Here I Go Again.

For a lotta years I posted things here mostly related to riding a bike. Then, I didn’t. There might be catching-up to do, but that’ll come slowly. For now I’ll include the essentials; two metallic knees and a minor stroke can compromise pretty much everything one does.

No, the knees are the compromising element, the need for knees was. As i say about aging; being old is cool, but getting old is not.

A year and a half ago I apparently had a minor stroke. I say “apparently” because the definitive diagnosis would need an MRI and my personal history with them is not positive, so the nerve study and a neurologists opinion is adequate.

The consequences of the possible minor stroke was compromised balance and ability to walk well. I’m still unsteady, but have made significant progress and that’s all that matters now.

I anticipate riding again, but years of backlog tasks need to be managed and there’s been good progress there, too. Instead of riding as a physical outlet, something that has been invaluable during my healthiest periods, will happen again. For now it’s about gardening and maintaining a green environment and catching up with long neglected around-the-house maintenance.

To document this stuff I’ll have to relearn how to put things online as well as I used to and that’ll be a tedious thing. Mostly, initially, I’ll rely on words. Eventually I’ll figure out how to include pictures and not have them disappear.

We’re entering the real growing season here and that means there’s much to be done both in anticipating and preparing. Yesterday I took my self to the edge of “I’m too damn old to do this” while preparing to plant a couple of Cucumbers.

In the past I would have used the Chameleon Cultivator to loosen the dirt and finish pulling accumulated weeds in the former Lettuce bed. The approach now is to pull large stuff then run the string trimmer to eliminate small stuff. I then cover the area with layers of Cardboard and Mulch. Finally, I add a layer of Compost.

This Cardboard/Mulch/Compost idea is my adaptation of “No Till” and “No Dig” gardening, both of which require an interval of time between preparation and planting. I’m too old to wait as long as is suggested and, so far, the results have been satisfactory. Weeds are much less frustrating and because they are superficial they can be removed relatively easily using a Wire Weeder that is easy to make . . . if you have heavy enough Wire, an Anvil and a big Hammer. We do.

Peppers, Okra and an earlier Cucumber planting have done well using this approach. A source of Mulch, Cardboard and Compost is basic. Because we’ve been invested in Composting and have two lengthy driveways where falling leaves and woodsy stuff accumulate we have a consistent supply of Mulch. Cardboard accumulates and we have room to keep it. There’s some debate about what kind of cardboard can and cannot be used and I’ll discuss that when I get into specifics in the future.