I Have a Bat in the House

It was cloudy yesterday morning. I was delighted because it meant I could work comfortably in the yard, and it also meant the watering I did would not evaporate quickly. I arose at 5:00. Fred allowed me to sleep in. There was no howling.

I worked on my daily post, did dishes, had a spa, and at 7:00, I took Her Highness walking on a short trail so that we could get home quickly and I could get started watering the garden beds. They needed water. I was chuffed to get all but four beds done before Zooming with Dr. S. at 9:00.

Thank God for her. We had a great session. I’m so impressed by her and I’m so grateful to her for just being available for me to talk to. I miss going twice a month, but I am satisfied seeing her just once for now.

When the call was over, I decided to finish the new bed of wild strawberries before I watered the last four beds. I’ve very excited about this new bed. I really hope they fruit. Wild strawberries are so delicious. They are small, but powerfully good. And then we had lunch before I finished the watering. 

I could have done some raking and toting, but instead, we went into the village because I needed to pick up two new puffers and some groceries. When we got home, I had no desire for physical work. Instead, I chose to do some reading. I am really enjoying The Correspondent. I read until it was time to take Her Highness for our afternoon walk.

And that was the end of our day. The evening played out as usual, but with a twist. I went to bed early to read and as I was reading, a bat flew into the bedroom. I went outside and took the screen off my bedroom window so that it could get out, but every time it came into the bedroom, it flew out again before I could get the bedroom door closed. This is my third bat. I shall try again tonight to get it out. It sleeps all day somewhere. 

I’m looking forward to getting lots done in the yard today. It’s cooled down considerably from temperatures close to 30°. I’ll be raking and toting all day and I’m keen for it. Pete is coming over in the afternoon to sand my deck where the paint has chipped. He keeps me on top of things. He’s such a great friend.

I Love My Days

I decided to pull out the potatoes greens that were overtaking my raspberry patch. Some came up only roots; others came up with potatoes (above). I have no idea how these potatoes got in there. But Pinecone Park now had a no-potatoes policy.

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My early morning work was tiring because it was so hot out (20° at 6:30). I moved slowly, grateful for the gentle breeze and any work that I could do in the shade. Having no deadline is a very good thing. I’m amazed by how much better Pinecone Park looks after a mere hour of cleaning up. I’ve a lot of raking and toting to do, but all the time in the world to do it. The entire week is going to be hot and sunny. 

Yikes! I only need to look at sunshine to start sweating. I was weed-whacking, raking and toting. How I appreciate having a cool home in which to recover. My back was killing me after working, but the edible garden is positively shining (perhaps to my eyes only). 

I was pleased with all the work that I was able to do before Her Highness and I left for Silva Bay and the food truck. I truly love my Sunday tradition of going to the food truck for fish tacos. They are delicious, and it’s lovely to be in the sunshine with music playing, kids having fun running around, lots of dogs, artists’ booths and I often meet people and have lovely short chats. I’m usually quite fluent with causal ‘chatting.’ Simple speak. I go to soak up the ambience of the park as I eat. After I’d eaten, we went to Drumbeg for a walk in the shade through forest and seaside. It was 27°!

Once back, I was not ready to resume working. It was just too, f’ing hot. Instead, both Sheba and I slept for a while in the house. It is incredibly wonderful to live in a log home. It is spectacularly comfortable in the house in Summer, and toasty warm in the Winter because I always have a fire going. The logs are great insulation.

Unwilling to lay hands on the rake or the shovel, I decided to adapt a gutter and get it up in the edible garden. This is my second gutter bed; this one is for wild strawberries. I don’t know if they will produce fruit, but I will see. It they don’t, I’ll replace them with everbearing bought plants. But I’m excited about this new addition to the garden. I have wild strawberries growing abundantly in the yard, so I just transplanted five. I’ll get more into the bed today.

After dinner, I went for a wee walkabout. I wanted to see how my newly transplanted wild strawberries were doing. They are fine. In this heat, I must water my two gutter beds twice every day. There are things I can do because I rarely leave Pinecone Park. I’ll need to find someone to water them when I go to Ashlee’s wedding. I reckon I’ll hire someone.

When you think about it, I have a job. I’m a gardener/handyman for Pinecone Park. Maintenance of the yard takes a lot of time. The place looks so nice when I have cleaned the driveway of all the cones and little branches. It’s the same with the yard. There’s a lot of wind here in the Summer. We’re an island in a wind tunnel between Vancouver Island and the Mainland and their mountains. Things are constantly falling into the yard. So, I rake and I tote a lot. But more than anything, I water the beds, shrubs and trees.

Once I get the place cleaned up, I am going to install more bottles around certain plants, and I’m going to experiment with one tree something I might do for them all. I want to circle the trunk with bottles that I can fill. Today is likely to be cooler than yesterday. I shall be in the yard after my morning Zoom.

Late in the evening, I was sitting at my desk writing this post. Sheba was outside, and while I was focused on what I was doing on the computer, she did what she always does, she scratched at the door. You know how Tourette’s is characterized by sudden oral outbursts? Tourette’s is neurological, as is my FND, and I have seizures and panic responses to sudden noises or movements. 

I’m not comparing myself to someone with Tourette’s, it’s just that we both do things that cause alarm to people around us. It’s this aspect of my condition that keeps me at home, not my speech. 

When Sheba scratched on the door, my arms jerked into the air, I leaned back because my lets tensed and stiffened and my heart started bounding. Soon, I was breathing hard and all I could do was beath and stay calm and ride it out until I could stand and let her in.

It’s quiet here. Her scratch sounded like a bomb went off. I was helpless. I had a massive over-reaction to a sudden noise. Not too far back, a fellow wanted to give me a fraternal hug, and I hurt my neck veering away from him. I thought he was going to hit me. Dr. S. has told me about my amygdala, the ‘fight or flight’ part of our brain that is there to protect us. Mine, she says, is stuck on ‘high alert.’

I sometimes wonder what I would be doing and where I would be if I hadn’t developed my FND. I had a lifestyle. I very big part of my life before the sudden onset of FND was long-distance walking. April 2016 to October 2017 is lost to me. It was seizures, extremely poor speech, and overwhelming anxiety.

Then I came here in October 2017, I came because life in the city was insufferable. I came to live a tranquil life. Equally important to me, was to move to everyone would know me as a stutterer and a person who has seizures. When I left the city, I came here to live my post-breakdown life. To them, the new me is the only me. I saw this house for sale on-line on a Thursday afternoon in September 2016. My condo was sold ten days later. I moved into a log home, a long-held fantasy, in October of 2107, got pets and started gardening.

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I’ve invited four women friends from my dog walking group for dinner. I’m very fond of them all, and I look forward to showing them my garden. Only Regina has seen my house, so Pinecone Park will be a new experience for the rest of them. So far, two have answered and are in.

I have only two things I must do this week: Zoom with Dr. Shoja today and go to the meet and greet for the new veterinarian who might be establishing a practice here on Gabriola. (Our two vets are retiring.) All the rest of the week is mine for watering and doing yard work. By the end of the week, Pinecone Park will be in good order.

Hot Summer is Here

Hot! Hot! Hot! It was too hot to work outside after 14:00 (27°). But before then, I got all the beds very thoroughly soaked and I did some weed whacking. I cleaned up a grassy area over my septic field and part of the edible garden. I shall finish cleaning up the edible garden this morning, and I will rake to remove the cones on the driveway and front yard. Then I will start on the backyard, but what I really want to do is build another gutter bed, this time for wild strawberries.

Our morning walk was fabulous because I now have hardly any pain in my left foot when I walk. I don’t know why my foot got so swollen and sore, but it seems to be back to ‘normal’ — normal with calcific tendonitis. Now, I look forward again to trail walking with Her Highness.

It was a lovely day. There was a breeze until the late afternoon, and because I had the entire day to myself and no pressure to accomplish anything, I felt super happy all day. Late in the afternoon, I kept hoping that I’d hear the ice cream truck coming along Violet Crescent again. But no. 

One thing about the hot weather: it makes it very easy to enjoy being inside the house after working in the hot sun. My 16” thick logs keep the house very cool and every room in the house has ceiling fans. It’s a wonderful way to cool down, just coming inside and falling onto the bed or the chaise.

One thing nice about the heat is that I leave my front door (with the screen door locked closed) and the doors to the cattery open all day and night so that I get a nice breeze of fresh fragrant air through the house. Having the doors open makes my morning special because the dawn chorus which begins at 4:30 is audible inside the house and I love it.

Today, My Day, is going to be another hot day. When Sheba and I went for our morning walk, it was already 21·! I’m doing yard work this morning and sweating. I’m finishing up the tidying of the edible garden, the driveway and the front yard, but at 11:00, I’m taking Her Highness to Silva Bay for fish tacos. It’s our Sunday tradition. The afternoon may be too hot for work, but that’s fine with me. 

I'm 10 Again!

  

Last evening, I was ten years old. I got all excited when this ice cream truck came along my street playing music. It stopped at the foot of my driveway because some young people from somewhere arrived with their coins for an ice cream treat. Next time, I’m going out there to buy myself something!

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Busy, busy, busy. Friday was non-stop activity starting from 4:46 precisely. I did laundry, vacuumed the whole house, sorted recycling, did a lot of dishes, and I put many things away that I had left out because my foot has been so sore. Plus, I watered the beds that I didn’t water on Thursday. I did all that work before going to meet our friends to walk in the 707 Park.

I was walking quite well, but three-quarters of our way along the trail, I turned and headed back to the car with Her Highness. My foot was aching. Walking back was modest torture, but oh it felt good to sit down when I reached the car. We came home, I did some leaf blowing to clear the courtyard of the growth caps—mountains of them—and then after feeding the brood their lunch, I went to Stacey’s to see photos of her incoming puppy, and to visit and see how magnificently she has spruced her place up for her daughter’s wedding on July 20^th.

When we left Stacey’s, we went into the village so that I could order two new puffers, and so that I could pick up some groceries. Once back home, more leaf blowing and some raking before Her Highness and I went for our afternoon walk. It did not go well. She disappeared for a bit and when I called her, she arrived with a stinking mouth. She’d found human poop and ate it, so we came home because I was so pissed. 

When we got home, I would not let her indoors. It pains me to be angry with her, but I can’t help it. However, I soon melt at the sight of her. She’s my beloved partner, so we carry on. But I gave her a spartan dinner. I’d barely been seated all day, so it felt very, very good, once we were back home, to get into the spa and relax after a busy day and lots of work done around Pinecone Park.

Today, I must water everything, and I’ll spend the rest of the day chillin’ and raking up the growth caps, cones and twigs that fell in abundance all over the yard during the recent windstorm. I feel so wonderfully relaxed because nothing is pressing and I have all day every day to myself. I have no idea why my speech has tanked, but one day it’ll be better and I have no problem waiting. When I keep to myself, the only speaking is to my beloveds and I am nearly always fluent with four-legged allies.