Wednesday, 25 August 2021

Big, old cedars!

I've been gardening, and did my foot in. I even put on socks and shoes. I've been digging out the stray elm and mountain ash saplings growing in the front garden. I used my left foot. I cannot find my brace for my right foot. Old age... I know where it SHOULD be, but that's not where it is. A new one is $145. sigh.

Tenosynovitis 

I did it in 2011 to my right foot, where the sheath around the tendon in the upper foot swells and becomes painful. I have to learn my lesson, and slow down when the pain comes. Then: foot up, ice it, and take it easy. 



You can see how many saplings I dug out over two days. I'm still not done. I've let them grow too big, and the roots are bigger, especially after I just chop them off at the root. Gotta get that root. The catalpa saplings I will move in the fall, when conditions are better (cooler and wetter) for transplanting.



JB and I sat and read. His poor arm and neck, he has to prop his book up to prevent his neck from hurting so much. We're a pair! Too many aches and pains. 

The forest

My morning walks are so good. I like hunkering down here, where I know I am safe.  I really love these old cedars. It's such a lovely path in the forest, on the edge of the wetland.



The cats have always loved this tree, and the trail.


As I approached, I noticed stuff on the ground. 

 

The tree rats are nipping the tree branches. 


How do I know who is the culprit? It's not a good photo, but proof of the dratted red squirrel (AKA – DRS)!


Here is DRS bombing!

DRS from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

13 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Ouch! the body does not cooperate with passing time, does it?! Take care you two. YAM xx

Olga said...

Aches and pains do sneak up on us after a while. Drat!!

Tom said...

...last week we hiked in an area with huge cedars in the Adirondacks.

KarenW said...

Oh No Jennifer. Lets hope that passes with some rest.
I feel the same as you about living in the woodland. It feels so safe here. Relatives who live at the "busiest intersection in town" (right where the Quebec bridge dumps into Ontario) came out for a visit yesterday. Even they said the same thing, how peaceful and normal the world seems out here. I can remember when we lived on the army base, but in the midst of building this house. When I was driving out each afternoon, the minute I turned off the highway on the side road, all the stress and worry just fell away.

RedPat said...

It isn't fun getting older!

Anvilcloud said...

You are too much, doing that kind of work in this kind of heat.

Nancy J said...

Old age, an undesired punishment, but the alternative is not attractive!!!I forget who wrote that a long time ago, but so true.Jenn, somewhere I have seen book rests online, with a little ledge at the bottom, some even have hinges to hold the pages open? A good gift for the birthday? We are doing Ok in lockdown, no petrol usage, no visitors, lots of families walking past and waving, home schooling again, and I think of you and all those days when the school bus did the morning run!!!

Marco Luijken said...

Hello Jennifer,
Nice pictures of the trees.
Special to see the old trees with s his figures.
But very sad to read that you have to live with so much pain. Hopefully there will be an improvement soon.
I wish you both all the best.

Greetings, Marco

Cloudia said...

Please be good to Sister Body! Take care ❤️

Ontario Wanderer said...

I too am frustrated by all the aches and pains that seem to go along with getting older. That, and the forgetfulness also, makes life at least interesting.

William Kendall said...

But the DRS is so cute!

Christine said...

Sorry about the foot probs.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Aches and pains, conditions and the ghosts of conditions... must growing older always be accompanied by health issues? Most of us remember when we were young and invulnerable, fit as fiddles and in charge of our bodies. Now if I am sitting on the ground or working at floor level, I struggle to get up. Previously I leapt up like a spring.