0 comment Friday, June 6, 2014 | admin
I finally got my order of topsoil and manure delivered. You have to be a bit 'special' to get excited about a delivery of dirt and poo, but I was SO chuffed to see that delivery man come bustling up with my order. He was even kind enough to not leave it just inside my gate but brought the bags, two at a time, up to my side-walk way.
Now, I know how exhausted I am after yesterday's trip out, and I really shouldn't be doing much but I just could not resist getting my hands into some dirt. The indoor plants have been suffering quite a bit over the winter as I've not had the energy to tend them much (hence the cringeworthy state of the plant in the photo). I have been promising myself to get them repotted and topdressed, and with the delivery today I finally managed it, bringing a bag indoors with a fair bit of struggle and laying down some cardboard to try and control a fair bit of mess as I knew the kittens would "help".
Because of this "help" a lot of the plants have been in a worse state than I was aware of, my poor cheese plant in particular has been leaning like the Tower of Piza in its pot and I finally had the dirt to right it and try and bring it back from the brink. The palm got a good wash, was potted into something a bit larger, and I managed to similarly repot and topdress a few more. The "secret weapon" to keep the kits out; I've discovered thin slices of grapefruit in the top of my soil in the biggest pots keeps them from exploratory excavation (Voodoo is especially terrible about this, he just HAS to get his paws in my plants).
I cleaned up and even though I was already feeling the exhaustion creep in - this really wasn't a job I should have been doing - I couldn't resist upping the ante a bit more by going outside and putting another bag of topsoil round the only-just-heeled-in minarette trees. Rather vital, this as we're due some nasty frost in the next week and I know the roots of the pear tree were only just covered with a thin layer of soil. I had a look at the buds and noticed they were trying to form (eek) so I hope I managed to give it more cover in time. They'll need their fruit tree fertiliser, a bit of manure thrown in and even more topsoil after I stake them properly with the telescope stakes I got for them, but again, that's a project for Wump and I to do together in ten minute bursts - ten minutes is his attention span limit, and a further ten is about how much I can before exhaustion kicks in.
It's stupid, I know - I took a co-proximol just to be able to get up long enough to shift 20 kilo bags (I used to lift these with one arm), I'm shuffling now like a zombie and very thankful for that overpriced M & S food in my fridge that I only have to heat up. Also happy for the pizza for sprog in fridge. Happy I managed to load the dishwasher for first time in over three days, and got sheets on the wash. I'm tottering around doing the "Painkiller Shuffle" as a friend called it, brain a haze.
There's limits to the proud euphoria of doing what quite honestly an able-bodied person could probably have done in an hour: I've missed the bloody deadline for the driver provisional license (damn it) - this is the second time I've tried to apply and the second time that the combination of getting paperwork, a photo, getting all that signed by a friend and then hobbling to post office as I have to send very precious documents by special post has defeated me. You'd think a month would be enough time, but again, it has proven not to be. Oh the irony of trying to get a license so one is no longer housebound when one is too housebound to get the forms out the door. Third time lucky I suppose once they send the cheque back to me. But I'm trying to shake off the irritation, trying not to curse this illness that makes every single task a huge undertaking.
I've done some digging on this really dreary day, and that is enough for me. Now, to spend the next four hours in recovery, sitting on my daybed, watching the world go by and admiring the rosebush just outside, promising in my head to do that bit over there, and get some manure round that plant, and oh, I could maybe get that done...ten minutes at a time.
It will be enough.
Now, I know how exhausted I am after yesterday's trip out, and I really shouldn't be doing much but I just could not resist getting my hands into some dirt. The indoor plants have been suffering quite a bit over the winter as I've not had the energy to tend them much (hence the cringeworthy state of the plant in the photo). I have been promising myself to get them repotted and topdressed, and with the delivery today I finally managed it, bringing a bag indoors with a fair bit of struggle and laying down some cardboard to try and control a fair bit of mess as I knew the kittens would "help".
Because of this "help" a lot of the plants have been in a worse state than I was aware of, my poor cheese plant in particular has been leaning like the Tower of Piza in its pot and I finally had the dirt to right it and try and bring it back from the brink. The palm got a good wash, was potted into something a bit larger, and I managed to similarly repot and topdress a few more. The "secret weapon" to keep the kits out; I've discovered thin slices of grapefruit in the top of my soil in the biggest pots keeps them from exploratory excavation (Voodoo is especially terrible about this, he just HAS to get his paws in my plants).
I cleaned up and even though I was already feeling the exhaustion creep in - this really wasn't a job I should have been doing - I couldn't resist upping the ante a bit more by going outside and putting another bag of topsoil round the only-just-heeled-in minarette trees. Rather vital, this as we're due some nasty frost in the next week and I know the roots of the pear tree were only just covered with a thin layer of soil. I had a look at the buds and noticed they were trying to form (eek) so I hope I managed to give it more cover in time. They'll need their fruit tree fertiliser, a bit of manure thrown in and even more topsoil after I stake them properly with the telescope stakes I got for them, but again, that's a project for Wump and I to do together in ten minute bursts - ten minutes is his attention span limit, and a further ten is about how much I can before exhaustion kicks in.
It's stupid, I know - I took a co-proximol just to be able to get up long enough to shift 20 kilo bags (I used to lift these with one arm), I'm shuffling now like a zombie and very thankful for that overpriced M & S food in my fridge that I only have to heat up. Also happy for the pizza for sprog in fridge. Happy I managed to load the dishwasher for first time in over three days, and got sheets on the wash. I'm tottering around doing the "Painkiller Shuffle" as a friend called it, brain a haze.
There's limits to the proud euphoria of doing what quite honestly an able-bodied person could probably have done in an hour: I've missed the bloody deadline for the driver provisional license (damn it) - this is the second time I've tried to apply and the second time that the combination of getting paperwork, a photo, getting all that signed by a friend and then hobbling to post office as I have to send very precious documents by special post has defeated me. You'd think a month would be enough time, but again, it has proven not to be. Oh the irony of trying to get a license so one is no longer housebound when one is too housebound to get the forms out the door. Third time lucky I suppose once they send the cheque back to me. But I'm trying to shake off the irritation, trying not to curse this illness that makes every single task a huge undertaking.
I've done some digging on this really dreary day, and that is enough for me. Now, to spend the next four hours in recovery, sitting on my daybed, watching the world go by and admiring the rosebush just outside, promising in my head to do that bit over there, and get some manure round that plant, and oh, I could maybe get that done...ten minutes at a time.
It will be enough.
Labels: Garden, Good Life, Languishment