OLD AGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES

NOTHING IN LIFE IS TO BE FEARED

When Should You See a Neurologist for Memory Loss?

by Filed Under: Family Life, It's Not For Sissies

My husband has memory loss. It is getting more advanced lately, so we finally went to see a doctor.

It started out with memory lapses. Sometimes, Chuck asked the same question like ‘where is the rake.’ It would be where it always was, but I would tell him anyway. Then a few minutes later after getting distracted for a moment he would say, “Where’s the rake?”

It came more frequently, and then it got quite unsettling. I tried to joke about it, as I did when I wrote a blog post called, “Driving in the Fast Lane” a few years ago. You can read it here.

I learned that it gets worse when someone is stressed. Both of our jobs were super stressful.

We even lost a client once. Chuck totally forgot that we were under orders to not do something. He not only broke the orders in an email while working late one night, but then totally forgot that he did it.

When it hit the fan several days later and we were searching for who let the cat out of the bag, Chuck told me he had no idea. As far as I can tell this man didn’t even lie to his parents as a teenager. He is that honest. I knew because of his past behavior that he didn’t remember doing it at all. He retired within a few months after this incident, though at the age of 70 he was phasing out clients anyway.

Lately, I noticed that he kept getting lost while out driving. I’ve become his GPS when he drives. I constantly have to say “turn left here” or “turn right there.” If I don’t all of a sudden I look up and we’re four blocks in the wrong direction. And these are on streets he’s been driving for years.

By last fall he seemed to have entered a new phase. He remembers things that never happened. We went west for vacation, and he had only been in this area once in his life as a young twenty something on a long trip across America with a college friend. He kept asking me, “Don’t you remember this? We’ve been here. I even remember this waitress.” I’m thinking, “Boy, she aged well.” We had never been there.

Chuck has always had memory problems somewhat. We both have. Our jobs required great concentration, and we were both good at our work. Writing legislative language and negotiating our client’s way through the complex political morass in our state required much thought. We lived in our heads.

Our kids even knew how to break this concentration. I remember the girls placing their hands on each side of Chuck’s face and saying “Chuck!” loudly and forcefully when they wanted to make sure he was listening.

But what was good for our careers isn’t worth a tinker’s damn for our current life as retirees. We need to be more in the moment, which brings me to what Chuck is currently going through.

A Visit with A Neurologist

About two months ago, he visited a neurologist. I tagged along because it was important both of us hear what the doctor had to say. This was apparent by the time we got home, because all Chuck heard was that he was fine.

His doctor asked Chuck a series of verbal questions, designed to help him determine and diagnose Chuck’s situation. Afterwards, the doctor had good news. He said it is not Alzheimers or dementia; but to rule out anything else like a brain tumor he ordered an MRI.

He also thinks that Chuck doesn’t get enough quality sleep. Chuck twitches and jerks all night long, so we wonder if he really gets enough rest. He suggested a CPAP for Chuck.

The doctor did talk to us about being in the moment. He said that Chuck needed to retrain his brain to pay more attention. He mentioned games and crossword puzzles.

A List of Things to Do

When we got home, all Chuck remembered was that the doctor said he was fine. He totally forgot the MRI, the CPAP, or the changes he needed to make to retrain his brain.

So I found an app called ENHANCE and got him started working with it daily. Also, I think games will help. We both played a little bridge when we were young so we may want to try to take it up again. Chess might be an option, too.

We will start with something very simple, though, which will help us both. I tend to live in my head too much, too.

When to See Your Doctor

If you’re concerned about memory loss, see your doctor. He or she can conduct tests to judge the degree of memory impairment and diagnose the cause.

He or she will have a number of questions for you, and it is important to have a family member or friend along to answer some questions based on his or her observations. Questions such as:

• How long have you been having memory problems?
• What medications do you take regularly including prescriptions, over the counter and vitamins?
• What tasks are difficult to perform?
• What have you done for your memory problems? Have these helped?
• Have you recently been ill? What medicine did you take?
• Have you fallen and injured your head?
• If you drink alcohol, how much do you drink daily?
• Have you felt sad, depressed, or anxious lately?
• Have you experienced a major loss, change, or stressful event in your life?
• What is your daily routine? How has your routine changed lately?

The questions are designed to help your doctor test your memory and other thinking skills. He or she may also order blood tests and brain-imaging tests like Chuck’s MRI that can help identify reversible causes of memory problems.

Seeing a Specialist

Your general practitioner may refer you to a specialist in diagnosing dementia or memory disorders, such as a neurologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, or geriatrician. Chuck was sent to a neurologist, a physician who specializes in problems related to the brain and central nervous system.

This specialist will try to identify any reversible cause of memory impairment so that you get appropriate treatment.

Stress, anxiety, or depression can cause memory loss and make a person more forgetful. Early on while Chuck was still working, we could tell that stress caused him the most problems. Also, dealing with life changes can leave a person confused or forgetful. Retirement or the loss of a spouse can do this, too.

Retraining the Brain

The doctor made suggestions on how to retrain the brain and how to help Chuck’s brain retain new information. He wants Chuck to try to reconnect the circuits in his brain–the ones that he stopped using when he focused on what was in his head instead of what was in the present.

For example, he suggested that Chuck practice doing only one thing at a time. He also suggested he work on avoiding distractions. Easier said than done. How many times have I seen something on my way to completing a task. I am like a dog who sees a squirrel. Squirrel!! And then I’m off in the opposite direction doing something else.

The other day while in our bedroom, I remembered that I needed to add an event to my calendar in the office. Leaving the bedroom, I noticed several items in the hall that needed to be put up in the guest bath. I made the detour and then noticed some items in the bath that needed to go to the guest bedroom. So I made another detour, and I think you get the picture. By the time I remembered the appointment that needed to be added to the calendar, it was three days later…after the event.

Striving to Stay in the Moment

He also wants Chuck to fully concentrate on whatever he is doing. He advised him to stay in the moment and not think about what he is planning to do next or what he just did. This advice reminded me of Yoga, where we try to bring our minds into the room and leave behind the outside. I’m wondering if Yoga or meditation can help in brain training.

He also told Chuck that if he really needs to remember something to say it several times out loud. This can help him remember important pieces of information. In other words, he wants Chuck to practice remembering things.

Chuck and I are working to retrain our brains. Then Chuck will have another meeting with the neurologist in August. We’re hopeful.

Does anyone in your family suffer from memory loss? Would retraining the brain help or is it something more serious? What have you discovered from consulting with your doctor? Please share your experience in the comments.

Super Simple Recipes for the Garden’s Bounty

by Filed Under: In the Kitchen

I’ve had a bumper crop of various vegetables from this year’s garden, and we gave away as much as we ate. Because some of these are new vegetables or vegetables I don’t often buy, I’ve had to come up with some new recipes.  You can read about the garden here.  Below are my favorite recipes.

Vinegared Cucumbers

The variety of cucumbers I planted is called “Jumbo”, and they got big. We prefer them, though, not quite so big so we harvested them a little smaller and more tender. The vines bloomed and produced now for almost two months. Those three vines gave us a bumper crop of cucumbers.  Maybe this is why my Grandmother Hamrick put up so many pickles.

So I wanted to try and replicate her vinegared cucumber recipe. Vinegar wakes up the flavor in foods, something I learned from my her. I can still see her in my mind’s eye pouring a little vinegar into her vegetables as she cooked.  She lived to be over 99.

Vinegar brightens up a dish. It cuts the richness of the food and wakes it up, making it taste fresh and flavorful. If a dish is dull or missing something, add a little vinegar, especially instead of more salt.

I remember her using a product named Accent and I made sure it was in my kitchen when I married, but as I grew older I realized that it was the vinegar that she added to so many dishes that made a difference. That was her secret.

There was no measurement. She just opened the bottle and poured a little into the pot. She cooked a lot of vegetables, and vinegar was always added. I just don’t remember what kind.

Vinegar comes in so many flavors. Rice wine vinegar is tart, while balsamic vinegar is sweet. Try balsamic vinegar on strawberries. It is yummy. If you serve strawberries in a salad, make sure you use a balsamic vinegarette dressing.

For my cucumbers, I use white wine vinegar. Here’s the recipe. No canning needed. These are kept in the frig, and must be eaten before they get soggy.

Peel your cucumbers, enough for your container. It needs to be a container with a lid that can be placed in the frig. Slice the cucumbers about an eighth of an inch thick and almost fill the container with them. Next, take a measuring cup and fill it with 1/3rd cup plus two tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Then add 2/3rds cup minus 2 tablespoons of water. Next, toss in a tablespoon of sugar and stir well. I also add salt and pepper at this stage. About a half teaspoon of each. Stir again.

Next pour the solution over the cucumbers. Make sure you cover the cucumbers. You may need to make more of the solution to cover them. Then place a lid on it, shake it up, and put it in the frig. It will be ready to eat in a few hours. It can sit in the frig until the cucumbers get soggy, but don’t wait that long to eat them. They are too good to let ruin.

Custard Beans

Another bounty from the garden has been a variety of wax beans called Custard Beans. I think if General Custer had had these beans at home, he might not have run off to that fateful meeting on Little Big Horn Creek.

This recipe is super simple. I snap off the ends and boil the bean pods in water with some salt until tender. Then pour off the water and place them still hot in a bowl with a pat of butter. Let it melt and then add some crushed whole wheat Ritz crackers and stir. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Yum! These are the best beans I’ve ever eaten.

Peppers Aplenty

Jalapeño Poppers

We’ve been getting a lot of peppers, four different kinds. For the jalapeño peppers, we have been slicing them in half, removing the seeds, and filling the halves with a cream cheese mixture of cream cheese mixed with a little liquid smoke. Wrap each in a slice of bacon and hold with a toothpick. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or more if needed.  I got the basic recipe from the Betty Crocker website which you can find here.

This makes a great appetizer, and not too spicy either. The cooking and cream cheese take care of the heat.

Stuffed Banana Peppers with Curry Chicken

For the banana peppers, I bought a bag of curried chicken and rice by evol. Then I cut the top out of each pepper being careful to remove the top while pulling out its seeds at the same time. Just circle the pepper below the hard part below the stem being careful not to cut through the center under the stem. Then pull. Much of the seeds will come out, but you can rinse out the rest of the seeds. Or you can leave them in.

Then carefully stuff each pepper with the curried chicken and rice mixture. I try to stuff them more with the small bits of chicken than just the rice and vegetables. Place the stuffed peppers in an oiled Casserole dish and add the rest of the mixture on top. Next, add small lumps of either paneer or cottage cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. This makes a great dish, and it is simple to make.  I’ve also used evol.’s Chicken Marsala.

I also stuff the bell peppers and tomatoes the same way, except I leave out the paneer. I remember my mother stuffing tomatoes with hamburger helper. The point is that you can use all types of pre-prepared frozen or even canned foods. I sometimes sprinkle bread crumbs on top of my stuffed tomatoes.

So there you have some of my favorite recipes for produce straight from the garden. You’ll notice that I didn’t give you exact measurements.

 

For years I always cooked exactly from the recipes, until about 15 years ago when I realized that I was unable to find recipes for several of my grandmother’s dishes. So I went experimenting, and the experience made me a better cook.

So what you have here are the ingredients and some instruction. Experiment and figure out the flavor you like best. You just about cannot mess these up, and you’ll become a better cook for it.

Grocery List

Cucumbers
White wine vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Pepper

Custard Beans
Butter
Ritz Crackers, whole-wheat
Salt
Pepper

Banana Peppers
Frozen Thai Style Curry Chicken by evol or another brand
Cottage Cheese or paneer

 

 

Please do share, because the garden is still producing. What recipes have you discovered for these vegetables? Do you remember your grandmother’s cooking? What was her secret ingredient?

The Real Truth About the 4th of July…

by Filed Under: Family Life

and Why We Don’t Say Happy 2nd of July.

Know what today is?  It is 2nd of July! It is the day that the Continental Congress officially declared our freedom from Britain—a declaration of independence. So why do we celebrate July 4th as Independence Day instead?

The 2nd of July was the day Congress voted for independence, but it took two more days to finalize a document which explained it to the public. A committee of five proposed it in draft form. Those five were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. It took two more days for Congress to agree on the edits. They made 86 changes to the draft. The final adopted version of the Declaration was primarily written by Jefferson.
Of those five men two would sign not only the Declaration of Independence but also our Constitution.

Then those that were there signed it, and they printed 200 copies. They distributed these 200 copies throughout the thirteen colonies. Today, only 26 of the 200 remain that we know of.


One of those 26 wasn’t discovered until 1989 in Adamstown, Pennsylvania at a flea market. Actually, someone bought an old picture in a frame for $4, and behind the old picture was one of the original 200.  Norman Lear bought it for $8.1 million. The last copy found was in 2009 in the British National Archives. It was hidden in a box of papers seized during the Revolutionary War.

So we celebrate the date of the approval of the final version – July 4th. It wasn’t completely signed though, until November 4 of the same year. The names of the signers were withheld publicly until early in 1777. A year after the declaration of independence on July 3rd, several men remembered that it had been a year since we declared our freedom. Thus, July 4th became the day that we celebrate, not the 2nd of July.  It wasn’t until 1941 that Congress declared it a federal legal holiday.

In a nutshell, the document stated the reasons we wanted to be free of England’s government; that the authority to govern belongs to the people, not a king; and that all people are created equal and have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Written in three basic parts: an introduction with a statement of the philosophy (an idea); a list of grievances or complaints; and a formal Declaration of Independence, there are five references to God.

How important is the Declaration of Independence?

Well, it only left our nation’s Capitol twice. Once for the War of 1812 when the British attacked Washington and another time about two weeks after Pearl Harbor when they packed up the Declaration and Constitution and the military escorted them to Fort Knox in Kentucky. They remained there for several years.

 

Burning of the White House in the War of 1812

 

Burning of the Capitol in the War of 1812

They moved it to an unused gristmill in Leesburg, Virginia, when they took it from Washington for the War of 1812. The British burned the White House in 1814 and much of the city including the Capitol. My third great grandfather was born in Washington, DC in 1811. He was only three years old when this took place. When the Declaration was moved it traveled rolled up and likely by light wagon or horseback. When it was first brought to Washington though it traveled by boat. During War II it traveled by a Pullman train.

 

All 2.5 million of the colonists were not united in seeking freedom from the crown. Twenty percent of the colonists were Loyalists. The crown declared Congress traitors by royal decree.

Did you know that the Declaration was signed in the Pennsylvania State House? The building’s name changed after the signing and became Independence Hall.

How was the 4th of July Initially Celebrated?

The first public reading of the Declaration was on July 8th in Philadelphia. The crowd summoned by the Liberty Bell, which sounded from the tower of Independence Hall on that date. Can you imagine standing in that crowd and hearing those words for the first time?

This is why every 4th of July the ring Liberty Bell. Actually, they only tap 13 times in honor of the original thirteen colonies.  After all, it is cracked.


Also, a one-gun salute for each state called a “salute to the union” is fired at noon on Independence Day by any capable military base.

General George Washington ordered that the Declaration be read to the American army in New York. A riot ensued., and the crowd tore down a nearby statue of George III, a statue which they subsequently melted down and made into musket balls for the American army.

How was the Declaration Protected During the Revolution?

First remember that there was no Washington, DC.  They initially moved the Declaration from Philadelphia to Baltimore, Maryland when the British threatened Philadelphia on December 12 of the same year. At the same time, Congress adjourned and moved to Baltimore, too. The document stayed in Baltimore until March of 1777 when they returned it to Philadelphia. Congress moved several times throughout the Northeast before finally moving it and themselves to Washington, DC in 1800.

Did you know that there was no “United States of America” in the Declaration? Instead, it reads “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.”

Thomas Jefferson in his original draft listed the crown’s support and importation of slavery to the colonies as one of America’s grievances. He wrote, “He (the crown) has waged war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.”  Unfortunately, the grievance was edited out to appease the delegates from South Carolina and Georgia.

 

What About the Signers?

The signers of the Declaration took their lives in their hands. Signing the document was an act of treason, punishable by death. That is why the names of the men who signed were not announced until January of 1777.

Were all the signers born in America?  No, eight were born in Britain, though not all of England. Two signers were only 26 years old. The oldest to sign was Benjamin Franklin at 70 years old. The average age of the signers was 45. Twenty-four of the signers were lawyers, eleven were merchants, and nine were farmers or planters. Eight were educated at Harvard, though there were few universities then.

Robert Livingston one of the original drafters never signed the final copy. Only two presidents signed the document—Adams and Jefferson. John Hancock was the first member to sign the document because he was president of the Continental Congress.

Nine of the signers died before the Revolution ended in 1783. The British captured five of the signers, but all were eventually released. One, though, released after harsh treatment recanted his signature.

Two colonies remained loyal to the king. Did you know that there were actually fifteen colonies? The other two were East Florida and West Florida. After the revolution, Britain sold them back to Spain.

There is something written on the back of the Declaration. It says “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776.” No one knows who wrote it.

 

Our Founding Was Indeed Unique

The driving forces were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You will notice that this phrase does not include religion, clan, or even nationality. America was founded on an idea…on a philosophy.

The enlightenment movement was part of that era. People questioned traditional authority and embraced rationalism. Whereas our Declaration called on “certain unalienable rights” of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, a British philosopher named John Locke in 1689 talked about “life, liberty and property” in his “Two Treatises of Government.”  Surely, Jeffersonread his treatise.

Best of all, though, the United States of America did not even exist until after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Happy 4th of July!!

 

Now for some interesting trivia. Can you name the three presidents who died on July 4th? And can you name the president who was born on this date?  Also, which famous contemporary actress is a direct descendent of one of the 56 signers?  Please answer in the comments below.

Confessions of a Granddaughter

by Filed Under: Family Life

By the time I was fourteen, I lost both of my grandfathers. Thankfully, God blessed me with two grandmother’s who lived long lives. Still, though, I felt jilted in the grandfather department.

On this Father’s Day, I wanted to write something about the Grandfather that I actually knew. He is the one that lived until I was fourteen.


My Granddaddy Hamrick was a sweet soul, though not an ambitious man. He was born near the Elizabeth community on what is now Gramling Road in Jefferson County, Florida, east of Monticello.  He attended school in Aucilla long before it became a private school. One of his first cousins Mary Jane Hartsfield Brown Lightsey told me that Granddaddy was older than she and drove her and several younger kids from Elizabeth to Aucilla for school each day. This was around 1918 or 1919.

Sometime between his sixteenth and twenty-first birthday, the entire family picked up and moved to Quay, Florida.

Never heard of Quay? Well, they changed its name sometime in the 1930s to Winter Beach, hoping to entice people to visit, though there wasn’t a beach in sight. Never heard of Winter Beach? The little town which has all but since disappeared was located just north of Vero Beach in Indian River County on US 1 about a mile from the Indian River/Intercoastal Waterway.

From the looks of photos taken at the time, my guess is that my teenaged grandfather liked his new home, though he would move back to Jefferson County by the time he was in his forties. The last little house his parents owned in Winter Beach is still standing, and his parents were laid to rest in the city cemetery nearby.

Sadly, I didn’t know a lot of this until after he passed when I was much older. I never took the time to ask him about his early life, but I guess that’s fairly common.

What I do know and now cherish is the memory of going fishing with him once. I was excited, and I guess overly excited because he kept telling me that I was scaring away all his fish. I also hooked him with my wild casting.

Another time I can also vaguely remember a frog gigging excursion one night with at least him and Daddy and maybe even Uncle Ferrell in the boat, probably in some swamp near our home.  Those were fun times.

Granddaddy worked for the Florida Department of Tourism at the Welcome Station just north of Monticello on the Georgia-Florida state line. We used to take him lunch, and sometimes I stayed with him a few hours afterwards.


I remember that one of his jobs was to count and record cars including what state from which they came as they crossed the state line coming and going. We sat on the side of the road with the car windows down, making tic marks on a form. Actually, he often napped, and I became quite good at doing the recording.

Each summer, the department gave their employees free passes to most of Florida’s attractions. There was no Disney World then, but there was Silver Springs with Ross Allen’s Reptile Institute and Sunken Gardens and Marineland and many more.

One summer Grandma and Granddaddy loaded up Pam and me; and we toured the state, stopping in to see all these sites. It was a great two-week vacation. I hope it was as great for them as it was for us.

I also remember Granddaddy being an auxiliary policeman from time to time, especially for the Friday night football games, which we never missed. I remember him letting me hold his giant metal flashlight and billy club. I can never imagine him using the latter as he was the most passive man I’ve ever known.

Granddaddy liked to collect junk, old plough blades, equipment, and all manner of implements. The woods behind his house was full of antiques as he called them, but Grandma only saw junk and he was hardly buried before she got the family members to come and drag every last piece off the property.

One of Grandaddy’s best skills was catching, cleaning, and cooking a mess of fish. I can still remember the wonderful smells of those fish fries, which were usually in their backyard using giant electric spools as tables to cook and serve upon. When not in use, we kids would stuff a little feller inside the middle of an electric spool for a roll around the yard.

Also, the only thing better than his fried fish and hush puppies was his cornbread. My Grandma was a great cook, but her cornbread didn’t begin to compare to his. I haven’t had cornbread that good since 1968.
Sadly, as all good things must eventually end, we lost Granddady one Sunday in March of ’68. He was only 64 years old, only one year older than I am now.

He and Grandma decided not to go to church that morning because he didn’t feel well. While watching the First Baptist Church of Tallahassee on TV, he told Grandmother that he couldn’t see and then he just pitched forward and fell out of his chair. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage before an ambulance arrived.

Next year I’ll be 64. If he were still alive, he would be 113. Grandma lived to be 99, and to her credit she was always explaining who I was kin to in the county. She was not from Monticello, so those were his kin.

I still miss him and can still see the sweat around his hat band.   Every once in a while in my mind I can hear him call my grandmother “Sugar”.  He had a kind face, and he was a good grandfather.

How to Harvest a Garden Like a Pro

by Filed Under: Home and Garden

First, let me explain that I’m no vegetable farmer.  Actually, I am a tree farmer along with my sisters, but I’ve never commercially grown vegetables.  But I have had vegetable gardens before along with a good harvest.

Around mid-March, I began a series of blog posts about a little vegetable garden that I planted. You can read about it here. I thought it might be time to give you an update because the little garden is now in its harvest phase.


Around the first of April, a large weather front came through here, and we had P-sized hail. The recently planted garden was down by the lake which is a nice walk down the hill. I watched the hail do its damage to my front flower beds and feared what was happening down there.

Fortunately, the garden did rather well. I was beginning to think that maybe no hail fell in that part of the yard at all, but then I noticed that all of the little grapes on the grape arbor next to it got knocked down.

I’m not sure why the garden did better, except that maybe it was because it hadn’t really begun to set its fruit yet. Thankfully, the grape vines were not finished. More tiny grapes formed later.

By mid-April, I was hoeing weeds. I also planted some okra which is why I was hoeing weeds. The okra needed to come up before I finished mulching the entire bed.  I also got lots of exercise walking back and forth up and down the hill, during this phase.

The Harvest Phase

By the end of April, I began to harvest the spinach but noticed that my lettuce was not going to make it. Everything else was doing well–all the different peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and even the sweet peas that I planted just for something pretty.

The first week of May I was away for a week at a conference. I left Chuck in charge. When I came back, I noticed that cutworms ate up the cauliflower. I asked Chuck about it, and he said that he noticed but thought there was nothing we could do.  Wrong!!


Up until this point, I used organic means to handle weeds and pests, but now the gloves were off. There were hundreds of cutworms, and I got out the insecticide. I left the cauliflower as it was because I thought that maybe the worm-eaten leaves could still provide a little nutrition for new leaves to form.  I thought one cauliflower plant might make it because it didn’t get eaten up as bad. The good news, though, is that a lettuce came up while I was gone and now all the cauliflower plants are beginning to make new leaves.  Maybe, I’ll get some cauliflower after all.

By the second week of May, we were fully harvesting. The secret was to check the plants daily for harvest, bugs, and weather-related problems.  For example, one of the Better Boy tomatoes fell over during another storm.  I spent some time trying to set it back up to re -spike it.  Also, if you leave any vegetable on the plant too long, that plant quits producing.  Everything is producing right now–tomatoes, cucumbers, custard beans, three kinds of peppers, and spinach.  It takes almost a daily trip to keep up with the harvest.  Also, except for the cherry tomatoes, instead of picking I cut the vegetables. Cutting keeps from damaging the bush.

A Garden Adversary

One day last week I walked town to the garden and almost stepped on a five foot long white oak snake stretched out like a fallen limb with his head underneath my little grapefruit tree.  I amazed myself, having no idea that I could jump that high or that far.  I left Mr. No Shoulders alone, giving him a wide berth; but later I realized that maybe this one is too big to keep around.  When they are this big, they get real aggressive.  They’re rat snakes, and rat snakes are territorial.  They will chase you, and this Mr. No Shoulders strikes like a rattler.  His bite will hurt bad.

So after I finished harvesting and went back to the house, I looked for Chuck.  Later, I found out that he had been down at the lake, but when he came back up, he noticed a big white oak snake hanging out on my garden fence.  Probably, waiting for a bird to light.  Well, frankly that is all I had to hear.  There is now a hoe hanging on the fence.  If he gives me any trouble, he’s toast.  Mr. No Shoulders has to go.

The Fruit of Our Labor

Lately, I’m getting an almost daily supply of cucumbers, but that’s ok. I love vinegared cucumbers. Next week I plan to post my grandmother’s vinegared cucumbers recipe and also how she taught me that  a little vinegar can awaken the flavors in foods.


Best of all, though, is that I have a new favorite vegetable.


Monsanto sent me seeds for custard beans. I wasn’t even sure what I was getting, but these bush wax beans were easy to grow and I found a new way to cook beans. That’s another recipe I’ll share.  I will definitely grow this cream-colored variety of bush beans again. They’re the best I’ve ever had. A big thank you to Monsanto for sending me these seeds.


My tomatoes are prolific, but I plan to fertilize them again next week to keep them setting flowers for the next crop.  I’ll probably fertilize the entire garden for the same reason.  I know I can keep tomatoes producing sometimes even into the Fall, but I’m less sure about the other plants.  This will be an experiment for me.

A One-Day Harvest

So as you can see, we’re enjoying the fruits of our labor, or should I say the veggies of our toil. Speaking of fruit, though, the blueberries have been producing, too.  I’ve been getting about a pint every other day.  I’m thinking of adding some to either biscuits or scones. Yum!  Or maybe a new type of cocktail made with muddled blueberries?  The options are endless.

A Mother’s Day Remembrance & Giveaway

by Filed Under: Family Life

When I was young, I remember my mother wearing a corsage of red carnations to church on Mother’s Day. She told me that she did this to honor her mother, but when I got to church my Grandmother Hamrick was wearing a white carnation corsage. I found out later that she wore white in remembrance of her mother, who died when Grandma was two years old. When we got older, my little sister Pam and I wore little red carnation corsages with little red ribbons to honor ours.

My Mother and Her Parents

The beautiful tradition which seems to have been lost with time was to wear red to honor and white to remember. It is a beautiful mother/daughter tradition lost to modernity.

In 2009 at Mother’s Day, I was out of town and did not go to church; but I remember thinking that I could no longer wear a red carnation on that day. My mother passed away the year before. My life had changed in yet another way.

How Mother’s Day Began

Mother’s Day began in 1908, exactly one hundred years before my mother died in 2008. The woman who started it in the US did so in response to her own mother’s death in 1905. This woman Anna Jarvis never married nor had children of her own. In May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia.

She continued to work to organize the day and pushed through a letter writing campaign to have it made into a national holiday. Her persistence paid off because in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day, the first ever holiday honoring a woman in the US.

Its popularity, though, mushroomed during the 1930s when women all over the country started wearing corsages made from a flower picked from the bouquets of flowers given to them by their husbands–white to remember their descended mother and red to honor their mother still living.

By the 1960s women sometimes wore pink instead of red. My Grandmother.

I even found a little poem about the corsage tradition.

A Mother’s Day Corsage

A Mother’s Day corsage 
has a meaning of its own.
Red is to honor a living Mom…
But White means she is gone.
A Mom with a Yellow Corsage, 
says she is always in grief.
She lost the child she cherishes…
Her flowers make up a wreath.
But what about a Mom
 who has no corsage to wear?
Does it mean her arms are empty?
 Does it mean her life is bare?
If your Mother’s Day corsage
 is adorned with flowers of white,
Go find a Mom without a corsage…
And Make her Mother’s Day Right.

by Kaye DesOrmeaux, 2000
Charm of the Carolines

But who gives the corsage, because women stopped making their own by the time I was a young girl? Actually, the tradition later says that the father gives the corsage, but many women are widowed far too early. I remember my Mom handling the tradition for her mother after my grandfather died.

Plus life gets in the way, and I think at some point it didn’t matter. Someone just did it.

Mother’s Day Today

Here’s a little Mother’s Day trivia? Did you know that more phone calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year? It seems that a phone call has replaced the earlier tradition of the corsage.

I believe the tradition disappeared for two reasons. First, people don’t go to church like they used to do so. And second, the corsages got way too expensive. I can remember the large white orchid corsages that came about by the 1970s.  Maybe, the answer to the second reason is that women should pick a flower out of their bouquet and wear it to church.

I used to own a florist when my children were babies. I operated it out of my home. Here are some simple instructions on how to make a simple corsage.

Step by Step Instruction to Make A Simple Corsage

The secret is in the mechanics. If you have the right supplies, it is easy; and the supplies are cheap. You’ll need 4-5 very thin florist wires, floral tape for wrapping, a corsage stick pin, and thin ribbon.

Old Age Is Not for Sissies Blog (oldageisnotforsissiesblog.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Below is a amazon link where you can purchase all three for less than $11.  I actually keep these supplies on hand.  I can’t remember how many boutonnieres and small corsages I’ve made over the years saving me boocoodles.  You can use the directions below for making both.

 

When I was young, we wore a simple corsage made with 3-5 miniature carnations. So I’ll use this example to teach you how to make your own. Honestly, it will only take you about ten minutes.

By the way, these corsages then only cost about a dollar. By the time my girls were young they cost about $3. I’m not sure what they cost today.

Take a flower and cut off its stem leaving a little on. Run a wire through to create a new stem that bends into the shape you want.

Take the tape and wrap it, thus so, twirling the flower and its new stem as you feed the tape. Floral tape is self-sticking on both sides, and this makes it easy to work with.

Now repeat with the rest of the carnations.

Next, press them together in the design you wish, pressing their stems together to create one bigger stem at the bottom. Wrap these all together with the floral tape.

Now, take a piece of wire and wrap it with the tape. You will use this to hold the bow together after you make a bow.

Then, make a bow from quarter inch ribbon and clasp it using the wire thus so.

Add this to the stem and then wrap the new stem thus so again with the tape. I placed my bow within the corsage, but you can place it at the bottom, too. Now curl the end of the stem.

Voila, you’re done! All you need is the stick pin to pin it on. Here, I show the corsage from the underside with the stick pin. You can see the corsage’s mechanics.

Finally, the corsage can be made a day in advance for flowers like carnations. Just seal it in a sandwich bag and refrigerate it. Make sure it is sealed well because the gasses from some fruits might make the flowers close or turn them yellow or brown.

You can also use flowers from your garden, just check them out, though. Some wilt quicker than others.  And gardenias bruise easily.

So there you are. Whatever you decide to do on Mother’s Day, wear a flower to remember her, wherever she is. I made this corsage in white to remember my mother, and I added a baby blue bow in remembrance of my mother-in-law, Dody. She loved baby blue.  I’ll wear it on Sunday to church and then to my sister-in-law’s home for Easter Dinner.

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AMAZON GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY

This is also an Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. So are you going to be the lucky person who gets this special $50 Amazon Gift Card for Mother’s Day?


To enter is easy. All you have to do is SIGN UP below to subscribe to get Old Age Is Not For Sissies emails.  I only post about once a week, and I share my email list with no one nor will I ever.

Giveaway ends May 2nd at 11:59 pm ET.

Good luck and Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Check out more Mother’s Day tips from the giveaway hosts here!

A Letter for Mom by Life on Summerhill

Memaws Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe by the UnCoordinated Mommy

Mother’s Day Tips by A Savings Wow

 

Do you remember this Mother’s Day tradition about corsages? Do you have any unique Mother’s Day traditions in your family? Please share in the comments below.

How to Place Your Transplants in the Ground

by Filed Under: Home and Garden

Disclosure: This post has been compensated by Monsanto Co. and the “Hey Let’s Grow Monsanto Home Garden Program”. All experiences and opinions are mine alone. #HeyLetsGrow

This week it was time to plant everything in the ground–my transplants, my seedlings, and any seeds to be planted directly into the garden.

Hey Let’s Grow sent me thirteen different packets of seeds. There were two types of tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, three types of hot peppers, bell peppers, lettuce, a type of beans, cucumbers, and spinach.

By the end of last week, I had tomato transplants, the beans and cucumbers still in seeds, and the rest in seedlings. All were ready to be placed in the garden.

How About the View from My Garden!

Which brings me to last Friday, when I was able to finish the job.

Tilling

Chuck tilled the ground for me with a tiller rented from Home Depot. We made sure not to over till, though.  It is important to not bust up all the clods of dirt.  My garden this year is about 7′ x 9′. I purposely try to keep my garden small. One plant can sometimes supply more than my family can eat.


Laying Out the Garden

Then I mapped out my garden. I decided to plant my four tomato bushes at the four corners. In between the two tomatoes at the west end I planted broccoli and some of the cauliflower. On the next row are lettuce and the rest of the cauliflower.

Frankly, the broccoli looks puny. I’m wondering if it will make it, but the cauliflower looks good.

Next row over is spinach and the bell peppers.

After that row is a row of the three varieties of hot peppers. I only had two of each variety to plant, though. My peppers were the last to germinate, and not all did.

Finally in the last row before the far eastern row, I planted seeds for cucumbers and beans. I placed the beans near the northern fence line so they would have something to climb. Jack might need a way back down someday.

Lastly, the other two tomato transplants were added to the eastern corners. There is still more room for other plants if I decide to add them later. I did hold back two transplants of each kind for later planting if needed.

Getting the Soil Content Correct

After Chuck tilled, we spread eight bags of mushroom compost and an equal amount of top soil. Then I hand tilled them together and raked them smooth. I usually use Black Cow, but we have a mushroom farm nearby, so I decided to try mushroom compost this year instead.  We knew what to add to the soil because of past years of gardening.  Remember, we let this ground take a break last year.

Making Rows

Next, I made rows, banking up little parallel hills.  Sadly, my rows aren’t straight; but I didn’t take the time to run a string line between two stakes.

Planting

All plants were spaced at least 1 foot apart. The tomato transplants were planted deep, all the way to their colydon leaves, their lowest set of leaves.

The rest, seedlings, were planted only as deep as they had been before.

Finally, the seeds were planted about a half inch deep.

Next, I put out some ant bait near one of the tomatoes. We disturbed an ant colony while planting, and they gave me a fit.

Fencing

We have a lot of problems with critters.  So, surrounding the garden is a fence made of rebar. I get this from Home Depot, and it is fencing that requires hardly any fence posts. It is actually used to reinforce concrete, but I learned a long time ago that it is rigid and will stand up like a fence with little effort. I connected the pieces with wire.

You see, most of us in our backyards are not trying to fence out cattle. We just want to deter deer and small animals. Rebar can be used to stop deer from walking into your garden, but it alone will not stop a rabbit. And that is my second possible problem.

So I purchased some bird netting and stretched it around the perimeter using the rebar as a form making sure I secured it at the bottom and top. If I later have trouble with animals coming in through the very top, such as squirrels or birds, I can stretch the bird netting up there, too. I’ll let you know how it works.

I’ll let you know how it works.  Like my rows, the fencing isn’t that straight either; but if it does the job, I’ll be happy.

So this is what the garden looks like now.

I planted on a very overcast day with rain expected overnight. I didn’t want to plant my ? seedlings and transplants on a hot sunny day, so I had been watching my weather for a week looking for the perfect day to plant.

Also, I mulched with pine straw and banked the straw around the new delicate plants, using the straw for some added shade and protection.
Stay tuned. I’ll let you know how it’s going in another couple of weeks.

Do you have any special techniques you use to plant your vegetable garden? Do you use any other type of fencing that may be easier? Please share!

When You Should Transplant Your Seedlings

by Filed Under: Home and Garden

Disclosure: This post has been compensated by Monsanto Co. and the “Hey Let’s Grow Monsanto Home Garden Program”. All experiences and opinions are mine alone. #HeyLetsGrow

 

It was time for transplanting this week. But when should one transplant?

Update on My Vegetable Garden

To reiterate, I planted about thirty tomato plants of two varieties in small jiffy pods a couple weeks ago, and now it is time to transplant them. These got a little leggy, due to a problem with the amount of light vs. dark that they got during the first week.

Why a Timer is Important

I cannot impress enough that a timer is essential, especially if you plan to take a short weekend trip away. While I was gone, I left a light on and best I can tell the tomatoes jumped out of the ground sometime during the weekend.

The light was a little too far above the plants; and after they sprouted, they stretched for the light, especially since it stayed on the entire weekend. Not good, as I later learned.

So I dug around my garage until I found an old timer I bought years ago. I set the timer to turn on at 8 am and turn off at midnight, giving the plants 16 hours of Grow light. They began this part of their growing journey a little leggy, but I think I can correct that when I transplant them.

Thinning the Herd

A few days ago, I snipped off all but one plant in each pod, a thinning which made for ten tomato plants. Then I waited for the ten to grow their second set of leaves.

So When Do You Transplant

So that brings me to today. This morning I noticed another set of leaves beginning to form. This is their third set. The first being the seed leaves also called colydon leaves, then the next set called the plants’ true leaves, and now another new set. This means it is time to transplant.

 

Transplanting

In the past, I collected and have quite a collection of various empty pots from when I earlier brought flowering transplants home from the store, but they needed to be sterilized. So I used the sink in my laundry room to spray Clorox on the little plastic pots, and then I rinsed them very well. This way I know that there can be no fungus or other problems for the delicate transplants.

Next, I mixed half and half of seed starter soil and potting soil. I do not use dirt from my yard.  Why add more problems to the process.  I mixed the starter soil and potting soil in a bucket.

Placing a thin layer of soil in the bottom of each small pot, I added the pod and plant being careful not to hold the plant by its stem. Its little stem is its spine, its lifeline. If you crush it, it cannot survive. Then I filled the soil all the way to the top of the pot, completely burying the stem of the tomato plant up to its first leaves.



A tomato plant will grow roots from its stem if the stem is covered in soil. Only a little of its stem and its leaves peek out from the soil. Hopefully, this solves the problem of my leggy tomato plants. I’m also careful not to hold the plant by its stem.

Fertilizer

Next, I used a water soluble fertilizer and added it to water in my laundry sink, using the package instructions. I bottom watered each of the pots, adding a little to the top to soak it.

Hardening

After waiting an hour for the plants to soak, I took the pots outside to sit on my potting bench for another hour. This last step begins the “hardening” period. This will get the plants ready for finally planting them in the ground. I made sure they got no direct sunlight, though, the first day.


After their hour outdoors, I took them back into the garage to bask under the Grow lights. I added two more lights finally using the $50 ‘Hey Let’s Grow’ gift certificate to buy more lights.

Thanks, Monsanto! Until now I already had everything I needed, but the bigger pots required more lights. All four are on the timer now.
For the rest of the week, I’ll take the pots outside to sit in the dappled shade underneath a tree lengthening the time each day. An hour at a time at first and increasing daily.

Next week we’ll place everything in the ground! I’m also hardening off the rest of the seedlings as they produce their second set of true leaves. Two varieties of my peppers, though, still have not completely sprouted.

Why You Should Start Your Vegetable Garden from Seeds

by Filed Under: Home and Garden

Disclosure: This post has been compensated by Monsanto Co. and the “Hey Let’s Grow Monsanto Home Garden Program”. All experiences and opinions are mine alone. #HeyLetsGrow

 

For years I’ve had less than great results when starting my garden from seeds. I’ve tried to do it under the regular lights in my kitchen. I tried it on my potting bench in the shade. And I even tried it under a tree with dappled shade.

Sometimes the seedlings get really leggy like when I tried to start them in my kitchen. On my potting bench, I forgot them; and they thirsted for water and died. So I tried starting them in the dappled shade where the irrigation took care of the water problem, but they were less than healthy. I even gave up and did several gardens from transplants.

But with transplants, you don’t get exactly what you want, and this is why you should start your vegetable garden from seed.   There is so much more variety.

Years ago I was on a quest for great tasting tomatoes, but I found that the ones I planted from transplants tasted about the same as the ones I got in my grocery store. Which is to say they tasted grainy and not sweet.

I knew better ones existed. When my daughter lived in Romania, I had fabulous tasting tomatoes there. I even thought about smuggling some seeds back to Florida. I knew that better ones were available but only from seeds.

Now, of course, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, also known as IFAS, developed a commercial tomato that actually tastes sweet. It is called the Tasti-Lee tomato, and I buy them at Publix. You can read more about them here. … But I digress.

So it was time for me to invest in a grow light system.  It is vital to starting your garden from seeds.

This year Monsanto asked me to do a little field test for them; and subsequently, they sent me some seeds.  I wrote about it here.  In the post, I explained how I keep the deer out of my garden and how my gardening isn’t always successful.

Now, though,  I didn’t want to experiment with these Monsanto seeds, so I started researching for a detailed step-by-step guide for how to plant the seeds. I found a very good one at the website for the National Gardening Association. You can find it at this link on my Pinterest board Gardening for Grannies. If you do not have a Pinterest account you can also find it here.

My biggest problem was lighting for my seeds, and I’m cheap so I didn’t want to buy an expensive light growing system. With a little research, I discovered that I didn’t have to do so. I ended up making mine, using information found on Pinterest. You can see it here.

I used their idea and made up my own grow light system using lights I already had, the proper light bulb as explained in a pin I also found on Pinterest (you can see it here,) and existing shelving in my garage.

I arranged it, and this is how it worked for me. It cost me nothing, and it worked like a charm. I used a timer that I already had for the Christmas tree to turn the lights on each morning at 8 am and off each evening at midnight.

My tomato, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower seedlings are now getting their second leaves so I’m getting close to transplanting. My tomatoes are a little leggy, but nowhere near as bad as in the past.  Their legginess wasn’t the fault of the lamps, but my own fault.  I left to go off over the weekend, and they weren’t to the stage yet where I needed the lights.  It is amazing how fast they grow all of a sudden.  I’ll update you then.

I’ll update you when I get to the next steps.

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