Lovely buildings.
On pain management. I have to wonder how much of this is actually driven by fiscal resources? They've got to be bleeding money, given the recent situation, and I haven't heard (although I may have missed it) of them getting a massive, sustained infusion of cash to cover expenses. Even if that is the cause, it's inexcusable to ask people dealing with chronic pain to just "walk it off", etc.
Happy Birthday!
Glad the vaccine side-effects were minimal.
Friday Five:
1) It is snowing rather stiffly out there. The temp outside is about 30 says the weather guy on tv, so nothing is sticking to hard surfaces. All the trees had just budded out and they are now covered with a dusting of snow. My kitchen floor is wall-to-wall with containers of pansies, johnny jump-ups, geraniums, etc., that I brought in last night from the balcony just in case it did freeze. The thermometer on the balcony says it's 37F, which I chalk up to being well above ground level and the shelter of the building. But they're staying in today anyway. It rained pretty good yesterday, from about 3pm until it turned to snow.
2) I managed to dig a foot-deep, 20' long trench along one side of the allotment on Wednesday before I ran out of steam. Put in a grass barrier (the walkways out there are grass and it was encroaching), and got a good three-inch layer of composted garden soil put in. Got too hot to go on, so I still need to get back out there and fill the rest of the excavation in with regular soil and mix the two together. The excavated soil is currently sitting on what will be my tomato patch and has a lot of grass in it - hoping I can get the grass out of the clumps, but if not I'll put them in the walkway between my veggie beds, since cardboard is going down on top of what eventually will be the finished walkways anyway. The Daughter is going to plant flowers in the amended trench when it is warm enough to do so, for the pollinators and so we can have cut flowers eventually.
3) The Daughter is still waiting to hear if she's been accepted to the volunteer position. She had a meeting with them earlier this week, as did all the candidates. Apparently the membership will be voting on who to accept in a few weeks. She's rather eager to give it a go.
4) Yarn Shop Day is back on here this Saturday. I hope it's not raining, as I'd love to take a walk to the one nearby and then go have a cup of coffee somewhere before coming home again. (No, I don't do yarn stuff, but the Daughter is quite an expert knitter and really enjoys perusing the shops. It's been a long time since she's been able to do that! If I go along I might get a new knitted hat out of the deal, too.)
5) I did my second transplant on the tomato seedlings yesterday afternoon. Buried them up to their bottom leaves in good rich potting mix, where they will now stay until time to put them in the ground. (When they are three times the size of the pot.) I have two Berkeley Tie-Dyes, 2 Rutgers (the re-created original strain from the 1920s), 2 Heinz paste (exclusively for canning), and just yesterday planted four Cosmonaut Volkov seeds in the hopes I'll get at least half of 'em to come up. I have access to a greenhouse at the community garden and will be taking them all back over there once the weather is a bit less chilly. For now they are under grow lights in my dining room. I do hope the Rutgers, in particular, make it as they are a very rare strain. We used to grow them when I was a kid and they were amazing. Then they kind of were bypassed by hybrids and more exotic varieties and went extinct. One of them is doing amazingly well and one too a long time to germinate and still looks peaky, but I'm coddling it along. Rutgers Uni used some seeds of the parent stock that had been in cold storage to try to re-create the breed and are marketing it as a close match, so fingers are crossed!
