Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners #18

(Jim) Translating and interpreting for Amargia was originally going to be my job, but I injured my back in an aircraft explosion and went native.
For the benefit of the uninitiated in Amargia-speak, the “light dependent” reference in the post above refers to sighted people
“Devil’s Bouquet” isn’t of Amargian origin. It is Texan and refers to Nyctaginia capitata, a Texas wildflower.

Ahhh... I just adore the heady Tuberose scent, but would probably sicken rapidly if around it all of the time. Then there is the musky scent of ______ (lol) that I really have a strong aversion to, however was amazed to find it one of the first 3 -4 ingredients in some of my most beloved fragrances.
I am really looking forward to your fragrant plant list and descriptions.

BB

What does tuberosre smell like? Myy favorite scent is like a cross r between fresh red raspberries and oranges and roses. If you can imagine all three simultaneously, that's it. There are some shrub roses EVERYBODY has, especially along the signs for housing developments. Yesterday I went right upto a bush annd smelled it. Bingo!

What does tuberosre smell like? Myy favorite scent is like a cross between fresh red raspberries and oranges and roses. If you can imagine all three simultaneously, that's it. There are some shrub roses EVERYBODY has, especially along the signs for housing developments. Yesterday I went right upto a bush and smelled it. Bingo!

as usual, for some reason I forgot to hiit SEND. oh well.

I’m glad you will be staying around also, Sheri and I can’t imagine you as anything but BirdieBlue. What would you have chosen as a new user name?
Raspberry. Yummy! Raspberry essence was paired with sandalwood in cologne I received as a gift. I was hesitant when I read the label, but it turned out to be a fantastic combination.
My favorite rose is ‘Julia Childs,’ but I haven’t caught a whiff of it since I’ve come back south so maybe it isn’t a good southern rose. ‘Tropicana’ is my favorite of the roses we’ve grown at Amargia. It has a fresh, fruity scent overlaying the rose scent, but more like tangerine, than raspberry, if I’m remembering right. Rose season was April and May for us.
MK tells me I gravitate toward the gourmand class of scents. . If that means what it sounds like, the smells of delicious things to eat, she is right. Cherry Vanilla and Vanilla Fields are my usual cologne choices. I think Vanilla Fields is the perfect fragrance for sauna summer when smelling like Deep Woods Off isn’t a good option. Between Vanilla Fields and SkinSoSoft by Avon, it is possible to smell feminine and be safe from the flying menaces of summer. Vanilla is a natural mosquito repellent
I’m not good at describing scents. I like tuberose, but they make me think of something Cruella Deville would have growing on her penthouse balcony. Powerful, superficially sweet, but wicked. I like gardenias a little better. This description is taken from the list MK is creating.
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--Agave polianthes (Single White Tuberose) Tuberose is a relative of agave with white, strongly fragrant blooms formerly known under the botanical name Polianthes tuberrosa. Achieves a height of up to 3 ft. There is a double-flowered form, but I find the single form to be a stronger grower and just as fragrant.
The scent is powerful, primal and sophisticated sweet. It is at the extreme edge of vegetative having hints of both animal and mineral based essences. There is an undertone of sizzling butter to the sweetness. Comparable to gardenia in some respects, but replacing gardenias fluffiness and innocence with scents primal and worldlier. There is a coppery scent reminiscent of blood and it has more jungle in its essence than gardenia.
Marilyn Monroe favored a perfume with a tuberose heart note (‘Fracus’) and tuberose is a major ingredient in ‘Carnal Flower’ and ‘Michael’.
Amargia’s bulbs were originally acquired from Eden Brothers Nursery.
I’m glad that entry was done. She is still working on the list. Not all the plants have an accompanying description yet.
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There has been no rain for two days and it is staggeringly hot. It’s a little early for the dog days to begin. It is more likely just a preview of late July and August. Papa Jim lost his breath this morning when we got into the van to go to church. MK had to move the red-flowered glads yesterday. They grew far larger than advertised and were giving other plants trouble and not looking great themselves. MK had to push to get it done and developed heat exhaustion. She didn’t make it to church, but those in charge of our 5th Sunday lunch sent her a plate home. She had a wonderful lunch in bed and was up and moving around inside by evening. No one went outside today unless they absolutely had to. I hope it eases up some tomorrow. Stay cool! ~Nadi~

LOL! I loved today’s article, Carrie. My poor yellow overdosed gardening companions are only now beginning to recover. Yellow held on longer than the other colors as one I could see. The others no doubt appreciate my dismissing visuals and moving on to gardening purely for fragrance and taste. White is the most common color for fragrant plants by a large margin. I believe red may have a slight edge on yellow for second place.
There is one garden that needs to remain where yellow dominates and that is the WildPower Garden. The electric company tells me I must leave the construction site yellow guard on the wire that comes down from the power pole. Since it couldn’t be hidden or disguised in the usual way. We took a radical approach and engaged in some visual trickery. The screaming yellow plastic eyesore’s noise is buried in a loud, crowd of equally yellow flowers and dramatic foliage. It is definitely not a look for the timid, reserved or refined. It’s more like the visual equivalent of a Kiss concert.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you today, Sheri. mk*

Thanks, Jim. As you can imagine, we don't have that yellow spring summer out here. I was forcing myself to remember; which comes first, forsythia pr daffs? When do buttercups bloom? Are Stella D'oros before BES or after? I was sure some wise guy was gonna post "gee, here in MY garden yellow daffodils bloom in June AFTER the yellow dayliles!"

Btw, what is that spiky plant that is planted in the median strips with red or yellow flowers about now?

Check out knephofia, red hot pokers. That would be my guess.

Jim!! It totally IS knohofia!!! I didn't have to embarrass myself by asking one of the people from Texas.

(Jim) Hi, Sheri. Hope everything went okay with your knee surgery. Here’s a link to the list MK mentioned. A lot of the plants would grow in your area. Consider yourself warned. It’s a long list…and growing. She remembered several things she forgot to put on the list this morning, but she says she doesn’t want to look at it for at least a week. How about that! Kay burned out on fragrant plants. I never thought I would see the day!

Does that happen to professionals, Carrie? Have you ever burned out on a subject after writing a long, involved article about it?

I had my first ever tomato tart yesterday. It tastes much better than it sounds. I ate three more to make up for the years of deprivation. I picked a mixing bowl full of Cherokee Green Grape and Rutger’s cherry tomatoes. Tarts were Nadine’s idea for using up the over abundance.

http://davesgarden.com/tools/blog/

have you all moved to a new link??

Hi,BirdieBlue! We are still around. Just giving the thread a summer vacation. There isn’t much going on this time of year except keeping up with the tomatoes and melons…and weeding. Ugh.
MK’s years are finally catching up with her. Jim and I are gathering up the slack and discovering first-hand what a day in the garden was like for MK. Neither Jim nor I have her high energy level and are finding it a struggle to keep up with things.
The outlying parts of Amargia are going into permaculture and food forest to simplify maintenance. Only the acre or so immediately around the buildings is being traditionally gardened. Hmmm, I’m not sure if “traditional” is the right word in that last sentence. The garden spaces are no till with many raised beds and the harvest is shared. I still have my own garden space, but it is permaculture so I can focus on the vegetable garden. Jim’s Old Soldiers Garden now contains kitchen herbs in addition to the remembrance plants.
MK isn’t supposed to lift or bend, but she still handles the propagation and tends raised beds. She is working from a walker or sitting for the moment, but there is still a lot of physical therapy and many neuro-orthopedist appointments in her future.
BTW, I think our pineapple sage is some kind of mutation or throwback. The plants we have don’t have the variegation I see in photos, but it has the scent and taste. I think that may be why the nursery man gave the plant to MK…a customer for whom the lack of variegation didn’t matter. Do you still want a start or do you want to hold out for the usual variegated kind? ~Nadi~

I like it mostly for the red flower to attract and feed the hummers

Hi there, Birdie! We had our penultimate day at the pool today.

Nadi, I had to go back and reread your post. I thought you said MK's ears were giving out on her ... ☺ Amazing how 1 letter can change the meaning of a sentence. LOL

Kay, hope you feel better.

You too, Birdie.

Carrie, when are you headed back north? Didn't I hear that somewhere?

It's too hot here to even think about gardening. I want broccoli for the winter but can't imagine weather cold enough to grow it. BTW, I *hate cold weather, but this humidity has been wicked. Getting out for walks is tortuous unless you do it early, and I'll admit I'm not an early person.

Okay, waving to everyone. Hope y'all have a blessed day.

6 weeks! So soon!! We're looking at rental trucks and planning routes.

I’ll let Jim pack it up and get the pineapple sage on its way to you, Sheri. I bet he still has address labels for you in his files and I guess I don’t have to warn you about Jim’s packages since you’ve received them before. Get ready with the scissors, box cutter, chain saw, blow torch…. The man packs things like he’s shipping them to the Moon. He doesn’t think anyone else here packs things properly though
LOL. Well, my ears are giving out on me too; Susan, but I have hearing aids for that. The orthopedist might call the back brace an aid, but he doesn’t have to wear it. I think it is more accurately called a “torture device.” Replace the metal reinforcements with whale bone and the super strong Velcro with laces and any 19th century woman would recognize it. How did our fore-mothers survive!
The up-side of my new circumstances is I have another persuasive debate point for getting a pool. If we had a pool at Amargia, Jim wouldn’t have to drive almost 20 miles to take me to exercise therapy. I think this argument and the driving might finally wear him down on the subject, but I had better wait until he is finished with the greenhouse to re-start my we-need-a-pool campaign or it could backfire.
A pool is THE place to be today! Does your apartment complex have a pool, Carrie? mk*

It has a small pool, but what is much better is one of the local town pools has water slides and a lazy river and various other entertaining things. I've been there as often as I could this summer and maybe I averaged 3 times a week. At first I did lots of PT type exercises in the regular pool, although it was hard because it is exactly the part of pool that the water slides empty into and the life guards don't let you swim across.

Eventually I started floating in the lazy river in a tube. Wow, soooo relaxing! The water takes the work of holding up your body and you just hang on to the tube. I have more freckles than at any time before in my life, and a nice tan. Luckily I haven't been in the sun this much before in my life. I'm sure I would have much older skin if I had been outside this much regularly. I'm a convert.

It is much easier to move a semi-paralyzed limb...if I'm moving (or trying to) in the air, I have (thousands of pounds of) resistance and a tiny, tiny, weak little signal coming from my brain. One doctor even called my legs "paralyzed." They're almost paralyzed but not quite. In the water, where my legs are held up by the water, the tiny weak little signal is enough to move my legs. I can't kick like I could 40 years ago, but I can move my legs out and in, move my arms like a jumping jack, do range of motion unassisted. It's wonderful!

The pool closed for the season yesterday, Labor Day, but I'm looking into joining a gym with a pool and a wheelchair lift, if I can find one!

I’m not much of a swimmer, but moving around in the water without pain is a treat. A pool is on my list of major future purchases, but it comes behind a freestanding bathroom for garden guest and a new freestanding workshop.

Getting a pool seemed silly with all the water we have around us. Two creeks, two ponds and the river are all in walking distance. I had a change of heart after trying to shoot a pygmy rattler in a natural pool. Sheesh, no one ever told me those guys could swim! I’ve only seen what the locals call a cottonmouth from the safety of a boat at a distance. That was close enough to know I never want to be closer. They look rabid. All my idealistic, rustic notions of swimming in the clean water of the river and streams are gone. I’m not even going to mention the alligators. Oh, Toto, I don’t think we’re in Pennsylvania anymore.

BTW, Carrie, I finally got around to working on the wheelchairs. I’ve been using your old Jazzy to move around the house. Repairing the Quantum will be more challenging.

I got burned on my last seed purchase. I’m going to start using Garden Watchdog more. I ordered from Rare Exotic Seeds in Canada and discovered they don’t t provide certificates of sanitation to orders under $100. I suppose it was my fault for not reading the small print on the website. I always place a small order first with companies I’ve never dealt with which puts me in a Catch 22 with Rare Exotic Seeds. MK and Nadine are focused on native plants and most on that seed order didn’t qualify anyway. Sour grapes.

I tried garden huckleberries (Solanum scabrum) and am alive to report on it. The continuing rumor that they are a deadly poison because they are in the nightshade family has been proven false to my satisfaction. Why anyone would want to eat garden huckleberries remains a mystery. They taste okay initially if it is the right cultivar and if the plants are watered and cared for. An unpleasant aftertaste follows however. I suppose the aftertaste could be disguised in cooking with lemon juice or something, but they aren’t worth the trouble to my way of thinking. The remainder of the harvest will go over the fence for the enjoyment of the raccoons and opossums who apparently relish them. I will try dwarf huckleberries (Gaylusaca dumosa) next year. The others will approve. Dwarf Huckleberries are natives.

So the Jazzy just needed a new battery? And now it works? Cool! The Quantum used to work. Did we give you a Roho cushion with it? I was using it under my feet for a while, then I got other boots to wear at rest so I don't get more pressure sores.

We're planning our drive from DFW to Boston. We've decided (after Dealey Plaza on Sunday) we'd like to stop at the Civil Rights Museum at he Lorraine Motel in Nashville. No, we're not doing a tour of assassination sites. But we're not Dollyworld types and this may be our only trip through the South. I wanted to drive all over everywhere while we have the van and my power chair, but I don't think that's going to happen.

(Jim) Carrie, did you mean Memphis? I think that is where the National Civil Rights Museum is. Memphis is on the Mississippi River bordering Arkansas and the state of Mississippi. Nashville is in the central northern part of the state beside the Cumberland River. Memphis is a little larger, grittier and cutting edge in art and music than Nashville. Nashville is neater and more ostentatious. Art and music are tightly intertwined with commerce in Nashville and they are unapologetic about it. Southern musicians joke about “the Cashville music scene.” (Note that I’m under the influence of jazz fans so my opinion could be biased.)
The shortest route to Vermont for us is through Georgia and the Carolinas. We occasionally drive the length of AL and go through Chattanooga for a change and some highland scenery. I haven’t been to Nashville or Memphis in a long time so correct me if I’m wrong Tennesseans and native southerners.

Yes, it was simply routine maintenance and batteries to get the Jazzy going. The menu pops up on the Quantum. The signal lights come on and the seat adjust. I just can’t get it rolling. I want to figure out the model and find a manual before I attempt any repairs. The problem might be something simple I’m just not aware of. A foam cushion that wasn’t original to the Quantum came here with it but I don’t think it is roho. I had to look that up LOL.
Kay is using my manual w/c without the foot rest walking while sitting down basically. Her main back problem is scoliosis. She can still walk, but with a wide, awkward gait and pain. She insists of doing a horrible John Wayne impression to accompany her new gait. We prefer her to use the chair and not be addressed as “pilgrims.” I do think grabbing on to Fenny with her feet and getting the dog to pull her around is cheating.
Susan, I’ve always had the impression you are in SE Georgia. If that is the case, the varieties of broccoli recommended by the University of Florida might be the best choices for you also. ‘Atlantic’, ’Decicto’, ‘Green Comet’ ‘Green Duke’, ‘Green Mountain’, ‘Italian Green’ and ‘Packman’ Are all on their list. That said, we planted the old southern fall favorite, ‘Walton 29.’ ;-)
Picture 1 Dianthus.
Picture 2 Sunchoke and a guest.

Oh, of course you're right, Jim, it is Nashville! Considering I had never heard of it before, I'm impressed that I remembered what state it's in.

The Quantum won't change into rolling mode unless the back is more-or-less erect. I used to be most comfortable with it reclined a little, and always had to adjust it before driving off. Also, you found the attendant switch, right? Behind the left shoulder of the sitter. The Quantum is still pretty common; I see it often at rehab and neuro clinics.

(Melissa “Kay”) Carrie, practical geography is definitely a “when rubber meets road’ derived skill. The highly educated members of my family had a humbling experience at a holiday get-together. It revolved around a children’s United States map puzzle that didn’t have a box picture as a guide. Phones and iPhones were surreptitiously turned on under the table for fact checking when the kids asked for help putting the puzzle together. Ironically, I have a brother who suffered rheumatic heart fever as a baby and the high fevers damaged his developing brain slightly. His pragmatic, physical skills were unaffected, but school was hard for him. He opted out of high school and took vocational training. He ended up spending most of his working life as a long-haul truck driver criss-crossing the country. You have children, so I don’t have to tell you how this story goes once the kids caught on that their college graduate parents were “cheating” and their high school drop-out uncle/great-uncle could put the puzzle together in his sleep. The kids were innocently merciless as only kids who’ve just discovered there parents don’t know everything can be. My brother finally settled things by telling the children if they didn’t do as their parents said (study, and make good grades so they could get into a good college), he wouldn’t teach them how to drive a big truck. ;-)

I would be one of the people with a reference under the table. I love reference works. And (my excuse is), I grew up spending summers "down" in Maine and down in Virginia. No wonder I couldn't deduce where anything was!

If you happen to go through NC on I-40, please stop for a meal in or near Winston-Salem. I would enjoy meeting you ( any of you!).

Must report that a crispy plant arrived the other day. The root end was cooked (steamed) unfortunately.
I've almost maxed out my medicare for PT this year. Really in need of improving my Cardio but am super procrastinator without the accountability of appointments. looking for 'silver sneakers' buddy to meet 2 - 3 times a week at Y or church that has a fitness center and participates with AARP's 'silver sneakers' program.

Sorry, Sheri. We have to be at a weddiing in NE Virginia 10:30 Saturday morning. I thought it would be a grand time for the road trip of my life, but Ray wants to go to work Monday October 6. I think we'll be be pushing the whole time to get east in time. Thanks for tbe invitation.

(Jim) Sorry to hear about the sage, Sheri. We will try again in spring. That is probably a better planting time for North Carolina anyway. We pass Winston-Salem on Highway 85 if my memory is correct. I never time it right and we get caught in heavy traffic along that stretch of the journey. Kay always remarks that since we are so slowed there anyway, we should stop and visit the gardens of the old R. J. Reynolds estate. It’s part of Wake Forest University now, I believe. Have you ever been there?
Carrie, be a nagging wife and keep reminding Ray what happened last time he pushed too hard on the drive. Didn’t he end up in the hospital emergency room with arrhythmia? Hide the caffeine pills. No job is worth endangering his heart. If he has to drink coffee for a boost, he will have to stop for bathroom breaks. lol.
The cruel irony is by retirement when long, leisurely road trips are possible, staying at home and relaxing has more appeal. My back complains loudly when I spend too much time behind the wheel. Trains are looking better and better for leisure trips.
Combinations of tuberoses, spider lilies and oxblood lilies are filling the garden with beauty and fragrance. The tuberoses blooming so late in the season are a fluke. I’m enjoying combinations I’ll probably never see again. Yellow and purple have begun to dominate the wild areas. Those are the usual colors that dominate naturally in fall. The chalk maple I planted for fall color didn’t work out, but there are heat hardy Japanese maples and a sassafras tree on the nursery benches for next autumn.

Ray is a man of a thousand stories, but I don't remember that one. He refuses to drink coffee or beer. Yellow and purple.....hmmm. Does anyone know why purple and yellow are both opposite and complementary? I would have thought purple and yellow were very far apart, like orange and blue. But somehow, the petals of crocus and iris etc., fade from purple INTO yellow. Hmmm. Mother nature knows just how to do it, too.

It seems appropriate to me that purple should be a dominant fall color. I don’t remember where I picked up the concept, but purple is labeled in my mind as a transition color. (My father was a printer and artist. The label most likely came from him. I remember him saying when I was very young that purple didn’t really exist like red or yellow did. Purple was what the human mind did to make sense of the mixed signals. I didn’t, and still don’t, understand the science he was trying to explain. That there was something strange and mysterious about purple was a good enough reason for me to adopt it as my favorite color. I never outgrew my purple princess phase, but I do appreciate purple’s more subtle tints and shades in my maturity
Soon the neon purple of the beautyberries and sunny amber color of the goldenrods and Helen’s flowers will have darker echoes in the canopy layer. In this region, sweet gums turn chartreuse and a dozen moody purple shades. The wild grape vines scrambling through the canopy will turn a mellow gold.
You will probably see sweet gums in their full fall glory on your trip home, Carrie. The fall color of sweet gums is limited this far south, but in the mid-south they are incredibly colorful. I assume sweet gums grow in Massachusetts because I saw them in Connecticut. I think cold comes too early there for them to don their amazing fall wardrobe. To truly appreciate the beauty of sweet gum trees, you have to see them in the mid-south in autumn. The maples may be more dramatic, but a sweet gum is like a rainbow of autumn colors. Look for them when you cross rivers and streams.
We have all been pushing hard lately to get everything ready in time for cooler weather. Today was rainy so we decided to take a rest and healing day. ~Nadi~

Rest and healing is important too, Nadine.

UPDATE: I am NOT included in the mega-trip driving east. We kept imagining me in the cab of the U-Haul and it's too high up to put me in over and over. So the U-Haul couldn't tow my van. We finally figured out that my daughter in Boston can help. Ray will stick me on a plane and then drive the moving van (towing my car) to Boston. I won't see the sweet gums in the South but I will avoid dangers of pressure sores and stuff that come with a 3-day car trip.

Wow, I seem to have not posted in a year or two, make that three months. (Feels like a long time.) Say "hi" to Susan, gang.

This message was edited Dec 31, 2014 2:06 PM

TMI

Yeah, Sheri, you're right!

Happy New Year!!

Same to you! :)

Happy New Year, all. Thanks for the invite, CarrieAlmont in MA; .I used to live in Boston, long ago.

My biggest mobility challenge is permanent spinal arthritis and misc. post-op issues, as a consequence of 50 years without thyroid treatment needed since 4th grade. The short version of the spine Dx is that the little spiny-finger-shaped parts of my lumbar vertebrae are sliding and grinding across each other-- the cartilage between vertebrae are great, but it's a daily surprise what I can and cannot do, without causing a debilitating arthritis flare-up.

So now that I have energy, it is always a temptation to use it mentally rather than physically. Oddly however, I find that the less I push myself the more I can and will do in a day. Most days I'm done trying by late afternoon. Sleep with pain is always an issue. But I take brain-affecting meds as seldom as possible.

So I guess I could say that it's a cycle of trade-offs for me, and that I've decided that one way or another, this old lady shall garden. I don't ever aim to do it on my knees, at the rate I'm going, but-- any day this side of the dirt is a good day. My garden is at the home we hope to retire to in a few years, in southern Ohio; most of the year I'm in north central PA while my clergy husband works til his retirement.

At that garden, which I visit quarterly for a few weeks at a time, one paved area will be especially geared for accessibility-- the area outside the kitchen door. Second area-- on the front of the house, which I hope to have as a cottage-style area, I will depend a lot of others to help, paid and unpaid. A paid helper just dug a tiny section in the center of that section of the yard, to hold the first plants which I hope to put in this spring: the tall centerpiece plants that I can add to, outwards, with shorter plants in succeeding years-- until I have my garden there as full as my mind's eye pictures it.

I'm learning to plan big but break up my master plan into small, manageable objectives; so that front section will get as big as I can get it when I can get help to work the dirt. My end will be scrounging a few bucks out of grocery checks to pay a little help and buy/swap a few perennials.

Vision issues are another challenge area for me. I'll read as much of the stuff as I can, upthread, over the winter, to get a feel for as many folks here as I can.

I wish you all whatever lies in your sweetest dreams. Hearing your goals for 2015 would be a quick way to catch up with as many of you as care to share.

~Susan

Susan, I'm sure I've met you on another thread, but I couldn't tell you which one to save my life! I mean certainly the one on which I directed you here, but also another one! Because each time I think "wow, two homes at once. That's tough."

My husband and I just returned to MA after three years in TX, We drove my van from DFW to Boston, then flew back to DFW, loaded all the stuff into a moving van and drove from DFW to Boston AGAIN. We had two houses--one in Milton, MA, that we owned, and we rented (2 different places) in DFW. That is more moving than I ever want to do in my life again.

He just retired from Jet Blue, and I from being a Jet Blue wife, I have MS (diagnosed in 1986) and at this point I am a full time wheelchair user. I have way too much experience.

Carrie, a good friend of mine has MS so I know a little of what you are dealing with.

On the two houses thing, and moving, I am so blessed to know in advance what we are downsizing to, and for us we have prioritized $$ towards using the Ohio house as low-budget vacation space where we can ease into the VERY different culture around Dayton. (It has roots not unlike our current community-- rural, handshakes for all business deals, nonverbal communication, slower pace-- but Dayton/Cincy? All-speeded-up-and-in-the-grip-of-materialistic-madness. So each trip, I explore my side of what retirement might look like, and scout for new friends on my rural-but-not-conservative wavelength.)

For me, during my illness, online became my main source of social contact. That needs to change, in retirement.

Anyway, for us it's not a sudden, take-everything-at-once move. After the 3 blended-fam teens left the nest, we did spread out into the big house we rent... but 1/3 of its furniture and stuff have already furnished our Ohio "camp," and most of that will wear out about the time we want to bring the nicer PA stuff to Ohio, and pick up a very few "new" )Goodwill) pieces.

Then, hubby will have to face his own downsizing demons, as I have been doing, but TBTG we have a large garage in Ohio! If necessary, all the excess stuff can come right off the van and into the garage. We can then "shop" from the stash, as we know what he really wants to keep "til death."

Cuz I'm with you-- not a fan of moving. OMG, when we blended families we combined two complete households. Due to the size of the only rental open in PA, we never really purged THEN. In the 20+ years since, we HAVE gotten rid of broken stuff.... so that was one way we sorta got down to one kitchen's worth of gadgets, but..... TBTG the Ohio kitchen is almost as big as the PA farm kitchen, and I get to take our island with us!

So for me, moving is just a flow. Last two trips, I was able to identify good people to work hard (and cheap) to unload the open cargo trailer we haul with. Hubby is well able to load my planned items, which accumulate out on the front porch-- at the foot of the ramp we had built when I got out of post-op nursing home care. LOL-- our church sexton saw a pile of stuff that hadn't gone out yet, one day, and concluded that I was a hoarder, but we do actually get rid of stuff and it doesn't usually pile up in the LR when I'm in packing mode. (Now, I use trash bins on wheels as packing barrels, and wheel 'em down as loaded. The Ohio house's sellers were kind enough to leave me several squirrel-chewed bins! They thought them worthless! I just line 'em with a trash bag for waterproofing!)

Pix: Ohio kitchen-accessible garden space, PA ramp.

~S~

Susan, sounds familiar, a lot of what you describe. MS is actually quite variable, both the course and symptoms. For instance, most people with MS overheat very easily, have to be careful not to get too hot all the time, have AC, wear sandals and shorts and go swimming in cool water. I like all of those Itho' I never wear shorts), PLUS I am super sensitive to cold. I am only really comfortable between 74 and 84 degrees.... if I sound VERY high maintenance, I am, I won't die if I'm not comfortable because I'm cold (and everyone else is fine and it's 65) but sooner or later I will start shivering and chattering and turning blue. Worse if I'm wet (swimming) and the less I'm able to move, the less I'm able to do about it.

You say "For me, during my illness, online became my main source of social contact. That needs to change, in retirement." I've been that way for a very long time and I wish it could change.

Harder to make live friends with a wheelchair in the way.

I don't know what the effects of lack of thyroid hormone would be. Spinal arthritis is arthritis in your spine, right? Ouch ouch ouch!

Weight gain blamed on the victim. Brain fog. Lack of affect. Hair loss. Surgery removed 37 pounds from one area to facilitate movement. Complications post op due to thyroid too low for healing from botch job.