Grandma's Hollyhocks

A long long time ago, Grandma Howard had hollyhocks in her yard. This was at the house in Gibbon where she and Grandpa lived. When Grandpa died in 1982, the house was sold and Grandma moved into a retirement community. I was only eleven when this happened so while I remember the house, I really don’t remember what Grandma had planted in her yard or garden. Little boys just don’t pay much attention to flowers. From what I understand Uncle Butch saved seeds from Grandma’s hollyhocks and has been growing them at his house in Crete ever since. Last summer, Mom gave us a big bag of hollyhock seeds that were direct descendants of Grandma’s hollyhocks so we planted them in our yard, along the west side of the house.




All last summer we waited and waited for the hollyhocks to bloom but nothing really happened. All we got was some sort of bushy and leafy plants that grew to no more than 18 inches high or so. Not having any experience with hollyhocks, we weren’t sure if this was normal or not. Mom had planted some at her house also and said that hers were doing the same thing. I can’t remember where we heard it, but someone told us that hollyhocks don’t do much the first year, but the second year they would come back and grow flowers. We were disappointed but there was really nothing much to do except wait some more and see what happened. All through the summer and even through the winter the hollyhocks remained much as they were. When it got cold they turned partly brown but retained some green color even through the hardest freezes.




Well, as you can see by these three pictures, the news we heard last year was correct: our hollyhocks are now growing tall stems and produced dozens of buds all up and down the stems. We were pretty excited to see what color they would be. Finally the buds began to bloom and we couldn’t have been happier. In the top picture the flowers look white but they are actually a pale yellow. In the middle picture they are a very pretty pale pink. That particular plant has grown to nearly seven feet tall now and was the first to open up. And in the bottom picture you can see the beautiful dark pink blossoms. We have three hollyhock plants blooming now and got a different color with each. What are the odds? We spent a lot of time waiting for these beautiful flowers but it was definitely worth the wait. Thank you Grandma!

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 303

Haha! I bet you thought the Pumpkin Chronicles were over! Well, actually I did too but I decided to go ahead and do one more for old times’ sake. Yep, we still have a few pumpkins sitting around decorating our home. We had originally intended to make pumpkin pies and jack-o-lanterns and all that stuff but we kind of grew attached to the little fellas and decided to just keep them.

These have been sitting around the house since we brought them in last fall. Last summer I had read that if you keep the pumpkins cool and dry they would keep until the following spring. It hasn’t exactly been cool and dry in our house this winter but these have kept just fine. A few of the small ones we had did eventually grow soft and had to be thrown out but these are still in good shape.

These two look like they’re all soft and mushy but that’s just the way they were shaped, they’re still nice and firm. We sure had a lot of fun with the pumpkins last summer: finding the sprouts, spreading them out in the garden, watering them, watching them flower and spread their vines through the garden. And almost ten months later we are still enjoying them. What an amazing gift from God these were!

Deuteronomy 7:13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. ESV

Endings and Beginnings

Well, here it is, officially fall already. This summer just seemed to whiz by. Our beautiful flower gardens are now mostly dried up and dead, our one and only watermelon has been picked and consumed. The corn fields are dried up and harvest has begun. The pumpkins are still producing but I know that soon enough they will be gone too. I’m at the end of one of the most enjoyable summers of my life and that’s kind of sad as endings usually are.

Let’s do a little catching up shall we?

On Thursday, September 14, I had my checkup with Dr. Feilmeier in Kearney. It had been two months since I last saw him and things had been going well so I wasn’t expecting much news one way or the other.

The Doctor’s assistant took us in and tested me out on the eye chart and everything as usual. She put up a line on the chart and I read it, then she brought up the next line and I read that, then she put up a third and I read that one too. Then she said, “Great, we’re all done!” I was thinking “Why are we stopping, I wasn’t even struggling yet?” Imagine my surprise when she told me that was the 20/20 line! Back in July I had been testing at about 20/25 with my new glasses. That was much better than I had ever expected to see again and I wasn’t really expecting more than that. I guess God had other ideas! When Dr. Feilmeier came in he was looking at my chart and said, “Are you just showing off now or what?” I could tell he was genuinely happy for me. Happy for himself a bit too I think at having completed such a successful surgery and recovery, but also genuinely happy for me. Joni told him I had my driver’s license and he seemed sincerely happy about that too. “That’s a big step up from that stick you used to carry around isn’t it?” he commented. Then we looked at some pictures of his new baby boy, who was born around the time of my last visit in July, and we were all done. I remember back in 2008 when we had decided to move up here from Dallas and I had been wondering how I would ever find another doctor as wonderful as Dr. Hargrave, who had been taking care of my eyes for about 7 years. God was in control though, and I ended up with one that I like and trust just as much, if not more. I am reminded, once again, of Jeremiah 29:11 which says ”For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

So I’m seeing 20/20 now. With that kind of vision it seems like I should be able to read anything with no trouble at all, but I do still struggle with some things. I still can’t read my comic books, for instance, without my magnifying glass. I guess that’s because the fonts are kind of funny and the contrast isn’t very good, often black on blue or purple or something instead of black on white. I don’t have any trouble at the computer unless the font is very small. I can read books and papers pretty well as long as the print isn’t too small and there’s plenty of light. Still, I’m seeing much better than I ever thought I would and you won’t hear any complaints out of me.

Last Thursday, the 20th, I got call from Walmart for a job interview. I had applied there back on August 27. I went in on the 21st for my interview and it went reasonably well. It sounded like they were prepared to offer me a job pending background and drug tests. I had told them I couldn’t drive in the dark and they sounded like they would be willing to work around that. I was there for a little over an hour and then they sent me out to a place on the east edge of Kearney that does their drug screenings for them. The manager at Walmart had told me that the test results would take a couple of days and that I should hear from them this week. Well, first thing this morning they called and asked if I could come in for orientation. The job is mine! My orientation is on Wednesday. Tomorrow I’ll have to run in and get some clothes; more jeans as I have only one decent pair, and some plain navy blue t-shirts. I suppose I’ll also have to get something warm for the winter sometime soon.

This is not a very glamorous job, I’ll be one of those people who gathers up the shopping carts from the parking lot and brings them back up to the store. Also, it pays minimum wage, which may end up being a little less than I’m getting from social security. But if this is where God wants me right now, then this is where I’ll be and I will do the job for God like it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31 ”So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” There is a plus side: I think this will be a nice easy job for me to kind of ease my way back into the work force. And who knows where it will lead. I’m guessing most Walmart employees start out as either cart-pullers or working the checkout. I would much rather be pulling carts than doing checkout. I’ll stick to my old standby here: If you don’t appreciate what God gives you, then you have no reason to expect something more, or something better. If I do this job as well as I can, and do it for God, then perhaps he will give me something better at some point. Matthew 25:21 ”His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much…”

So, I stand here on the brink of the next stage of my life. I’ll admit I’m scared. Endings are often sad, and new beginnings often are scary because you just never know what will happen. The last year of my life has been a happy and comfortable one, recovering from my surgery and enjoying my returned vision. The garden was a lot of fun this summer. Now it’s time to move on to the next thing. God likes to challenge us with new things now and then. That’s what keeps us growing and developing in our relationship with Him. It is my task, and all of ours, to trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. And really, how could I not trust Him? A year ago I was blind, and now I’m seeing 20/20. Last spring I had a 3-month long infection in my eye that left no damage at all. He has carried me through everything, and I’ve never gone hungry, never had to live on the streets, never really wanted for anything. No one on Earth could do all that for me, only God, my provider, my rock, my salvation. Psalms 118:8-9 ”It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.”

Pumpkin Chronicles (and more!) Day 151

Well here we are on Day 151 of our Pumpkin Chronicles. Throughout much of July and August I was a little disappointed that the pumpkin patches weren’t producing more pumpkins and also at the small size of the pumpkins. In September, however, we’ve had much better luck. I guess pumpkins truly are cool weather plants. Here’s a picture of our front steps with all of the pumpkins we’ve produced so far, minus two or three that rotted already. The small ones came out in August, and the larger ones came out more recently after the weather cooled down dramatically.

And the two patches are still producing! We have three or four pumpkins coming along nicely in Pumpkin Patch Central, and two more in Pumpkin Patch East including this big guy! This pumpkin is already larger than anything that’s grown so far and it’s still nice and green, which tells me it’s not done yet. I can’t wait to see how big this one gets!

And yes, I finally picked that lone watermelon. We actually grew two watermelons this year; a bit disappointing since we had about ten little ones starting out at one time. I don’t know how to tell when they are ripe so I was reluctant to pick them, fearing that they wouldn’t be done yet. I finally picked the smaller of the two a couple of weeks ago, and as I feared it was not ripe yet. So I let this one go a bit longer but finally got impatient and brought it in yesterday. As you can see, it’s beautiful and ripe! It’s also very juicy and delicious! This is pretty good sized and will probably be more than we can eat, but I wish there had been more so we could have shared with our friends and neighbors.

We also picked a couple of tomatoes off the vine a couple of days ago and are waiting for them to finish ripening. The tomatoes really surprised me since I never really expected them to grow at all. I probably already mentioned that I took the seeds from a Roma or Plum tomato that we got at Walmart and planted them in the garden. Two nice plants came up right beside one another and started producing tomatoes. These were the first ones we picked but there are probably a dozen more still on the vine. I hope they taste as good as they look!

Pumpkin Chronicles (and more!) Day 127

Well our friend from church reminded me yesterday that I haven’t updated my Pumpkin Chronicles for a while. This friend shall remain nameless, but her initials are Miss Carol! Actually she was right, this update is long overdue so here it is.

Up until recently the pumpkins have been very few and very small. This picture shows the only three good pumpkins we have managed to produce so far and as you can see they are very small. Still, they make nice decoration for our flowerbed on the back side of our house, the side that faces the road.

But wait a minute, look at this! This is by far the largest pumpkin we have so far. I put my hand in the pic to show how large the pumpkin is but it still doesn’t really do it justice. This pumpkin is about the size of a bowling ball or volleyball now. I’m not sure if it’s still growing or not, it is showing some signs of ripening. In addition to this one, we have at least five more pumpkins growing that we know of. Apparently pumpkins do not like very hot weather. During July when our temps were at or near 100 degrees almost every day the pumpkins were, as I said, very few and very small. In August our weather has been much cooler and now we have more pumpkins growing and they’re getting bigger. Honestly, I’m learning more about pumpkins this year than I ever wanted to know. J

Hey, this isn’t a pumpkin! We planted some watermelons in the garden up by the house, just to the east of the pumpkins and this is what we’ve got so far. This one doesn’t seem to be growing much anymore so I’m thinking it’s almost time to pick it and eat it. Unfortunately, this is about all we have to show so far. There is one other watermelon that might be edible but that’s it. At one time we counted 9 or 10 little watermelons starting out, but they all shriveled up and died when they were only pickle sized. That’s disappointing but if we get to eat this one then it will have been worth it.

And finally, the tomatoes! The largest of these tomatoes are about golf-ball size now and will probably be ready to pick before long. These are plum tomatoes that I planted from the seeds of a tomato we bought at Walmart and I really didn’t expect them to do anything, but boy was I wrong. In all there are about 10 nice looking tomatoes on what is actually two separate plants growing side by side. I should have taken a pic of the whole plant because they are about 5 feet tall. In addition to the 10 or so tomatoes growing right now, there are several clusters of flowers getting ready to blossom into new tomatoes. I can’t wait to try some of these!

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 83

Surprise! Don’t ask me how I missed this one because I don’t know. I found this pumpkin today in Pumpkin Patch East and, as you can see, it’s quite a bit bigger than the one I found in Pumpkin Patch Central a few days ago. It’s growing off of a vine right on the outer edge of the patch. The vine had grown out into the weeds outside the patch and that’s where this pumpkin was so I guess that’s why I didn’t see it before. Before I took this pic I cleared away the weeds so I could get a good shot of it. This brings our grand total of pumpkins up to 2! And who knows, maybe there are still more in there that I haven’t discovered yet.

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 80

SUCCESS!! It is day 80 in our Pumpkin Chronicles and, as you can see, we have a pumpkin! Today I was wading through pumpkin patch central and thinning out some of the vines that had not yet produced any blossoms. I should have done this weeks ago as the vines are growing all over each other and some of the ones on the bottom are dying. Anyway, as I was doing that, I finally discovered our first pumpkin. I felt a little like a gold miner, sifting through pan after pan of river silt and finally finding that first bit of color. It was a pretty exciting moment. This little guy is about the size of a racquetball right now, or a bit smaller than a tennis ball if you prefer. The surface is very green, smooth, and shiny. I was beginning to worry because we’ve been getting blossoms for a few weeks now but I haven’t really been finding many female flowers, if any at all.

And speaking of female flowers, here’s a good example of one. Once I really got to looking, I found this one in pumpkin patch east, and later found a couple more over in pumpkin patch central. As you can see, the female flower forms right on top of a big bulb on the vine. That’s kind of like a little pumpkin egg just waiting to be fertilized. This flower hasn’t opened yet but it should open tomorrow or next day. Then, as long as a bee brings in some male pollen, this little guy will soon begin to grow into a pumpkin. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one over the next several days. Isn’t this fun!?

Joni and Steven's Adventures In Gardening

Here’s the west edge of the patio. I dug these flower beds and put down the brick border earlier in the summer and now things are finally beginning to grow and bloom! In the lower part of the picture are marigolds and zinnias and a couple of hollyhocks. The marigolds took a long time but they are finally beginning to take off and if you look carefully you can see that a couple of zinnias have finally bloomed as well. Still nothing but leaves on the hollyhocks. The upper part of the picture is where I transplanted some mint. The first time I tried they all died. The second time it was touch and go for a while but they finally took hold and now they are looking pretty good.

Here’s a close up of the marigolds. I didn’t get a very good picture but you can see that we were lucky enough to get a nice variety of colors. We waited a long time for these but it was worth it!



Here’s the north edge of the patio. Last year this was a huge patch of wild marijuana plants. Now it’s more zinnias, hollyhocks, and marigolds. Things don’t seem to grow quite as well here, probably because it doesn’t get as much sun. We are finally getting blossoms though.



Here are our back steps showing the rest of the brick work I did and a different angle of the marigolds and zinnias. There are some pansies in there as well but the heat is getting to them and I caught them on a bad day. Take a look at that hollyhock right beside the milk can. Are those leaves unnaturally large? None of the others have leaves nearly that big. Maybe it’s a mutant!


Here are the back steps again and some grass that I am trying to grow here. This was nothing but a big hole that filled up with water everytime it rains. I cut out some sections of sod from remote areas of the yard and brought them up here. It looks like it’s dying but who knows. I just hope it comes back next year and fills in a bit. Anyway, this looks a lot better than it did before. The red brick tiles are from Mom!

This little fella is growing up on the side of our garden shed. We don’t know where he came from, but we’re sure glad to have him!




Here are some sunflowers I planted out by the country fence. They sure are getting tall! Yes, it’s that windy!






Here’s a wider view of Pumpkin Patch Central showing the tires I planted. Yep, those are the old tires off my truck. I put them there back in April I think but they still haven’t sprouted any new tires yet. And yes, that’s a huge marijuana plant growing there. They grow in huge bunches everywhere out here if you don’t take care of them. The birds really love them and therefore Joni really loves them so I left a couple growing here and there.

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 74

Here’s Joni enjoying a walk through Pumpkin Patch Central on Day 74! It also happens to be Independence Day so happy birthday America! It’s almost mind-boggling how big and full and thick this patch has become! The plants are standing between 2 and 3 feet high I would guess and some of the leaves are bigger than dinner plates. This was taken at about 1 in the afternoon and the flowers have all closed up already. It seems that the hotter it is the sooner the flowers close up. On a cool cloudy day, of which we have had very few lately, the flowers might stay open until 5 or 6 o’clock. Joni and I have both seen bees on the flowers although you have to get out there kind of early in the morning to catch them at work. I haven’t found any pumpkins growing yet although I haven’t really made a thorough inspection. The vines are very prickly so it’s hard to dig around in there and get a good look.

And here’s Pumpkin Patch East out by the country fence. You can hardly even see the fence now! No walking barefoot in this patch, there are stickers around! These fellas have been looking a little droopy the last couple of days even though I’ve been giving them plenty of water. This patch is in full sun from early morning until late in the evening and it’s been very hot lately so I guess that’s why they look a little tired. Shoot, I look a little droopy after only a couple of hours in the sun, forget about all day! Oh, and check out those sunflowers growing along the fence! The tallest ones are about 6 feet high now and seem to be visibly taller every day. I hope they grow some flowers pretty soon!

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 56

It’s day 56 of our Pumpkin Chronicles and just look at all those big beautiful blossoms! Since that first blossom showed up we’ve been getting several of them each day, maybe half a dozen at a time or so. But as you can see, we had even more than that today! The blossoms have been opening up early each morning but by noon they are already beginning to wilt, and by about 2 o’clock or so they are usually closed up. After that the blossoms will wither away and die only to be replaced by a new batch the next day. The pumpkin plants are doing their job; I sure hope the bees are!

And here’s Pumpkin Patch East, flourishing as well. We had some nice gentle rain showers the last two nights and the pumpkins, along with everything else, are responding with a renewed energy. There are fewer plants here and, therefore, fewer blossoms. There were a couple out here today but they were kind of hiding underneath the foliage. If the blossoms are being pollinated then we should have lots of pumpkins this fall.

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 46

It’s day 46 in our Pumpkin Chronicles! This is pumpkin patch central and, as you can see, the pumpkin plants are really flourishing. Yesterday I dug up five of the smaller plants and moved them to other areas to give them a little more room. I put three of them further back in the garden here at pumpkin patch central and the other two I put over in pumpkin patch east, which I extended by a couple of feet. If you look closely at the center of the picture, you’ll probably notice a bright orange blossom!

And here’s a close-up of the blossom. Isn’t it beautiful! This marks a very exciting time in the life of our pumpkin patch! We noticed just a couple of days ago that most of the pumpkin plants were developing buds. Then yesterday I found a blossom although that one was already done and wilted up by the time I found it. You can see it just below the blossom in this picture. Pumpkin blossoms typically open just before dawn and only last one day, then they are gone forever. Joni found this one early this morning and got a couple of pics of it. I took this picture around noon and it was fully opened as you can see. I got the pic just in time though because about an hour later it had already begun to wilt, and by two o’clock it was closed up again.

Pumpkin plants grow male and female blossoms and it’s up to the bees to bring pollen from the male to the female, which will then grow into a pumpkin. You can tell a female blossom by the green fuzzy bulb just below the flower. Males, like this one, have no bulb. You can’t see that part of it in this picture, but this one is a male and they are more numerous than the females. There are lots of buds forming so I expect we’ll be seeing lots of blossoms in the coming days. I hope the bees get their job done quickly because these don’t last long!

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 40

It’s day 40 already and the pumpkin plants are still growing and spreading out! This last week had me worried because we had some pretty intense storms: furious winds, driving rain, pounding hail. The pumpkins got a little beat up but they are already bouncing back and looking healthier than ever. I’m still not sure about the vines though. I’m beginning to think that the stems or stalks that are already here will eventually lay down on the ground and become the vines upon which the pumpkins will grow. This is my first time with pumpkins so I’ll have to wait and see.

Over here at Pumpkin Patch East it is even more apparent how the plants are responding to the rain. During the first 5 weeks after I planted these here we had almost no rain at all. The plants were growing but slowly. During the last week we’ve had lots and lots of rain and even though we also had a lot of wind and hail, these guys have perked right up. Grow little pumpkins, grow!

Journal - A Stormy Week

So this has been a pretty enjoyable week.

Sunday night we had some pretty intense storms. I generally like storms, especially at night, but I was worried about my pumpkins and other plantings. We got an awful lot of rain, pretty hard at times, and it also hailed for a few minutes although the hail was not very large. Also, the wind blew so hard that the rain was blowing straight across the yard at times. I just wasn’t sure if the garden would survive at all.

Monday morning I went out to take a look. The pumpkins were kind of beat up but it looked like they would survive. None of them were broken off anyway, and the hail hadn’t stripped the leaves very much. Overall I thought they would probably bounce back just fine. I did lose a sunflower and I’m pretty sure one of the two watermelons that came up won’t survive. I seem to be missing a cucumber or two as well.

Monday afternoon we went to Mom’s house. Aunt LeeDel, Uncle Marvin, and Uncle Butch were here for their annual Memorial Day visit. Mike and Bobbi were there as well, but had to go shortly after we arrived. Mike said about half of his tomatoes had been destroyed by the hail. It was a fun afternoon with the family. Uncle Butch, Uncle Marvin, Joni, Adam, and I played three games of croquet in the back yard. Mom has a large pile of bricks that were there when she moved in I think, and she said I could bring some home. She also had a few bricks from the old school building and she let me have those as well.

So on Tuesday I got to work with the bricks. The ones from the school still had a lot of mortar stuck on them so first I had to clean those up with a hammer and chisel. The mortar came off pretty easy for the most part. Then I finally finished up the brick border that I had been working on along the north and west sides of the patio. When that was done I planted some marigolds along the new section I had just put down. Joni and I really like how the brick border turned out and if we can get some flowers to come up it will be even nicer. Actually we do have a few hollyhocks coming up but they’re not very big yet. It doesn’t look like the catnip I planted is going to come up, and I’m still having trouble getting any mint to take. That stuff just doesn’t like to be moved. The other day (was it Monday?) I gave them some plant food we had on hand so maybe that will help them along a little.

Wednesday we had more storms, but nothing like the storms of Sunday night. There was plenty of lightning and thunder and rain, but not wind or hail. It rained off and on for most of the morning and afternoon. We enjoyed that but now I’m starting to worry that the pumpkins are getting too much water. Always something to worry about. I can’t imagine how farmers must feel all summer long: not enough water, too much water, wind hail, weeds, insects…

Anyway I looked at everything today it looks like they’ll bounce back just fine. They seem to have enjoyed the rain at any rate.

Nehemiah 9:6You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. ESV

Job 26:8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. ESV

Job 26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. ESV

Job 26:14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? ESV

Journal - Graduation and Glasses and Gardening (oh my!)

Well, I’ve gotten a little behind, haven’t I? Let me see, what happened this last week?

Last Saturday, May 12, was Kylie’s graduation. It was my first time seeing the gymnasium at the new school. It’s pretty nice looking. I’m sorry to say that the band sounded terrible, nothing like the old days. Mr. Kercher would never have tolerated us sounding like that. I thought going to graduation would bring back a lot of memories, but it really didn’t I don’t seem to remember much of my own graduation. I have clearer memories of playing in the band for graduations when I was an underclassmen.

After the ceremony at the school, we all went to Bobbi and Mike’s house for Kylie’s reception. Uncle Butch and Aunt LeeDel were there so it was good to see them and to sit and visit with them for a little while. Mike had spent the whole day Friday smoking some pork for the reception and it turned out great. It was a fun day, as days with family always are.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were spent watering plants, doing a little weeding here and there, and just generally watching everything grow. Of the four types of seeds we tried to start in trays, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and strawberries, not a single thing sprouted, so I took all four trays and poured out the contents into an area I had prepared in the garden.

On Wednesday, I had my eyeglass appointment with Dr. Vaughan at the Kearney Eye Institute. He ran me through the tests and, just as on the prior week with Dr. Feilmeier, I was hitting close to 20/30. My eye is still very unstable though. Dr. Vaughan had a little trouble getting any good numbers, and he said that we could do that every day for a week and probably get different numbers each time. My eye is clearly healing and improving all the time, but it’s just very unstable. Dr. Vaughan suggested another appointment next month to see how the numbers compare, and recommended that I hold off on the glasses until things settle down a bit, which is what I decided to do. I was disappointed, sure, but not as much as you might think. I am really pretty okay with the vision that I have now, and I think I could live happily for the rest of my life with what I have now. The problem is, I need to find work pretty soon. That will be difficult, and without better vision it will be even more so. I’m not technically disabled anymore so my social security won’t continue for very much longer. I have to keep reminding myself that God will handle this, just as he has handled everything else. I’m pretty sure he didn’t give me my sight back just to have me lost my disability payments and become homeless. Right God? Right?

Thursday and Friday were filled with more gardening excitement. Oh, and I also started working out again! After my surgery last October, I had to stop working out until my eye healed for a few weeks. I never really got back into it after that, only getting on the bike sporadically. Then when I developed that infection at the beginning of March I stopped completely because there were a lot of trips to Omaha and such. On top of that I’ve been taking Prednisone, which makes me want to eat a lot. Well, lately I’ve been noticing I’m getting kind of round around the middle again and was disappointed because I had burned a lot of that away when I was using the bike regularly. So this week I finally got back on. I worked out 4 days, skipping Wednesday because of my eye appointment. They were fairly short workouts since I haven’t done it for a while, but next week I should be able to go longer.

Umm, what else? Oh yes, we have watermelons and cucumbers sprouting. All six of the cucumber mounds I planted have sprouted, and I think three of the five watermelon mounds have started. Boy I hope we get some watermelons this year! And making pickles would be fun too.

We also noticed the other day that there may be something growing where I dumped out those trays. We’re not sure, but Joni thinks it might be a pepper plant. Keep your fingers crossed!

1 Corinthians 3:7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ESV

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. ESV

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 28

So here we are at day 28! Can you believe it’s been four weeks already? These are the pumpkins in Pumpkin Patch Central, in the garden near the house. As you can see, the pumpkin plants are growing at what is almost an alarming rate. I’ve been keeping an eye out for some vines to start, but none so far. From what I’ve read, it sounds like the vines could start just about any time now. Then there should be some blossoms sometime around week 10. A lot of grass and weedy stuff was beginning grow in here but I went in the other day and dug it all up with the little 3-pronged hand rake thingy. I know the weeds will be back, but for now the patch looks pretty clean.

And here’s Pumpkin Patch East, across the driveway. These look reasonably healthy but I’m a little worried about them. The soil here is much more dry than in the garden, and seems to be sandier and even gravelly. I took these pics yesterday, on day 28, but didn’t get them up until today due to some internet difficulties we were having. Even though the pumpkins looked okay yesterday, today they look kind of limp even though we got a little rain yesterday. Also, it’s hard to tell from these pics, but we lost a few plants recently. We had some pretty high winds for about 3 days and I think the poor things just got whipped to death. Not surprising I suppose since the leaves are getting pretty big and the plants are generally kind of top-heavy. Not to worry though, there are still plenty of healthy plants left!

Journal - Good News From The Doctor

Today I had my appointment with Dr. Feilmeier in Kearney. I had a morning appointment this time instead of afternoon. I was glad of that because by afternoon he’s always really behind schedule and we have a long wait. Today my appointment was at 10am and we were only in the office for about an hour altogether.

The first sign of good news came during my routine reading of the eye chart. I was still at 20/70 unaided, but on the pinhole I got a partial on the 20/30 line, my best reading since surgery. I didn’t get the whole line, and it was tough, but I got two letters so that was good.

The doctor came in and looked at my eye and before he even got to the microscope he remarked that my eye looked very white and healthy today. My eye does sometimes take on a kind of yellowish hue so that was a good sign. At the microscope he had nothing but good reports. He actually used the word “amazed” once or twice, and he also said, “We were aggressive and we won.” He went on to say that I was his “good” patient of the day, the one he would talk about on the way home to Omaha. Doc is pretty good at hiding his feelings, but I think he was pleased with what he saw today. He did find another loose suture, which he removed. I asked if it was normal for those to loosen over time and he said it definitely is.

As far as my meds, he is having me continue the Zymaxid and Natacyn drops for one more week and then stop them completely. He discontinued my Doxycycline pills and cut back my Acyclovir pills from 5 a day to 2 a day. He gave me a schedule to taper off the Prednisone pills over the next few weeks, but I’m already on a pretty light dose so I might just stop those. So after one more week I’ll have 2 Pred-forte drops a day, and 2 Acyclovir pills a day and that’s it.

I already have an appointment to see Dr. Halsted in Grand Island again in two weeks, and we made an appointment to see Dr. Feilmeier the next time he’s in Kearney next month. He said after that we can probably drop back to every month or two. Since I did so well on the eye chart today, I also made an appointment to see Dr. Vaughn at the Kearney Eye Institute for another eyeglass exam. That will be next Wednesday the 16th. The last time he examined me, the best we could do was 20/50 but it should be better than that now.

So then we came home, having had our fill of good news for the day. I went out and did the watering while Joni did some mowing. Yesterday I dug up some more of the garden and planted six mounds of cucumbers so it’s getting to be quite a bit of watering each day. I sure wish we could get some rain. Everything is looking pretty healthy though except for the mint that I transplanted to the west side of the patio. Most of those look like they’re going to die. Mint plants grow pretty well; they spread out a lot and come back each year, but I’m finding out that they don’t transplant very well. It’s a good thing we have lots of it.

Psalms 30:2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. ESV

Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ESV

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 18

So here we are at Day 18 and, as you can see, the pumpkins are growing like weeds! This is Pumpkin Patch Central, in the garden on the south side of the house. I have four rows of pumpkins planted and all seem to be doing well, with the possible exception of the last row at the far right of the picture. Those were the most recent and they haven’t quite decided if they’re going to live or not. I have them planted way too close together but we’re bound to get something out of all these!

And here’s Pumpkin Patch East. These guys are doing pretty well too it looks like. The soil here turned out to be very gravelly. I didn’t notice before, but with the daily watering the dirt is washing off the top and I can see a lot of gravel now. I don’t know if that will present any special challenges in the growing of the pumpkins, but so far they’re coming along well. No signs of any vines yet but I’m keeping my eye out. From what I read, they typically put out two main vines, usually growing in opposite directions. From the main vines, smaller ones can shoot off and may need to be pruned. But so far, there’s not much to do but keep them watered.

Journal - More Gardening Exploits

So last week was pretty quiet and uneventful. Each day I go out and water all the plants we have growing.

On Saturday, one of our very hot days, I put in a pretty good day’s work. Across the long west side of our patio area I dug new flower beds. In one section I planted some catnip seeds that we picked up last year and never did anything with. And in the rest I transplanted some mint from the south and east sides of the house. So far the mint looks pretty limp and it hasn’t decided if it wants to live there or not but I hope it makes it.

Everything else is doing pretty well. The pumpkins are looking pretty healthy, we have sunflowers coming up in about six different areas. In fact, all the sunflowers I planted are coming up nicely. We also have hollyhocks, zinnias, marigolds, and day lilies coming up in various places.

The only things we’re not having any luck with are the seeds we tried to start in some little dishes. We have dishes of peppers, tomatoes, green onions, and strawberries, but so far nothing is showing. I suppose I’ll pick up some more seeds and just try them directly into the garden.

Sunday and Monday were quite cool and cloudy. We had some pretty good chances for rain, which I was looking forward to knowing they would be good for the plants, but we never got more than a few drops. It was too cold out to do much outside.

Today, Tuesday, it is warming back up a bit so I went out and dug up another section of the garden and started some watermelon seeds. I made five mounds spaced out pretty good so hopefully I’ll have some watermelons to talk about one of these days. I also have some cucumbers that I’ll probably get started one of these days.

Coming up on Thursday is my next eye appointment in Kearney. Hard to believe I haven’t seen Dr. Feilmeier for a month. I’ll be interested to see what he has to say after that length of time. Then on Saturday is Kylie’s graduation. Little Kylie graduating, can you believe it? So we’ll be gone most of that day.

Song of Solomon 4:16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. ESV

Jeremiah 29:5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ESV

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 10

So here we are at day 10! The little pumpkin seedlings that I’ve moved away from the main cluster are doing reasonably well so today I decided to get the last of them moved and spread out. I did a little reading up on growing pumpkins this morning and hadn’t realized just how much space these things need. They need an awful lot and our garden is only so big. So today I dug up a new plot and dedicated it solely to pumpkins. This is on the east side of our house, across the driveway in the area where we park the truck. You can see Joni’s country fence at the top of the pic. I raked up the leaves and trash, turned the soil with a shovel, and planted pumpkins seedlings in eight different spots. For good measure I threw in a few sunflowers here and there around the edges. I think this will be a good spot because it gets full sun all morning and afternoon. From what I read, pumpkins like lots of sun, at least 6 full hours a day.

So we now have two pumpkin patches, Pumpkin Patch Central, and Pumpkin Patch East. Altogether there are more than 20 little seedlings growing so surely some of them will survive to maturity. Also, these pumpkins came straight from God as we did not plant them ourselves so I’m thinking that will work in their favor. I hope I didn’t jinx it by moving them around. So far, growing pumpkins is exciting!

Pumpkin Chronicles Day 7

I’m pretty stoked about these pumpkins that are coming up in our garden. As I mentioned in an earlier post, last fall we had a couple of pumpkins on our front steps. After they sat there and got soft and mushy, we scooped them up with a shovel and tossed the remains into our garden area. At the time I was thinking it might add some nutrients to the soil. Then this spring when we cleaned up the garden in preparation of the spring planting, we found this! We weren’t sure what it was until we discovered that these little sprouts were coming up amidst a scattering of dried up pumpkin seeds. I think it was about a week ago that we first discovered them so I’m calling this day 7.

This is one little seedling that I separated out from the bunch. I figured they would do a little better if they were spread out a little, so I picked out three and planted them in a new area with plenty of space between them. I did that on April 25. On April 27 we got a good rain. This pic is from April 28 and the little sprouts have nearly doubled in size since being transplanted. I forgot to put something in the pic for a size reference but these little guys are a couple of inches high and a couple of inches across. I mentioned before that the sprouts each had two little rubbery leaves, but as you can see they’ve added a third leaf which is shaped differently than the first two. How interesting! Now that I know they can survive being moved I’ll try transplanting some more. As you can see from the first pic, there are plenty of sprouts here to make a pretty good pumpkin patch. I just know the Great Pumpkin will come this year!