Lock-down Day 618

Saturday, 4 December

I woke up quite early in quite a lot of pain! My shoulders are aching, even when still. They add pain, when I move. My head feels like someone is trying to unscrew the top. Every move hurts!

And the power is off! Sigh ...

I get up, let mippies out - but I don't feel up to making even coffee! Yes, that's how bad I feel! I'm taking a strong Aspirin - let's hope that helps, though it's on an empty stomach.

Power is back, shortly after six. Good! Something, at least!

The Aspirin helped, though I ended up taking two. I've eaten two bananas, and made myself coffee ...

Normally, now that I'm feeling better, I'd start with the laundry ... but I've checked the weather report: we're due for heavy rain around noon, and it could go on through tomorrow afternoon!

Okay, just past nine and I finished mowing!

Almost ten now, I've started pulling out whole bunches of that horrid ... grass? 

I pulled this AFTER I mowed! Look how long it still is! That's because it grows flat, not straight up. And what DOES grow up, shreds. The stuff is really, really tough!

Look at those stems! They are fibers through and through. Like palm fronds.
Can't cut them.

I figure that anything which reduces the time it takes me to mow, is the best investment of my time! These things don't mow. I have to go over every single one a couple of times, just to at least make it look like I've mowed there!

This garden really is too big for this old woman! I need to re-think my goals, because not seeing any flowers nor much of anything else really growing is a bit de-motivating. Which is all just in my mind - and because I had such a variety growing in my garden in Port Elizabeth, so quickly! But I didn't have to worry about the lawn. And I had help. And there were no existing beds. I had the equivalent of a clean slate, or blank canvas. I could start creating right away.

Here, I have the rose beds, the ponytails, the peach tree, the grapevine ... all of which had been neglected for quite a while. Plus the succulent bed out back, and the big succulent bed next to the outside room. All badly in need of attention. All completely covered and overgrown with weeds. And then there's that bed I never mention, which is next to the gate, in the corner, where Agapanthus and such have been planted. I only cleaned that bed once. 

It is a lot of work just to keep things from getting worse. And I'm loosing that battle. I know I keep repeating this same lament, I can't help it. I keep forgetting,  or rather, I stubbornly refuse to praise myself for not falling further behind. 

Anyway, I  carried on until the weather turned. Quite suddenly. One minute it's 28 in the shade and I'm burning; next it's 19 and pouring! Well, not quite that fast - I managed to pack everything away, and do the equivalent of 'battening down the hatches' before it started. 

Twenty minutes later, sun is out - almost 3mm rainfall - oh, and the power is off. Of course! Sigh ...

Another twenty minutes later, power is back! Phew!

First, I take a shower! The garden work in the blazing sun left me ... quite sticky! I'm happy to call it a day, as far as the garden is concerned. I see there's another thunderstorm forecast for the evening, so I had better wash my laundry now.

Now I've eaten - as I wasn't hungry last night, after today's gardening, I was ravenous! I'm still hungry, though ... now I'm looking for pancake recipes again. Funny how even the Germans call pancakes with eggs 'grandma's pancakes'. I guess I'm older than I thought. MY grandma's recipe comes from a time, where eggs were not freely available. War time. World War times, in fact.

Well, I was a bit tired - no surprise, I had worked hard - so I decided to take a nap. Should have plenty of time ...

Nope! Not even three quarters of an hour and I was woken up  ... by the first drop of rain, which turned off the power! Around four! Its now half seven, raining and still no power! Not even worth reporting, because they just ask whether it's raining, as if that's an explanation! It's become such a standard thing: rain = power outage,  that there are people who don't know that that is not normal!

Well, the laundry was done, so I hung that up. Inside.  I noticed some water coming in under the door - the rain was coming from an odd angle. Not much. No worries. 

At one point it was raining really hard, plus the wind was very strong  ... I worried about the Jacaranda tree for a bit - but it's healthy and has strong roots. 

During a lull, when it merely drizzled, I went and checked the gauge: another 23 mm! That's over 30 mm since last night! And it's raining hard again, now! I wonder if I should get a boat? Ha ha!

Smeagol came out of the dog hut, when I was outside. He wanted his dose of lovies. I gave  him a wet treat, as well. Later, I opened the outside room for him; I noticed the only thing dry place in the dog hut is on top of the bags of soil. I think he's afraid of getting locked in, as there's only one entrance. He's huddled atop the freezer. Poor bastard.

And he's been so good, lately! He hasn't attacked any mip, and tonight, when he got skittish while I was petting him, he held back. Didn't swat at me, no claws - I just saw the sudden, irrational fear in his eyes. Just for an instant. And then he looked at me and it's as if we both thought 'I wish you didn't have to be so full of fear'. I really hope he can come live WITH us, one day!

Well, I've hooked up mippies flower fountain to the small solar power bank. I connected the bank to the wall outlet, so that it can charge when the power comes back. And I placed it in the bookshelf, off the floor, so - no matter what mippies do - water won't get at it.

It's just past seven,  still raining hard, still no power. 

I wrote quite a lot more, but it's all gone ... grrr