The garden is out of control!

I am 5'4" (was? I know we shrink as we age), so you can see how tall these are!

Do you like Tiger Lilies? Normally, I put up a few stakes with string to hold them back. Ain't gonna happen this year.

The plants are eye level to me. Their pollen is quite something. It is blood red. 

The pumpkin, or maybe it is squash. Anyone recognize it? I planted both here and I'm that kind of gardener. The banana is for scale!

The woodland sunflowers have to be 6' tall. They are native.

And my precious second lily plant is in bloom.

I ordered myself a new sprinkler. I am tired of losing plants to dry spells! It saves me standing there, and gives it a good, long soak, for which I've little patience. Cinnamon helped. I mixed up the settings for the trip pin. I had to change out of soaking wet jammies. 

August is normally dry. I hate seeing the crackly plants as they wilt. This makes me happy. I haven't bought a sprinkler since we moved here (2010) so I feel justified! 

 

The Tiger Lilies host lots of critters. I photographed a Bumble Bee, and a Katydid. Also, hummingbirds like it.

 

😷 COVID UPDATE – Tuesday/Wednesday, July 30/31

Thanks for your support during our health issues. I hope none of you get this. We are slowly getting better, but giving ourselves permission to be couch potatoes. It is difficult, as you know. Today I shall venture down to the trailcams. That is my goal. The doctor said he couldn't do anything for me, so I'm treating symptoms. Otrivin at bedtime, saline nasal spray for sinusitis, Ventolin puffer, Subicort puffer, cough drops, orange juice. I slept from 12:30 until 5:45. This is good.

The coughing during the day is like a bad cold I used to have in the old days. Colds such as I haven't had a serious one since I retired (2006). I have a bit of a voice back, but it is clearly an Alto voice. Kinda weird. 

The best thing is to clear my lungs to avoid pneumonia, but sleep is such a blessing, dontcha know.

Celebrate summer!

🔥The fires out west are horrific. The last two Alberta premiers cut firefighting budgets, specifically the elite Wildland Firefighter Rappel Team. The current premier said Jasper, as a federal park, wasn't her responsibility. She's changed her tune. Provinces have to request help from the federal government. This is the chain of command. She's asked for help. 

Current fires: July 30th
right down to the US

Fire danger in Canada
About 1000 km from Albert to Saskatchewan
in that big blob of red

I am looking for the helpers. Thank you to people who care for one another. Who show kindness. The politics and lies around Climate Change, health, and all the other issues, is appalling. Politics can't trump science. Canada, again, will rely on other countries for firefighting help. Even New Zealand, so far away, Jean! Happy birthday, young lady!

🌪 Our tornado

Do you remember our tornado? The Tornado path was confirmed by WesternU scientists.  It was 4km to the south of us. 😧😬😳 There are lots of trees down. One smucked a cottage, so I heard, on the nearby lake. No one was hurt during the storm. Many people hunkered down in basements. 

Back to flora and fauna...

The frog pond is doing well. Our big storm filled it up via the water barrel. There should be 3 goldfish in there, but I am not healthy enough to look for them. They are the least of my worries. 🐠

He's holding his own, Mr. Bullfrog. It is a male, as the ear doohickey (drum?) is larger that his eye. (My poor brain!) Do you remember Jeremiah and Geraldine?! <= They froze in my shallow goldfish pond one year. 😥 I'll have to take him down to the frog pond in the fall. Silly git. Meantime, he is happy.

Water lilies! It seems like two different species. One has a scent, the other does not. Don't ask which. I don't remember.

The Asiatic Lilies! I wish you could smell them. The deer fences works really well! I am over the moon about that. You can barely see it. The flowers flourish. Heaven knows there is enough foliage for the deer to eat out there.

Don't gardens give you joy? My garden is a bit wild. When we first moved here, Joe has always said that 90% of gardening is weeding. Now, I won't say that 90% of my garden is weeds, but that twitch grass!

😷COVID

Still coughing. My cough has lessened, however. Joe is less tired, he has sniffles, but not as bad as last week. Thank you for your kind wishes. We appreciate it. I have tested negative. I wish the symptoms would go away. I feel for those suffering from long COVID.

I went out front to check on the cherry tomatoes, which have required twice daily watering. I began to cough. Suddenly, our buck, in the forest just off the driveway, chuffed and took off into the forest. I laughed. Me scaring a big buck! They sure aren't tame. 

My long time elementary school friend, who lives 500km away and I haven't seen since high school, said this on Facebook:

"The big guy was on Covid alert! 🤣"

She asked if it was 'too soon' but, no, if I take all my meds (Ventolin, Advil, Symbacort), I can find humour in the odd moment.  That is progress.

I tested negative for COVID on July 24. On Day 15 of lung issues, I am coughing less frequently. I cannot imagine what people went through before the vaccines. All those deaths. 

I do wake up (4 a.m. today, again) with what feels like bronchitis. Ventolin is my friend. The side effects of Ventolin is one of the least of my worries, or this is the Symbacort (steroid for my lungs to reduce swelling). That said, I'd give my eye teeth for a bidet! Thank goodness for Always. I think it is the meds, which I can live with. I've lost 3.5 kg, that is not a bad thing! 

Both of us are truly grateful for having the Olympics to watch. 

Our Ottawa family returned home!

 Photos are coming in from British Columbia. Jesse's phone is excellent. He remembered to post photos of the kids all together. He is so busy! This is progress for him. It's sort of a joke between us. 

Memories

We moved away from Toronto to Ottawa (1981) for my first husband's job promotion. Caitlin was two years old. It was hard on my Mom. She'd have my dad write a check for his birthday. Jesse was somewhat slow in cashing them. I remember my mom would phone. My dad was meticulous in keeping track of his checking account and checks. It'd drive him nuts. It'd be three months after his May birthday and she'd beg me to get him to cash it. At that point he was living with his accountant father. What a kid. Now he works for RBC as an Estate Planning Specialist! Isn't it ironic! I love him dearly. So proud of him, well, all my three children, 4 grandchildren and SIL and DIL.

The kids were really good about posting photos from their family reunion in the Fraser Valley, B.C. last week. My DIL, as well. It is such fun, if you can't be there, to see them happy, whole and healthy. 

As well as cottage activities, there was work done!

They came home from British Columbia Saturday night. What a long trip. I was watching on the radar, it kept me busy. I noticed that their flight sorta veered out of Saskatchewan, south across the US border. Then I spotted the storm clouds (in green) in Ontario.

Notice how all the planes veered away from the storm. 

I posted it to the family photostream. After they landed, waiting to disembark, JL posted a comment to say there was turbulence. Not a surprise. But I didn't know to worry about that!!! 😟 

Lightning, too, across the northern part of Ontario. 

And the eagle has landed! Isn't this a cool point of view from Flight Aware?! 

Caitlin kindly texted me saying they were on terra firma! Also, when they arrived at their house. By then I'd gone to bed... but I spotted it at 3 a.m.

😷Sunday, July 28

Awake at 3 a.m., puffer, then liquids. Back to bed at 6:15. Slept until 8:15. HOORAY! 

Do you know that a puffer is much more effective if you remove the protective cap? Yes, guffaw at will. Aster found this most funny. (I try!) I thought I wasn't going to be able to catch my breath. No air coming in. I'm suffocating! Not. I am finding I have some humour, now. This is progress. 

I'm coughing less, and more shallower, but I can't do much. The sinusitis is still there. We're holding our own. Joe tested positive for COVID, again. Poor man. He took a new test. Positive. Sheeit. It was positive within two minutes, even though they say to wait for the Rapid Test results for 15 minutes. 

Ventolin puffer at breakfast, lunch, dinner & bedtime. Steroid puffer 12 hours apart. This is to give my lungs a chance to heal. 

The headaches continue. Coughing, stress, who know? Advil is my friend.

The reheated pizza Joe bought me is wonderful. I usually do all the cooking. He's been doing really well. He put out the garbage for us, with all those germs. We are managing our activities of daily living (ADLs), so we need not move yet. We're not exactly 'quick and sprightly' to quote Aster's saying. But we have hope.

Summer unfolds...

👭 Our 3 kids were all together in British Columbia, kids having a blast with cousins. Our four grandies getting to know one another. They were having a holiday in B.C. Jesse lives there, but my 2 Ottawa kids all got together, flying out west to stay a week at his cottage. We've been texting back and forth, but the time difference makes it as difficult as keeping up with Jesse's family on a regular basis! My youngest is in the background. We are estranged. I blurred his face. I know some of you know how this hurts your heart. 

Isn't this adorable? Aster with Cluny  (I think?). Or it might be Bryony. I don't know them well enough to tell. Isn't that sad? I know when we moved from Toronto to Ottawa when Caitlin was two years old it broke my mom. 

They did thrifting in Chilliwack. There was swimming and paddle boarding, berry picking, lots of fun. They kindly posted photos for us. I travel vicariously. Maybe we can travel out there next year if I can get my act together. They are renting their cottage out in August this year.

They've been blueberry picking, as well as hiking. They found the Canadian/US border! Isn't that weird?!

Aster got a text from Fido, "Welcome to the US!" Whoopsie! Not good for the pocket book. I was fascinated with this image.

 

😷 Friday, my nurse friend was going shopping in town, and she popped in (staying well away from the door). Did we need anything? Orange juice! What a lovely human being.

What else am I up to? Coughing. I was awake at 3, couldn't sleep with back pain. Voltaren helped my back. The kitchen tool is an easy way to apply it without getting it all over your hands. (Tip from my physio person. I could use her ministrations, but that ain't gonna happen!)

I put my back out, probably from just sitting in my easy chair. It's an ongoing issue, since Jesse was born in 1983, and I broke a pedicle exercising after he was born. Robaxacet might help, but I'm going to try topicals. And Joe's Dr. Ho machine. It did the trick.

My COVID has settled into my lungs and nose, and feels like a horrid cold. At least the sweats have diminished. Sinusitis, relieved with saline nasal spray; and a persistent cough are wretched. I am writing down everything I take, which helps me remember. I was overmedicating with my puffer. I've had nursing advice, since my doctor wouldn't see me, to follow a strict 4 x's a day with the puffer, and twice a day, 12 hours apart, with the Symbicort. Turbo puffer, as we call it. I cannot imagine what people went through prior to vaccines during early COVID days. Then there are people with long-term COVID. It is sort of like long-term Lyme Disease, prior to people being given Doxycycline. 

I think Joe made it through Lyme Disease, and the Doxycycline worked for him. He made it through his COVID bout, and is on the upturn. He's still fatigued, and has been having two naps a day. The last couple of days have been better for him. He went out Saturday afternoon (wearing his N95 mask) and got a few groceries, as well as picking up a fresh pizza for me. Look what else he brought home! 

My late mom would be horrified with the clutter around here. I am letting it go.

Positive people know to focus on what you can do, not what you can't, but I cannot do anything that requires effort as my lungs can't take it. That said, I managed to do my laundry a couple of days ago. I am managing diarrhea with sanitary pads. I had a partial hysterectomy in 1995 or so. They still serve a purpose! Joe has some from after his prostate cancer surgery. 

As I write here, at 3 a.m., I am grateful that I slept 5 hours. For many of you, you know that is all you can expect on a normal night. You deal with it. We're retired. Naps are good. All the rules around sleep hygiene have to go out the window. I was up at 3 the day before as well, and went back to bed having taken my normal sleep meds, and slept until 7 a.m. I don't think the sleep meds helped. I coughed the rest of the day, into the night, regularly irregular. 🎲 It's a crap shoot 

Sitting on the back deck, Cinnamon kept me company whilst Joe slept. Cinn sat under my chair! These iPhones are great for sideways and tight corners. It's been a hot one. The nights are cooler, as is the way with August. Yes, I know we aren't there yet, but as Jasper continues to burn, it is reality. 

Also, out back, Merlin told me it was a Black-billed Cuckoo. Merlin audiotaped it. I put in two Wiki images, bless their heart for sharing them with the world. I'll never see them. They are up so high in the canopy. It was wonderful having a project I could do without talking, coughing, or otherwise tiring myself out.

• #1 By Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren - Black-billed Cuckoo - eating tent caterpillars.
• #2 By Wolfgang Wander (colors adjusted by Skiessi) - on Wiki

 

Here is my video. 

black-billed cuckoo from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🦉I heard, "who-cooks-for-you?" outside. It was late at night, in the dark. I added my own photos from previous years. I can't tell you how beautiful it is to hear them. Life carrying on with the new generation.

The whistle is the chick calling for food. It sort of whistles, if you listen to the video. It was dark and I couldn't see them. I knew what it was, though! I've heard it before when they nested out back. 

barred owl and chick from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thank you for your kind words, faithful readers. It truly helps.