There was a significant rainstorm last weekend, much needed by our plantations in the River Reserve. It came in the early hours of the morning following some showers during the previous afternoon and evening. The warm weather of early May that caused me to delay sending the package that included chocolate to Elvie for Mother's Day*, has left after the rainstorm. Yesterday morning was frosty. Nights are now cold.
I was caught out by the storm, I had intended to clean the spouts before the weather broke, it was on my list last week, but last Wednesday evening I hurt my back pulling a big African daisy down the river. I didn't have my handsaw and dabber bottle of herbicide as I went down to that area just to check on Cape Ivy regrowth. I hadn't been in there for some months. Yes, there was quite a bit of Ivy. I enjoyed getting it out, easy before it mats and takes over. I came across some African daisies and they were easy too, until the big old one held on. Stupidly, I keep pulling without adjusting my stance, bending my knees and gripping the stem lower. I knew straight away I'd done damage; it felt like a strain in the side across to my left hip. Walking home was most uncomfortable. I realized I'd put my lower back out.
I drove to Seaford with Gord the next day to attend to some registration payment paperwork for his purchased Mazda that he couldn't do at the PO here. I picked up a Kiwiberry plant I had ordered at Perry's Nursery in McClaren Vale on the same trip. I'd tried to make an appointment with my chiropractor here in Victor Harbor, but the office was unattended. I was put through to an affiliated practice in Bendigo who told me Friday was booked out and made an appointment for me for 3.30 last Monday. I spent 4 painful days and saw Louis Monday. He clunked me around a bit and reckoned I was fixed but would be sore for a while. Well, I'm still sore, not sure I'm "fixed", but I'm taking analgesics and trying to convince myself I'm coming good.
In this last week I've done little, the discomfort robs you of enthusiasm for any task. The spouts will have to wait, so will any gardening. I am determined though to go down the river later today and 'cut and paint' blackberry regrowth I saw in the same area last Wednesday before I left to come home. They are only small and are easy to get at now following the months of dry weather we've had and the die off of annuals, which will sprout again with wet weather and warm towards spring, making the area hard to get into. It's close to the billabong and is moister than other places, hence the blackberries holding on reshooting after I cut and painted them last year.
Excuse me if this is boring to anyone reading. Somehow it reassures me that I'm not totally redundant because of my back, to write about it. Gives me feeling of still having some control and optimism that I won't be useless for long. It can be a bit scary, for all of us, that your life can change in the blink of an eye, a silly act, an accident. No matter who you are, or how old.
I forgot to mention in my last post that I finished the epic book on Vietnam by Max Hastings. I meant to write about that in conclusion but didn't get around to it. I've sent the book to Ricky Ralph so I can't refer to it in detail and comment will be from memory but again I feel a need to write on it. It will be next post, maybe this afternoon before I tackle the blackberries, as Gord wants me to go shopping with him now. Hell of a good fellow is Gord boy. Hell of a good wife is Lib gal too. It's nice to have good people around you when you are crook or suffering pain and discomfort. I had a massage by Julie from the Joyful Path last Saturday. Lib gave me a voucher for my birthday. It was a good time to use it under my circumstances. An hour of bliss. It didn't fix my back but made me feel so much better about life for a while. Then the Demons knocked off Brisbane in Brisbane on Sunday. Loved that.
*Meredith messaged me to say the package got there.
No comments:
Post a Comment