Caretaking

So, I haven't really meant to keep it a secret, but I haven't mentioned it here yet...my husband went in for surgery on Friday to get his Achilles tendon chopped up and a huge bone spur taken out. To say the least, this is the most difficult surgery I've been through with him. Believe it or not, having his sinuses "roto-rootered" (to steal the nurse's phrase) wasn't so bad. It was longer under the knife, but much faster to heal and with more manageable pain.

 Since there is really nothing you can do while your spouse is moaning in pain (after you've given them the full amount of pain killers), you kind of feel helpless. So, I knitted. I knitted a little sock to site at the end of his splint (he gets a cast or a boot or something in a week). There it is in all it's glory. I figured, at least I can keep his toes warm.

 

I also knit a lot while I was waiting for him. I started this blanket the night before the surgery. Did most of the very bottom teal stripe. The rest.....the rest I did during and after the surgery. I know it doesn't look like much, but that's at least a 3 foot width...maybe 4 or more. It's almost all the knitting I have had enough brain for. Plain garter stitch over and over and over and over. I started it because I needed something to knit during a recent podcast. Then, well, I figured I would make it a scrap blanket. It would be ugly, but warm, and I'd "clean up" some of my random stash bits that weren't really enough for a project on their own. Although I figured there's no way to get around it being ugly, the husbean is insisting that he thinks it's pretty. He's also on Vicodin.

Detail so you can see some of the colors closer up. Yes, that pinkish brown stripe is Noro. After I took this picture yesterday, I've put on 2 more stripes of a couple inches each. The thing comes up past my knees now. I guess I just needed something I could "do" without using my brain or needing to have an ending spot when I need to jump up and help the spousal unit with something. Let's just say I'm a little tired and brain dead.

Lastly, for those who may caretake for plants, here are some of mine. I planted this one yesterday in my one empty pot out front (the other still has flowers). It's basil, since I go through enough of it these days I figured I should just get myself my own supply......for however long that lasts.

And then, here is what I call my tomato jungle. I named it that way because a jungle is exactly what it is. These are all voluntaries that sprung up this year. If you can make them out, there are two short raised beds in this picture. The tomato plants are growing in the beds and between them. I was going to thin out the plants when I first saw them, but I kind of didn't want to mess with the whole Man-Eating aesthetic that was going on.  I have no idea how many plants there are, but I am getting a good couple of handfuls of tomatoes every few days, which is almost up to how many tomatoes I eat. 

 Here's a close-up of the front ....you can see the plants are still coming through the cage, trying to reach out to grab unwary passersby. You can also see something like 15 tomatoes. The vines are so thick that I have to pry them apart gently and look for any sign of ripe tomatoes to pick. I've lost probably 10 to bugs and critters so far, which I pick and throw into one of my other two empty beds for next year. I think next year I'm going to thin out the voluntaries if they spring up again....and maybe invest in a couple cages. That is, if I survive this year.