yikes, digging open a septic sounds like quite a job for someone who's hurting! How far away does Josh live?

sounds like we are all struggling with chronic pain. I am never entirely free of lower back pain from my degenerating disks and mild scoliosis, plus now I have the ankle that forces me to take it easy.

Here, it's supposed to get up into the mid-80s. Kyla, my big project list is similar to yours--get the new bed lasagna-ed in, and set up my compost bin. These projects have been put off and put off since I hurt my ankle, and now I'm just hoping they get done sometime this fall.

Smaller, more do-able project for me today is to get the plants from Holly's swap last weekend planted! I know it won't take too long once I am out there, but I am so easily distracted by all the butterflies and other pollinators!

RE: Arthritis and joint pain. I know we're all probably sick to death of hearing about "gluten free" but it's supposed to help relieve arthritis and joint pain. From what I'm gathering, the underlying cause of a lot of chronic illness is inflammation....it's the body's natural response to irritants. Classic case is allergies...you sniff in pollen, inflammation starts, you get red eyes, etc. Our modern diets are full of things that cause the body to (in some people) react with inflammation. Some of the things that researchers are looking at are the "refined" foods we eat a lot of: white sugar, white flour, food colorings, food flavorings, even scents and preservatives in lotions and laundry detergent. Anyways...you might want to try a 2 week period of very "clean eating" (gluten free, no preservatives, etc.) to see if it helps. Anything you can do to reduce inflammation in the body helps: taking fish oil capsules and a daily low-dose asprin (if its ok with your doc) fer instance. I started taking fish oil daily about 3 months ago and it REALLY HELPED with anxiety!

thanks, Annie. I know I always feel better when I eat better.

He has a system for this. The lid to the septic tank is under the lower deck. There is a hatch in the lower deck just a few screws to open it up. Then dig down a foot deep where you will find a stack of cinderblocks that sit on the septic tank lid just pull them out of the hole and the job is done. Much easier than the first time we did it. Digging several holes 3ft deep till we found the lid to the tank. Still it is a job digging and moving cinder blocks but not as bad as it could be. I'm going out to plant a lovely Russian Sage that was given to me last week at the swap.

yes, that sounds like a good way to handle it!

Russian sage is so pretty! I finally got all my plants from last weekend planted this morning.

Annie, I so agree that how we eat has a whole lot to do with all the chronic stuff we suffer with. Those are good reminders!

Catmint, take heart! The year I injured my back, it was the week before Thanksgiving and I injured it while attempting to move the compost from it's location to a new one closer to my trailer where I lived at that time. I was also going to harvest the done compost and put it on a new bed I'd been working to create.

Well, nope! And for quite a while I wondered if I would ever be able to garden or do these things for myself again! I got some friends to help me move the compost and layer the finished stuff onto the new bed, thank goodness, and within a few months I was doing my own gardening again, though very very cautiously at first!

I'm still cautious but I also know I can do pretty much everything I used to do, if I pay close attention to pacing myself and to how my body feels.

Thanks Kyla! What did you do to your back?

I guess what I did was dislocate a vertebra. I was lifting the container off of the compost and it was stuck. So, I heaved it up with too much force -- thinking I was doing it in a safe way, my back straight, my legs bent, using my legs to lift, etc.

Heard a loud pop and kind of fell down...... I could not stand up and had to crawl across a field and up the steps to my trailer! It was very dramatic.

I did not ever get xrays but I did get a couple of chiropractic treatments -- the first one, we sort of bullied the poor man into making a housecall that night. His final reason he didn't want to come was no table, well, we had a massage table a friend brought over for that very reason.

Anyway, that helped a bit, but rest and some energy work helped much more. I stayed in bed for a couple of weeks, but I was able to walk upright within a day or two, just not easily and not far. I had quite some pain at first, took a whole lot of ibuprofen for a while, but that settled down too.

And my back is still wonky. I never had the money to get it treated very much! But even so, it is gradually gradually becoming stronger. The injury was in 2011. Long ago and in another country....

Back problems really tend to persist. Aside from losing a lot of weight there's really nothing that can be done to ease mine.

Which country was that in, Kyla?

I meant that metaphorically. But it was a long way from here. At that time I was living on Whidbey Island in Washington State. Lovely place!

@JB, that is really cool that your daughter is in Africa! What is she doing over there?

Hope your back is feeling better.

Am I loosing my mind??????where did I say my daughter is in AFrica? My girl who works for me is in Africa.

Gabble gabble gabble.

Just thought I'd try to revive this thread. Gabble is about what I like to do, no need to have a picture to share or a project to report on or whatever, no need to talk about pets or weather or food, just, yanno, whatever.

My lemon tree my friend gave me has buds ALL over it.

Lemon tree very pretty (where's the singing icon)

Best we got.

Okay, the big garden news of the day here is that my landscape guy showed up late this afternoon with a truckload of leaves that he dumped in my driveway.

I had asked him for leaves. I use lots of leaves as mulch each fall because they are free. So happy to have them. Now I have to work getting them off the driveway and onto the gardenbeds.

There surely is an abundance of leaves! I have mulched everything and still there are leaves! Whoa! I have bags of them too and expect to still be working them into the compost next summer.

I took a little walk around the neighborhood yesterday afternoon, and wished I had my camera. It was gray and dark, but I spied some very interesting tree shapes, and may go out again this afternoon to see if I can get good pictures.

As for landscape guys, we have been trying to get ours to stop using the blower in the back yard. Last time they came the one was still doing it, and both my cousin and I went out and talked him down from his addiction! He kept smiling and saying how careful he was being and we kept smiling and saying it's okay we'll just rake this part thank you and finally the other crewmember hollered from the alley that yes, the boss had told them about not using the blower in the back and he'd just forgotten to tell this other guy.

Basically, it took all three of us to get the one guy to turn off his blower and really stop! He is the owner bossguy's son, and apparently there is a history of issues, so it's not a simple matter. Criminy.

I hate blowers! I don't think these guys even own any rakes. But oh well.

The landscape guys all just use the blowers. Can't image them actually raking leaves!

I am so cold today that each time I try to spend time outdoors I don't last out there. Wind blowing and supposed to be much worse tomorrow.

Oh well, it is mid November so I suppose I should not be surprised with the cold finally hitting.

I like to go for long exercise walks with my dog but not today.

It's the wind that makes the cold hard to be out in, for me. If it's still, I can dress warm enough to take a brisk walk, and even enjoy it.

kylaluaz said:It's the wind that makes the cold hard to be out in, for me. If it's still, I can dress warm enough to take a brisk walk, and even enjoy it.

The wind cuts right thru everything. Hate it when those cold winds blow. Tomorrow is supposed to be even more wind than today. If we go for a walk I will really have to bundle both of us up.