Labor Day Weekend

It is Friday already.  Since my last post I have adopted an even younger version of my young dog Scout.  In fact his mother is the new puppy's grandmother.  I call her Annabelle, she is one very dainty and feminine "runt-of-the-litter." Scout was the victim of a hit-and-run and was badly injured requiring stitches and a cast and weeks of convalescence.  We are all past that now, but Scout is tethered in the yard for most of the day, and sleeps in the house at night to keep the neighbor's young boxer bitch from luring him back down to the road in front of her house.

It has been dangerously hot day after day for weeks and weeks.  We had a two-day respite in the middle of August when temps were slightly cooler than normal, but that was short-lived.  Next week promises below normal highs and badly needed rain due to a slow-moving tropical storm that should strike the Mississippi Gulf Coast and blow up our way beginning early Sunday morning.  I am using the rest of the contents of my rain barrels, battening down the hatches and eagerly awaiting the blessed relief from heat and drought.

The garden is mostly dried up.  Still getting some okra, a few cherry tomatoes, one or two eggplant, and jalapeno and pimento peppers.  The sorghum cane is turning brown, and I'm not sure when to cut it and try to process some juice to try my hand at making a quart of sorghum syrup.  I spoke with cousin Tom Cole, but all his experience is with sugar cane, and we are both sort of guessing from that.  I did find a large clump of mature wild lettuce.  According to herb lore, it can be used as an opiate substitute and smoked or ingested before sleep, Navaho shamans believed it altered dreams.  I have processed it three different ways and will experiment with it.

Two self-injuries:  First, I stumbled in the house and stumped my toe on the recliner leg on a trip back from the toilet one night.  Caught the next to the little toe and broke it good.  It is still swollen and numb--sore, but I can put on a soft shoe now without crying out in pain.  Doing chores in thongs is kind of scary for someone with MS/post-polio weakness in their feet and legs.  I need more support than a flip-flop provides.  But I managed to feed and care for the rabbits and dogs and nurse an injured dog.  The garden work slid, except for what Lamar was able to accomplish.  He has been busy most of the summer helping clean-up efforts from the Flood of 2011 down in the Delta, but is finally able to come help me out one or two mornings a week for a few hours--until it gets too hot for both of us--which is usually between 8 and 10 am.

One day I was stung on the back by a red wasp, which is very, very painful and actually caused a sick reaction for a couple of days.  Then some fire ants got me on the arm before I got them out of my raised bed so I could finish weeding it.  I have finally gotten the dogs' flea situation under control with a product called Comfortis, and both pups are being given Ivermectin powder monthly for heartworm and other parasites.  Now mosquitoes, leaf-footed bugs, and blowflies are at their worst of the season, but I get some relief from the leaf-foots with Neem spray in the garden.  I have to rinse mosquito larvae out of the rabbits' waterpans almost every day.  Come quickly, Autumn!

Tuesday evening I got word that another retired repatriate took her own life that morning.  I find this hard to believe as Bettye was a convert to Catholicism.  She and I had compared notes on broken marriages and shared end-of-career reflections; but I would not have said she was despondent.  Unfortunately we had not been in touch for months, so I really cannot evaluate her state of mind.  I just wish we had made the effort, in spite of the terrible heat, to share some tea and tales in my garden retreat.  Her death did inspire me to get in touch with another old friend who lives in Augusta, Georgia and copes with multiple health problems.  We shared memories and updates and agreed to make a lunch date for Berry Burgers the next time she visits Benton.