I must be getting old

We are simply behind this year. I like to blame it on the virus, which is part of the reason. But honestly this isn't the only reason. Probably a bit on the nervous side as well which doesn't help. Not sure why I'm nervous or worried or stressed, but I am to a degree. I was praying for friends of mine the other night, and it kind of came to me that most likely some of them just might get the virus or even me. I sure don't want this, but odds are many of us will know someone who gets the virus. For whatever reason or excuse we are behind. My prayer is that I don't give them the virus.

Probably the main reason we are behind is that I'm getting older, and it's more difficult to get stuff done.

I find if I follow a routine I do better. Seems like following a routine keeps my head on straight and keeps my mood on an upbeat trend. I usually get up and check my sugar. The other morning it was 112. A week or so ago it was like 59. Way too low. But I check it first thing. Then I make some coffee. Once I have the coffee ready, I usually read some in the Bible. It seems like the day goes better if I spend some time reading. I pretty much always take a shower and shave. If I don't shave and shower, I feel kind of scrubby the whole day. I just feel better if I shave and shower and put on clean clothes. I'm ready for the day.

We always have breakfast. Marge usually fixes me a piece of meat like ham or steak or bacon. Along with that, she either fries a couple eggs or scrambles some. If she scrambles them, she adds peppers and onions. Darn they are good with peppers and onions. Usually have some toast with it. Once in a while it'll be a pancake. That's my routine.

What's your routine? Do you spend all day if you are at home in your PJs? Do you eat a late breakfast which leads to a late dinner and late supper? Some are still working, with many working from home. Many are still going to work as normal. We do better if we stay busy and spend less time watching TV and listening to the news.

Most of the time I spend the whole day outside. Marge spends part of her day out with me and at times in the house. She has been sewing some of those virus masks, so she's been busy indoors. She helped me one day in the garden. We seem to get twice as much done with her help. After spending the whole day outside and working, I'm ready for bed by 7:30 or 8 p.m.

One nice day last week I decided to lay down some plastic mulch in our hill garden. The hill garden is out a ways from the house and all outdoors and not in the high tunnels. I'd disked the hill garden for several days when I could so it was ready to be worked in. So I took our old horse Troy tiller and went to tilling. I enjoy tilling, but when one gets after an acre of garden with a tiller, it will take a while. So I'd till and rest and repeat the process. Finally, I was ready to lay some plastic down.

We do it the old fashioned way, which requires work. There is equipment one can buy which makes this process easy, but I didn't really want to spend thousands on a piece of equipment we'd use a few hours a year. So Marge and I do it by hand. So we make two furrows the length of the row about 34 inches apart. These furrows will be 5 to 6 inches deep. Once they are done, we stretch a drip line down between the furrows the length of the row. Now comes the plastic mulch.

The plastic mulch is really thin but strong, and it's 36 inches wide. We start on one end by securing the plastic mulch and then start unrolling it down the row. As we unroll the plastic mulch, we push the edges down in the furrows we dug and cover the edge of mulch up with dirt. This secures the mulch so it doesn't blow up in a storm. We do this the length of the row, which is about 80 to 90 feet long. I can tell you for sure this is a lot of hoe work. Our hoes are like the ones used to chop cotton.

Marge and I did four rows that same day. I feel like we did a dozen when in reality it was just four. Years ago we'd have gotten it done in less than half a day and wouldn't have felt a thing. Today I woke up part way through the night and realized maybe we tried to do too much. I hardly ever take ibuprofen, but I sure did that night. I guess in all truth I'm too old for this kind of stuff. But I do enjoy it, even though it's a lot of work.

We have these four rows pretty much ready for the crops. One row will get zucchini. One will get onion plants. One gets peppers. Not sure about the last one, but we need a place to plant some broccoli and some cabbage. So most likely we will lay down some more mulch today. May only do a couple rows.

I've been transplanting some tomato plants from the 5-by-5 trays into individual pots. A few of them really sound interesting. We've grown them in the past, but with all the plants we grow we got them mixed up. Hopefully this year we'll keep them straight. One is Hillbilly. It even sounds interesting. What makes it interesting is it has potato type leaves. Another is Super Sauce. It's supposed to be about 5 inches long by 2-3 wide. Three of the tomato varieties are interesting. They are BHN 589, BHN 871 and BHN 1021. All three will be firmer and maybe a little less juicy but still good.

Are you thinking of having your own garden this summer? How about working in a few tomato plants or even a cucumber in amongst your flowers. Gardening seems to help keep my head on straight.