Lots of catching up to do! And lots of pictures :)

 The last few months have been crazy! So much has been going on! 

My Aunt Nancy moved in with me the middle of January. She has had to step aside from the ministry due to dementia. It's somewhere in the beginning to middle stages at this point. It's going quite well! The one thing with dementia is stability is needed and moving from one place to another makes it very hard. I am enjoying having her here and I sure hope she's enjoying it as well! 

I took a trip to Arizona the end of March! I was so awesome to see a very dear friend that I haven't seen in many years. She took me to a lake near Mesa and we went on a boat around the lake. There wasn't any wildlife to see that day but it was a gorgeous tour! (pictures below!) And the cactuses! Fresh grapefruit off the tree. YUMM!!! Wonderful fellowship! The one part I may never forget is meeting the guy my mom mentioned a few times over the span of her life. They were close but he went into the ministry. When I went to a dinner he walked in and said I looked like a Layman. Then he said I looked like Alma. I told him that was my mom and his response was 'I was the guy she wanted to marry but my heart led me to the ministry'. Got to say it was pretty awesome to actually meet him! Turns out I do know some of his family but wow, that was a crazy coincidence to go to a dinner all the way down in Arizona and meet him! I'd love to sit down and hear more stories. He had some to tell that I'd never heard! I think it was a couple of years after that that she met my dad.

Erika had a baby the first of this month (May). And it's a boy!!! He's sooo sweet!! And very strong! He's already half rolling. They said he did that the night he was born and has continued to do it! We went over to see them the week after the birth. It was so awesome to see all of them! The last time I was over there was the end of September. The weather was beautiful so we got to spend time outside. Jameson is quite the character and I love him dearly! He climbs on EVERYTHING! We went out and around the property every afternoon for a bit. It's been a long time since I trailed a little one everywhere and thoroughly enjoyed it! Teagan and Scarlet are doing good! Scarlet now has a pump to help handle her diabetes. The technology is so amazing anymore! They both are doing awesome with their gymnastics. I'm looking forward to the next visit!! I also got to see a very dear friend (who sent me home with lots of garden goodies!)! Aunt Nancy got to stay with her sister in Vancouver and get a visit with her! It was a really good week all the way around.

Christina went through basic training (Air Force-picture below) and has now graduated and is now an airman and, as of yesterday, is at her new spot. She did really, really well on the PT (Physical training) testing and on the EOC (academic) testing. She'll be at tech school for around 6 months and then we'll see where she goes next! She's come a long way this year and I'm very proud of her for persevering! Her FLT got the virus during basic training and the whole unit ended up being quarantined for 10 days so they got bumped and ended up graduating May 20th instead of May 6th.  They also ended up having to bunker down for a tornado! She said it was quite the experience. 

This week I'm hoping to get the garden planted! So far nothing has been put in. The weather has been up and down and all around. :) Technically we can still freeze for the next two weeks but the next week looks good so I'm hopeful that the freezes are done! The cold frame did AWESOME! The lettuce and swiss chard are being picked, the onions and carrots are growing well. I've got lots of flowers reseeding. Lots of calendula and in the wildflower area. All the perennials are coming back quite well now. We've had some days in the 80's but have also had days in the 40's this month (for high's). I did lose a few that don't appear to be coming back but that's to be expected in this growing zone! The rhubarb and asparagus have also returned! I won't be able to pick them until next year though. I'm going to try a new method of composting. My thoughts turned to the possibility when the poppies and Iris's, next to the pile of pulled weeds and corn husks that I started a couple of years ago, got huge compared to the rest of the poppies that have reseeded. The poppies are a good three feet tall and are absolutely loaded with buds. (picture below) I can't wait for them to bloom! So I researched it and since I have a fair amount of compost scrapes in addition to weeds I'm going to start digging foot deep holes depositing my compost into the hole (4-6 inches worth) and then covering it back up. According to what I can find that 6 inches of dirt is enough to contain the smell so that it doesn't get dug back up. All going well I should have really good soil in a couple of years. My soil is very sandy so it needs to be well amended at this point.

Aunt Nancy arriving!

Middle of February snow

And 10 days later it's all gone and back to brown winter lawns

Cold frame growth the end of February!

They say this cactus is possibly 300 years old! Northern Flickers go into the holes!

On the lake!

It was actually pretty cool that day!

Fresh grapefruit!! 

Evening in Mesa

First bloom the end of March!

First bloom the end of March!

Daffodils 

Daffodils 

Tulips

Rhubarb survived it's first winter!

Primrose in full bloom. I can't say I've had one bloom so prolifically before!

My project this year! Clearing along the fence. By Fall it'll be all cleared out. (But hopefully sooner)

The pile of grass/weeds that came from that small area!!! 

Hello Greyson!

One week old!

Love!

Auntie with her great, great nephews! 

Love!

Erika and her boys! 

That expression! LOL!!

Reading time!

Love this one!

And love this one!

And this one :) Teagan and her baby brother

My favorite of Jameson 💓

Scarlet 💓

Teagan 💓

💕

Me and the grands

Family!! 💖 (Jameson was done with sitting still :) ) 

Christina at graduation. It was virtual so I was glad they had photographers there!

Maybe I'll get gooseberries this year?? 

Bachelor button

Onion bloom and greens blooms

Bachelor button

Bachelor button

Daffodil 

Garlic end of April

Garlic today!

The are mentioned in the blog. Growth and blooms the perfect combo!!

Sunset last Wednesday

Lilac buds/blooms 

The upward growth of the lilac begins! It takes about three years to grow roots below and then it shoots up the next couple of years.

Lettuce in the cold frame

Carrots and onions in the cold frame

More onions in the cold frame (swiss chard to the left)

Full view on left

Full view on right

The buds on the poppy 

Iris blooms

Iris bloom

Volunteer lettuce/swiss chard next to the garlic

Time to get those red rocks out so we can get some strawberries!

Volunteer sunflower

The wild flower patch! Lots of sweet william will bloom this year!

Lots of wildflowers sprouting!

Sun rays!

Just before the thunderstorm and rain yesterday! 

My other hobby! Cross stitching is done and backstitching starts!

10+ years now, a bit of soul baring

 Hard to believe we're into our 11th year of Dave being gone. To be honest the last couple of months last year were hard. It's been a while since the anxiety was that prevalent. And with anxiety comes hot flashes. I suspect the anxiety triggers hot flashes for me. There's a lot of change happening in my own life this year that's connected with other people and I think it triggered a subconscious fear of big change. That has actually just occurred to me as I type this. I KNOW what big change does/means and my body is saying, NO! Not again!! But that's where depending on my Father to help comes in. He has helped me through many, many things and this will be no different! As always I find it super interesting how we can react so subconsciously to begin with. 

The huge change for me personally is I'm going to be caring for my Aunt. She has been in the ministry for many, many years and now needs to step aside. Some may know that her mom had dementia and it looks like she's headed down that path as well. She loves being outside and I have a decent lot for her to do what she'd like come Spring! I'll need to have her pick some things she'd like to grow! Luckily there's a very good support system here, it's just more the huge change it'll mean. I just found out last week that she'll be here near the end of January so its coming quick. Thankfully, my work is allowing me to switch to working from home more then not once she's here. Another big change is Christina has signed up for the Airforce. She'll go sometime in March. She's hoping to figure out exactly what she'll do this next week. And the third I'm aware of is Erika is due in May with her 4th child! This one is a boy as well so the two boys will be 18 months apart as well. (Her two girls are 18 months apart also) That's the first half of the year, we'll see what the second half brings when it comes around! :) 

So far I've managed to avoid Covid! It's made it's way around the office at work. Several have gotten it but so far so good! We're living in some truly historic times. And really historic in every which way. My belief is that things will happen as they need to and no matter how hard we try to change them; it will be what it needs to be. I just need to be close to my Father and that brings peace amongst the chaos. 

I will add this. I am so ready to know what happen with Dave, to know where he's at, to try and understand all that happened. There's so many times that I've looked back at what I was, at things I did, things I said and just want to kick myself. Would it have changed anything, no clue, but there were so many ways I could have been so much kinder. We never know what the next day will bring, we don't necessarily know what is going on inside someone else, what they're trying to cope with and how what we say will affect them. Dave didn't express struggles for the most part so I was clueless just how bad things apparently were. Looking back there were some things that I now realize were clues of issues but at the time I was beyond clueless. Anyone reading this, we often get comfortable in relationships and just start assuming everything is okay, or if they're not that they're there for the long haul. There's snips and snaps at each other as you get on each other's nerves. Are those snips and snaps solved at day end or do they carry on? Be aware that there may come a day when someone suddenly throws in the towel and is gone. I loved Dave then and I'd say now I at least love him as a friend. We had a lot of years together and had two wonderful daughters and, although he's never met them, we have 3 (soon to be 4) wonderful grandchildren. I'm sincerely hoping that one day soon it'll all come to light. Some days I feel like it'll be soon and other days not so much.

It was COLD - Fog is clearing away reveling a gorgeous scene

Love, love, love the sunsets here!!! This was leaving the farm last month.

I'm still trying to grow things! :) In the cold frame from about a week ago!! Hoping it last the winter and gives me greens come Spring time!

Snow makes things so pretty!

It gets cold enough here that the grass goes into hibernation. 

Life Update!

 It's been a long time since I updated and boy has a lot happened!! The COVID restrictions in my area haven't been too awful. Idaho tends to allow people to do what's right without a lot of mandates at this point. We did have some lockdowns at the beginning as a lot did. But they lifted the worst of the restrictions by June. We've been going to our church meetings on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening since late May (or early June?). We've split our fairly small meetings into smaller meetings just to be safe and have worn masks as well. Technology has been amazing since we can listen to our G.Meetings over the phone for those unable to be there physically. I've ended listening in a few times due to there being exposure from the office (two different times). I'll be very thankful when the worst of this pandemic is over! However for now the infections are on the rise again so it may be a long winter! 

My yard kept me quite busy this year and made it very easy to stay home. The video I posted earlier this summer gives a pretty good idea of my yard. I added three more flower beds this Fall in areas that will make it easier to mow. It's hard to believe that just two years ago my place had no fence, no shed and was basically all grass!!! I'll post some pictures below. I got a lot of the produce canned/froze. Beans and peas got froze. Tomatoes got canned (salsa, tomato soup, diced tomatoes). The peppers and onions got added to the salsa and tomato soup and I also froze some of the bell peppers. Cucumbers got used for bread and butter pickles and summer squash got turned into squash relish (super yummy cooked with chicken!!). I also got some apricots from a friend and made some apricot jam for the first time. It's super yummy plus 'low sugar'; a perfect combination! It was interesting figuring out how to spice things up without garlic! I think there was success! This winter will tell the story as everything starts getting used. Carrots are just being used to cook with, I didn't plant my large planting of them soon enough in the Spring and didn't have very good germination. Lesson learned!!! Winter squash did pretty well all things considered. I brought in new dirt and there was some chemical in it and it caused things to get off to a VERY slow start. Once the chemical started dissipating some they started growing much better but it made fruit set happen way later then typical. However most of them got far enough along to cure properly when I picked them. I didn't realize that the skin would harden AFTER harvest. The butternut squashes did that luckily. I love butternut but there was only a couple out of 12 that were technically ready when I had to pick them. I've used a few, they're so good!! I got lots of herbs saved as well! Lots of basil, sage, rosemary, parsley and some thyme. I didn't get near as much thyme saved as I would have like. There's also some Agastache saved for tea. I have some liquorish flavored and more a citrus/mint type as well. I want to grow some Chamomile next year to dry and have over the winter. I also got some calendula petals dried. I've read that it can be used for tea. By tables and counters were covered this summer with everything laid out and drying/ripening. But they're finally empty (until next year!). I ended up tossing the last few tomatoes. I was so done with it! :) The first part of August I managed to break my little toe. So my flip flops got lots of use and the last part of the fence area I was going to dig up and prepare didn't get done. Was quite bummed! I do have a cold frame that has some radishes, greens, swiss chard, shallots, onion, carrots and lettuce planted in it. So far they're still living. I planted it about 3 weeks too late so if things manage to live through the winter I probably won't really get a harvest until mid-spring time.

Christina is on a different path now. She's working at Target in Portland now and will be headed to the Air Force boot camp in January or February!  Although that could change! She's with her grandma (Dave's mom) in Vancouver. Things seem to be going okay for her.  

Erika and her family are doing well. Jameson turned a year old last Sunday! Teagan is 8 and Scarlet is 7. Time sure does fly! And then there will be a fourth come May! I never dreamed I'd be grandma to 4!! I did get over to see everyone the end of September. Made the birthday party for Scarlet and birthday dinner for Bobbie. It sure was good to see everyone!!!!

Also got to see my dad this Fall! He is so done with being cooped up. Since he's in a foster care home in Oregon he's pretty locked down. I was only able to visit him outside for 1 hour each day. He's doing okay overall but it really seems like to me he's going down hill a little bit.

Per usual this time of year has been hard. For some reason it's been a bit harder then the last few years. But I am very thankful for the help the comes from my Father. The odd thing is to begin with it's totally subconscious. I've always found it so intriguing how the body just knows when special dates are near without me even thinking about it. I very much felt earlier this year the need to be strong spiritually. This year has proven why in every which way. It'll be good a Thanksgiving to go to some friends for dinner. I'll bring green beans and bacon. YUM!!!! I've an offer for Christmas but for now am getting a don't go signal. Not sure why though! It'd be seeing an old friend that I knew in Klamath. It would be good to see her and maybe some cousins. I'll see if I get a different signal a bit later! I've had to face results of not listening often enough to listen now!  

I'm very curious where this next year will take us. Between COVID and politics it could be a very rocky/interesting year. Something tells me even mores so then this year. One thing that is a given is that whatever happens is what is supposed to happen. It'll be used the way it needs to be. Who would have thought we'd be living through a pandemic and everyone the world over would be wearing masks. Times are certainly crazy!

Gorgeous sunrise!

Crookneck Squash. This plant did awesome!!

This was my winter squash patch.

Harvest time!!!

Another amazing sunrise!

A loaded pepper plant!

Broken little toe :(

Main Garden

Main Garden continued

Main Garden continued

Harvest, found this basket at a thrift store

The other side of the harvest basket!

Winter squash harvest!! Whew!!

First snow fall!

First snow fall from another angle

This snapdragon still hasn't died off! We've had 9* and several teens and 20's and it's still green!

Gladiolus bulbs with lots of babies. Hoping to save them and plant next year! 

Tonight's sunset. This was taken as I left work.

Mekvold Garden 2020 7-21

It's been a long time since I've posted. This is what I've been working on since March!! It's getting so close to being done but what's left will take the rest of the summer and will hopefully be cleared for the bulbs that are coming the end of August into September.

Diet/Food update & other ramblings

I haven't mentioned this here. I had to put Pippy down in December. :( So that means all my kitties are gone. For now I won't get anymore cats. Christina is allergic to them and one of the friends here is allergic to them. Truth be told, I'm fine with it. I loved my kitties dearly but luckily there's been no issues with no cats! 

We did an official 3 month blood test and I got the results back this week and they are amazing! It's down right amazing what being off foods that are a trigger for my body have done. Inflammation indicators are now completely normal, A1C stayed the same (5.5) but insulin went down a fair amount and is in completely acceptable range. I was told this indicates blood sugar's have stabilized. Several numbers went up in a good way. They indicate that my body is actually absorbing nutrients properly now. The liver and kidneys numbers are completely normal now as well. Vitamin D will be halved, Vitamin B will be halved and no more liver help.

Because I am off pork, chicken, some fishes (not shrimp luckily but more on that), I had quite a bit more red meat then I'd had in a long time. The bummer of that is that led to really high Ferritin. This happened before but I totally spaced it. Apparently my body absorbs iron very readily (too readily). Heme is the molecule that is in red meat that allows iron to be adsorbed easier in the digestive system, unfortunately shrimp has the same molecule so I'll need to go easy on that as well. Some vegetables have iron but that molecule is non-heme and doesn't get adsorbed near as much, except if you're eating it with red meat. So a beef roast, carrots and potatoes.... not happening. :( Carrots and potatoes have a decent amount of iron and are fine by themselves but not with the red meat for me. I'll probably also stay away from spinach for the most part since that is pretty high in iron for a vegetable. The goal right now is to get the iron storage down to acceptable levels. Menopausal women would typically have the apposite problem I'm having. My provider said it's a fairly rare issue to have. She's guessing it happens to about .01% of women. Go figure..... The good news is that she said this evening that black tea (decaf for me) is a good iron blocker so I'll be having a lot more tea. She said I should probably eat it with white meat as well. I'm going to try and work some pork back in and see if it does okay now. It was causing bloating before but it might be okay since inflammation is gone. In three months we'll test and see how things are going and see how my body reacts to halving the supplements. Ideally my body will hold steady with the changes and not back track some. We'll also do a full food panel again and see what goes from don't have to it's okay. My guess is garlic will still be a no go since it was completely off the charts. I'd guess kidney beans would also be a no go since they were pretty high as well.

The really awesome part.... I've lost almost 10 pounds!!! That is pretty exciting!! If I lose 3-4 more pounds I'd be happy. That'd get me down to around 110. I'm small and petite so that is a very comfortable weight.

I've started a little bit of gardening. I'm using milk jugs to start seeds outside. It's called winter sowing. Ideally seeds should have been put out sooner but I just ran across this way have starting seeds earlier this month. I've started leeks, onions, brussel sprouts, rhubarb, poppies, and milkweed. It'll be interesting to see how it works, or doesn't work. I also got my cold frame! I'm hoping to be able to start using it end of March. The ground was still nice and cold when it got put on so I'm waiting for it to do it's work with warming the soil.

Some know that Christina is taking care of health right now so she's staying with me. She has the total opposite issue that I do with iron so we're working on getting that taken care of. And getting Vitamin D levels up as well. One thing we learned is that iron is what helps get oxygen to the blood. When the iron levels are near rock bottom the stamina level is completely gone as a result. We're learning lots this year!!

Jameson is doing awesome! Teagan is loving her gymnastics and is doing awesome! Scarlet has started Taekwondo and is loving it! I certainly can't wait to see everyone again in a few months!!! These kids just grow much too quickly!

 My winter sowing jugs!

 Gorgeous sunset!!!

Dusk

This is what operates the lid of the cold frame

Front view

Open view

Gorgeous snow day!

A gorgeous sunrise!

Sunrise! It was COLD this morning.. see the next picture :)

BRRRR!!!

A small project completed.

Rumicube!! Love this game!

Another gorgeous day. :)

The sunset was amazing that evening!

And especially amazing this evening!!!

A bit of soul baring

For the first time in a REALLY long time I listened to Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I now know why it's taken me so long. The memories of the December night before Dave left that he took us to one of their concerts in Portland came flooding back. I look back now and know that he was 'making memories' but at the time we didn't know that. I will always regret how I treated that night. I was more interested in the possible snow storm that might move in and my attention was distracted that night. I still wouldn't have really enjoyed it because their concerts are LOUD and I was at a point where that just made it not so enjoyable. However, that's no reason to brush someone off, especially your husband, when it became obvious he'd done it to try and please us, and in hindsight, make memories. It's brought home tonight that I need to pay attention how I treat people. For all I know that brush off could have sealed the deal, so to speak, of the path he'd decided on. I don't want those 'what if's'. It quite frankly hurts to have that what if. It makes my heart hurt to know that I just caused more hurt to someone who, in hindsight, was clearly hurting. It may very well not have changed anything but I didn't treat him properly that night. That was the last time that I really listened to that band until tonight. Guess it was time. The 27th of this month we will start year 10 of him being missing. Life goes on but really the memories haven't faded and there are nights like tonight that I really, really miss him. Now that all being said, I KNOW there's a purpose to all that has happened. I know that my Father is in control and for that I am extremely grateful but tonight I'm just missing Dave.

New grandson!! And start of a change of diet journey

Erika had her baby boy 11/15. She did awesome with the delivery and even better, this time there were no blood/platelet transfusions needed!! He is a cutie! Both Christina and I were able to make it over for the delivery. It was wonderful to spend time with both my girls!! The weather at the coast was perfect when I visited Christina's field. She's in the north coast area. Then I was able to spend a couple of days with Erika and Jameson. 💖

Also, I visited a doctor to go over test results for food issues. I'm completely off Banana's, Dairy, Gluten/Wheat, Garlic, Rice, Kidney Beans and Eggs. This is going to be very interesting. It's a good thing that I tend to cook from scratch anyway but it takes the package gluten free meals off the table since almost all of them contain dairy. And I LOVE cooking with garlic but that one was off the charts bad. She's thinking that might get a bit better as we get things into line. Also, test show my liver is very unhappy, most likely because those things I've listed are things that cause inflammation in my body. An interesting note is that she is thinking this also may be why my ears ring. They've had ringing in them for years and years but it'd sure be nice if that was resolved!! So today I went to Fred Meyer after gospel meeting and found some vegan mayo that taste pretty good. Mayonnaise has egg in it so I can't use what I have. Also found some egg substitute that's made from chia seed and garbanzo beans and nutritional yeast that can be sprinkled on things in place of cheese. Then there's a replacement for feta cheese that actually is pretty good. That's as far as I got today. Sure am bummed about the garlic though! :(

It's also amazing what eggs are in... Imitation crab has soy and eggs! Guess I'll have to use real crab! ;)