More Glimpses From This Week

 It's been a slower paced week than last as we've finally "caught up" from being quarantined.  While it's been slow, it's been full of memorable events and time for family connection. 

Alex and Jared conduct a bit of business in the Panda Lobby on Allie's birthday. Alex had agreed to buy JaRissa's truck months ago. Title and money were exchanged. 

Benny enjoyed this month's kiwi box. This is a jelly fish he made. He told me Danny broke it. 

I love this expression! 📷by Arielle

I find it hard to believe this face of innocence is guilty of any wrong. LOL 

Danny - 17 months at Auntie Allie's party

Most of the chicken yard is now free of snow and greening up. The chickens heartily approve of this state. 

We have 22 new chicks coming next week.  The girls enjoy the days I clean out the fridge! Or the day before food co-op when I chuck any less than fresh produce. LOL 

Look what CyRi built in their new back yard. Their own fire pit. The tradition continues...may you make many happy memories around the fire! 

📷by Carrie

Stacia is practicing how to make a Princess Cake. Bella's birthday party is coming on the 30th. 

To the Top - First time this Season

 Jamin sent a text out to the Gherkins early Saturday morning. He wondered if anyone would like to hike up the Butte. The girls took him up on the challenge.  I was tempted but knew it would be good for the girls to go, Michael was working outside, and I spent the time with Grandpa. 

The first hike to the top this season! Well done. 

Jamin, Stacia, Allie 📷by Jamin 

Garden Work Begins

Michael was outside today working on extending the footers on the greenhouse foundation. I enlisted the girls to watch movies with GG and headed out to see if I could shovel snow away from the garden beds. The beds were covered in black plastic last fall.  I removed the plastic and began shoveling. 

Nolan's desk looks out the window. He decided to come join us outside. He helped shovel snow. I pulled the few weeds starting to pop up in the bed. Nolan brought over a load of the home grown compost and we spread it on top of the bed. Then, we added a load of the organic compost we purchased last year.  

This one bed is ready to go.  The planting chart for our zip code says I could start carrots, spinach or beets outside - 6 weeks before the last frost. I'm debating what to start, if anything. 

At this point I covered the bed with corrugated plastic. I'm hoping it will warm the soil up a bit. I did find a few spots that are still icy as we turned it over. BUT we found worms and that's a good sign. 

Nolan went on to taking apart the compost bed. It's now totally moved and a flatbed trailer will be able to back up to the foundation Michael is finishing. Michael's tooth is still not feeling great, but much better than it has been. 

Some are saying summer is here. I'm not sure about THAT, but spring is certainly here. I am hoping for green in a couple of weeks.

I am brainstorming how to turn pallets into a garden fence....

And so it Begins

 The male Gherkins have enjoyed hiking over a local pass each summer or fall. They seem to always encounter snow, wildlife and mishaps...but they ALWAYS make great memories.  On Tuesday night, Jamin began to talk to everyone about a fall hike. It appears Nolan and Alex are planning to join him on the forced march. I'm not sure about others at this point. 

Today, all four at-home Gherkins took off for their first long walk of the season. The guys loaded down packs and slipped them on their backs. 

They walked 4 1/2 miles at a fairly crisp pace. It's fun to see them getting out and enjoying the nice weather together....and yes, they DID head to Dairy Queen afterwards. What's with that? 

Dental Woes

You may remember Michael back when Michael had a toothache which started on March 9th and the VA couldn't get him in until March 21st. Then he tested positive for Covid on the 18th and couldn't be seen. The urgent care gave him meds and told him to be seen in 5 days. The VA wouldn't see him for 14 days.  By that point the antibiotics had tamed the pain and they decided they didn't need to do anything urgent, they would write a referral for him to be seen by a specialist off base. 

We waited. We were never called from the civilian dentist. 

Michael's tooth began to hurt again on Saturday, the 16th of April. Of course, he had to wait until Monday to call and then he discovered they HAD NOT SUBMITTED THE REFERRAL. WHUT?  At this point he'd already had sleepless nights with ice and round the clock Tylenol and Ibuprofen. 

He couldn't be seen until the civilian dentist got the referral - he finally drove to Anchorage Thursday 21 April to see the civilian specialist only to find....

"Oops, we can't deal with this. It's bad enough it simply needs to be pulled now."

Michael stopped in at the VA clinic and they are submitting another referral - this one to an oral surgeon.  He just got a call (Friday, 22 April) to go to the local hospital on MAY 3rd for a consult with the oral surgeon and will schedule the extraction after that appointment.   

 This is Michael on anti-biotics and OxyContin....still in pain...7 days later...I am not sure who to speak to, but this is simply a local fail of the VA dental clinic. I do note the VA clinic offers no help other than, "Suck it up, we can see you in 3 weeks," while both times it's been civilian practitioners that give him antibiotics and this time even pain meds. 

I totally understand the bad timing of the tooth and covid. BUT if the VA had submitted the referral  the end of March this would have been dealt with already and Michael wouldn't have had the past week of pain....maybe they would have saved the tooth, maybe not. 

AND WHY does every referral go to Anchorage when we don't LIVE in Anchorage?????

GG's New Teeth

 One year of dental visits...several thousands of dollars and FINALLY - DAD PICKED UP HIS LOWER PARTIAL PLATE today!  I told him to show off his teeth. LOL 

We are hoping this will make it easier for him to chew and therefore, cut down on the choking episodes we deal with around the table.  

"No, Dad, you have to open your mouth for me to see your teeth." 

Dad keeps telling me stories about my grandpa who said the dentures hurt and refused to wear them....went toothless the rest of his life. I wonder if maybe, he doesn't want to wear them. LOL  I keep encouraging him they'll feel better when he gets used to them.

He tore up the inside of his cheeks at dinner, biting himself....but all in all...we think it's a good step for him. 

Moving the Compost Bin

 Michael made this compost bin for me in 2018. I usually scoop out of it to fill 2/3 of a new bed and top it with topsoil. The last two years I've made lasagna beds and gone with layer composting.  We've talked about another compost bin....I'm torn.  I'd like it close to the garden for ease of moving compost, but I'd like one near the house as the walk out to the garden in the winter seems long. In fact, there comes a point every winter when we have a wall of snow out our back door and can't walk directly out to the garden. What to do? 

We were debating and then Michael told Alex he needed to empty and move the compost bed, now.  Hmmm...

Our greenhouse will be delivered next week. We thought they could unload it from the side, but it appears they have to unload it straight off the back of the trailer.  See the little compost bed at the back of this old foundation. Yep. It has to move. Michael is frustrated he's been out all week with pain. He had planned to make more progress on extending the footers.   Alex tackled this part of the project. 

He and I untangled the snapped frame from last year's lasagna bed. I put compost in here through the winter.  There is space in it...I suggested we just put all the compost here and I not use this bed this year to be sure the chicken manure has aged a year. Alex liked the idea of leaving it here rather than unloading it and loading it all back into a new bin. LOL 

The above set up worked well. Michael says he can rebuild it. We'll take it one project at a time.

And here it is....It's too full. The stuff on top is over 2 years old and so we'll use it to go into the other beds we are planting in this year. They've composted and need some top fill. That should take this down to a good level....I'll cover it with black plastic so it stays hot this summer and it will be the compost we use next spring. 

This compost was on the bottom of the bin. It is not all broken down, but it will be fine to go into the other beds. It will cut down on the volume of soil I need to add to the beds. 

The beds are thawing out. We still have significant snow in some of the garden, it's clearing in other spots. I bet you wish you had a self-fertilizing garden. 😅😏😁

The Moose left payment for raiding the compost

I am thankful for Alex' work today! I'm going to dig out all the charts and figure out which seeds I want to start. I'm actually thinking I'll start some lettuce in one of the beds... even though there is still snow around the beds. I can cover the planted beds with corrugated plastic and they should be fine. Maybe next week as the nights should be getting above freezing....and the plastic would keep it warm.....