

Larry, that's so cool that the Indian Clinic supplies your shoes and inserts. That's a big deal.

I paid $500 for my custom inserts. Luckily, I had money left on my FSA. And my shoes....I'm lucky if I can get shoes for under $150. But, either I pay those prices, or I don't walk.

It's rather annoying not having a decent shoe collection because it limits my wardrobe. But, I would rather walk.

I will suggest a couple of shoes: Oofos recovery shoes are wonderful. I can't wait to get home to put those on every day. Also, Hoka One One are the best for bad feet. Runners love them. They aren't exactly my style. They are a bit chunky (I like low profile shoes) and colorful. But they do have black too. My runner friends like the bright colors, but they match them with their running clothes.

Clarks are great shoes, but don't work well for me. I bought a really cute pair of Clarks but ended up giving them away to someone with less severe feet issues.

I did no gardening today. I had nothing for Garden Monday. My Botanical Interests order finally came in. It was a couple days late. The order included: sandwich sprouts mix, Calendula, chamomile, borage, and the market express turnips. They threw in sunflower seeds and a paper pot thing.

Still waiting on the valerian.

Snow day tomorrow?

We'll see.

Jennifer, I am very lucky to have the shoes and inserts, and other things supplied for me.

Jennifer, I fell before I got sick. I tripped over the beagle. Between dogs and cats I'm doomed.

I hope you figure it out Kim.

Houzz and tablet are not playing nice. \TTFN

I had expensive inserts once. They were so nice. I had gone to a podorthist once. He told me all about my feet and why they hurt with traditional shoes. I have always wanted to go back. I feel bad for people that have feet trouble. Larry please check your shoes and your feet every day. An injury to your feet would knock you out of the gardening game. Personally if I eat an anti inflammatory diet I feel much better in my feet and legs especially. Raining here today. Expecting snow later.

We have about an inch of snow, but it seems to be letting up now.

Kim, I will try to do better. I have always sorta lived like I was immune to the problems that other people have. Later in life I found out that I was not special at all, just a slow learner. Madge and I both are just going to have to slow down and try to look after one another more. I will have to admit that Madge does a much better job than I do, she has always taken care of herself.

Madge just went out and put bird seed on a table on the front porch. The table is in front of a double window where we can watch the birds come in to eat, its sorta messy, but still a joy to watch the birds. I like to keep the birds around because I think they help me with insects in the summer.

Larry that windows and birds sounds lovely. We used to feed birds at one house I lived in on the picnic table. They especially loved the cornbread. We made it with fresh ground cornmeal and bacon grease. No flour. Best ever

School is out here. So, I've decided to take the day off from both jobs. Sort of. I do need to go shop for a few things. Things that are for a work event this weekend.

The snow was absolutely beautiful yesterday. Large, fluffy flakes.

And the moisture! Yay!

I haven't done much today, other than the usual chores. I did remove the paint from the top of a dresser in our 3rd bedroom. It didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, but it's mostly done now. I want the top of the dresser to be natural wood and the lower part of the dresser is still painted. It's one that I painted maybe 3 years ago. The top of it got scratched pretty badly. I wanted to get a piece of glass cut for the top to prevent that....but didn't.

Yes. Those custom shoe inserts are so nice, Kim. About 4 and a half years ago, my feet rebelled. During the summer of all things. It's my fault because I just kept ignoring the pain which is typical for me. One of my issues is wearing shoes too long--after they've broken down. Especially if they still look nice on the outside.

Then one day....I couldn't walk. DURING THE SUMMER! I couldn't work in the garden for a week. It was so hard. Pretty sure I had baby chicks too at that time. I did discover Roots and Refuge while stuck on the couch, though.

My issue is metatarsalgia and bunions. And the fat on the bottom of my feet is thinner now, like Larry's.

We love to watch birds too....and put a little feeder on the kitchen window, but the birds never used it. Maybe it was too scary for them.

Some gardening talk.

Saving seeds from heirloom tomatoes. Amy mentioned saving seed from the best and first. I've never saved seed and have no idea what to do really. Do the seeds have to go through a process before replanting OR can I take some of those seeds and immediately put them into seed starter for fall tomatoes? Maybe this would hurry acclimating them to my climate?

Also, do any of you grow herbs year 'round for culinary purposes? Start seed throughout the year for herb plants for your kitchen counter/window? I've thought about doing that recently because dislike spending so much money for fresh herbs at the store. Every week we buy a bundle or two of herbs. Rosemary is the only green thing in my garden right now

i came across this from roaming other forums. Juist food for thought:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2218821/your-aging-and-winter-gardens#n=65

Rick

That is awesome Rick. Thank you for posting this.

Well, we are flipping through the seed catalogs and taking note of the veggies we really liked last year. I've got a 6 pack of broccoli started for some early bucket planting.

I've been thinking about the usual things we grow and may completely change up the planting this year. Focusing more on cool season stuff, mainly due to the fungal stuff we've been running into in the summer. Even thinking about seeding mustard over the plot after the cool season harvest.

Having no tomatoes, eggplant, melons, etc would be strange and something i've never done. But, I have some new raised boxes that could do a few of those things in a new spot.

Who knows, but at this point, I go back and forth and really have no clue what will actually happen. Happy snow to everyone who got some, we sure missed out on it in my area :/

Yes, Jennifer, you can immediately start tomato seeds. There are internet stories about putting a tomato slice in a pot so the seeds grow there. I don't know enough about plant science to know if it's better to clean and dry seeds first. My logic is that you get volunteers the following year. So there might be something in the gel around the seeds that prevents it from sprouting. You could experiment with that. You can just wash seeds and spread them out to dry, or you can ferment them in water for 5 days and then spread them to dry. The ferment is supposed to prevent seed born disease, but it isn't necessary.

Seed saving tomatoes in my experience. I have fermented in water to remove gelatin. I have rinsed and dried with gelatin. I have frozen. I have gathered from dried tomatoes on the vine months after harvest. I honestly can’t say there is much difference in sprouting times. I have also taken seed directly from harvest and planted just as you suggested for immediate regrowing for fall. I try to always pick the best beautiful fruits. It doesn’t always happen. Especially with ones dried on the vine. That’s when I have moment and say oh crud I forgot to save seed from that important plant. I like to experiment and usually with tomato seeds it always works out. I may not get the best flavor for fresh eating but that’s okay because I don’t eat them. When they cross sometimes I just get tomatoes which is fine for the dehydrator.

Larry you are right about bouncing back. I had two falls last week and I feel like it has taken too long to get over it. Of course my body is so busy fighting other stuff right now so that’s part of it. I don’t remember ever having such deep bruising but that’s what you get falling off chair onto furniture etc. i will be making room for a proper ladder before I try to access loft again.

I don't really know anything about saving seeds, but I seem to be pretty lucky about it, it seems that seeds are very forgiving. As far as taste, nothing taste like it did when I was young, I expect that has to do with me, not the seeds/fruits. If I am direct planting, I over plant because of the lack of faith, plus one fruit will give you much more seed than you need for the next year.

Cow peas are the least favorite seed for me to save because they are so cheap to buy, but I often save them anyway.

Larry I get lucky saving seeds too. I guess I’m a lazy seed saver. I have two kinds of tomatoes I saved that are stuck fast to the paper towels. I decided to just stuff the whole paper towel in a zip bag and label it. When I plant I will rip a piece off and plant. It’s fine. I just can’t trade them lol. Who wants hunk-o-paper towel. I read a post the other day a lady was trying to save squash seeds and had soaked for days like tomatoes.

I seldom soak seeds. I have had good luck with soaking seeds, but I have good luck not soakings seeds. If I had a small place to plant, or a small supply of seeds I would do things differently.

Kim, I have scratched seeds off a paper plate or a paper towel many times.