Kitchen Garden

Gazing over the railing of the back deck one day, Michael was inspired by a particular patch of lawn that he felt would be ideal for a kitchen garden. It was shaded in the morning by the house, got full mid-day sun, and enjoyed filtered sunlight in the late afternoon.

The subject patch of earth with lawn removed.

Michael engaged David in his endeavor and they worked out a plan. After the first of several trips to Home Depot, they staked out their raised garden bed and started building.

Staking out and framing.

Rather than build a "floating" bed frame following the slightly sloped ground, it was decided to create a bed that would be level.

"We're going to need a lot more dirt."

This made it a tidier arrangement to attach a trellis to the deck's support beams at the back of the planter.

Adding a trellis for the climbers.

Because of the additional depth on one end of the planter, it was decided to use fill dirt taken from an unusable part of the backyard, and then top it with fertile "bought" dirt.

Time to fill it in.

This digging and moving of soil required the recruitment of brothers Thomas and William.

Ruger supervises Michael and William

Ruger taking a break from supervising.

Tigah working hard.

Even with the fill dirt from the yard, it took a LOT of bags of soil to get a good planting depth.

Ready to plant!

Our preferred gardening method, especially for veggies and herbs, is companion planting, so we've got everything mixed in together along with some nice marigolds.

Happy plants!

Our climate here in Old Hickory is consistently damp enough with enough days and nights of rain and sprinkles that we probably won't need to water very often. Which is a good thing since the hose bib on the back of the house requires some attention before it can be used.

That's not where the water is supposed to come out.

TeleHealth

William had his first TeleHealth appointment today, his quarterly endocrinology checkup with Regina, our APRN at Eskin Diabetes Clinic. Vanderbilt hospital and Davidson County where the hospital is located have been hard hit by the COVID-19 virus, so they're scheduling as many regular "visits" as possible online to keep patients and health care workers protected from unnecessary infection.

It took me about an hour yesterday to get Zoom set up and working on my tablet in preparation for the appointment but only about 10 minutes to do the pre-check-in and pay his copay through Vanderbilt's patient portal. Overall we've been very happy with Vanderbilt's online system. It's a great resource for getting information (such as lab results), confirming instructions from a visit, verifying upcoming appointments, and communicating with William's care team.

William chatting with Regina.

William handled most of the conversation with Regina himself with very little prompting needed from me. I asked a couple of pointed questions which helped Regina understand a little better how William handles his low corrections and as a result, we've got a more nuanced dosing regime set up, mostly in how to dose and correct at bedtime and overnight.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get his A1c, but Regina's review of his Dexcom logs (online) indicated that his control has been very good.

Shadows in Sunshine

These are just a few photos I took at home that I find peaceful and tranquil.

Tigah, Biscuits, and Bagheera

Kitchen table centerpiece

Flowers (artificial) in a mason jar

Lizard in the Sunshine

Sometimes when the weather's been cold and you've been cooped up in the house for a bit too long, you just need to lounge in the sunshine.

 

The back deck of our Old Hickory house.

Post-Pod Supper

William had his first (and hopefully only) trip to the podiatrist to get an opinion on his fallen arches and duck walk. Dr. Hicks was a very nice gentleman, answered all of our questions, and gave us specific recommendations for shoes and inserts. No surgery or custom orthotics are needed, but stretching exercises every day are called for.

After the appointment and a harrowing drive home through rush hour traffic, we picked up Thomas and tried out a new restaurant nearby, Amigo Mexican Restaurant.The food was GREAT. This is our new favorite Mexican Place.

Thomas and William awaiting their meals.