He does write a good book, "Tony", and he said that he lived all that he's written about. My mother before she passed; used to send me all his books; I have plenty still, I haven't gotten around to reading yet. But I figure one day, during another injury, or something, I'll get around to it.
I was just thinking ( That's how I get into trouble) I believe some of his books were made into movies.
One time, I went to the City of Glass. They had a special bundle of dry rooted shrubs, six different type two of each for only a dollar. They were sticks, maybe 15 to 20 in long. The bundle was maybe three or four inches wide. I planted them on one side of the house and along the back fence. Of the 12th sticks that I planted, six of them actually grew, 2 each of forsythia, weigela, and mock orange. Without really realizing it, I was in the process landscaping my parents' house. Later, I found a nursery that specialized in azaleas. I picked out a large one (4 ft wide) and a couple of smaller ones that he had to deliver. I planted most of them in the beds in the front of the house. My mother loved them. Every year, I heard the same words from her too bad the flowers didn't last all season. I went back to that same nursery and bought 3 trees, Magnolia, for the front in the center of the lawn. Red Leaf Japanese maple for bed along the backyard fence and Flowering Plum for next to the patio. The last time I passed by the house, they were all still thriving, except for the Flowering Plum. My father, who was not a gardener, sprayed the tree with oil based insecticide after the tree leafed out. He not only smothered the pest but also the tree. I felt bad he was trying to protect the tree, and it was his favorite of the 3 trees I had planted. I was married by then, I did offer to replace it, and I think he realized the replacement would be about a third the size. He said he'll plant grass seed instead. I remember when I planted the Magnolia in the front yard lawn, I didn't like the looks of the lawn. It was spotty with lots of weeds. I redid the lawn by turning it over by hand, then hand rake and shook out the soil of grass, and weeds added peat moss and fertilizer, then leveled it. I went with a grass seed mix, perennial rye, Kentucky bluegrass, and fescue. The lawn turned out really well. At the same time, I made a bed on both sides of a cement walkway that went from the front door to the street. A place for annuals and some crocus bulbs. My mom and my cousin planted alyssums as a minimum there yearly.
My wife and I purchased an electric heater for our bedroom. One wall faces north, so there's a difference in temperature as much as 14°. When the main part of the house is at 68° the bedroom has been as low as 54° especially if we leave the door closed. With the cost of electricity so high, I got the idea to search the internet for a solar powered electric heater. One that you could put the solar panel outside and run a wire to a heater inside. FYI I found a nice variety of solar powered heaters designed for hot houses and chicken coops, but none for a home use. My search will continue. I thought I'd post this here for information for all the SOC members who have hot houses or chicken coups. I am not able to post photos, I would have so you could see what they look like. If you're intereste, you can just Google solar powered heaters.
I have a small high efficiency ceramic heater that draws half the current of most portable electric heaters, but puts out about the same heat. One of our country cafes, in an old building, uses a radiator looking electric heater and it really puts out a lot of heat for electricity used. The electricity used in a high efficiency heater would be a lot less than a solar system with a battery and invertor. It isn't as simple as running a wire from the solar panel to the heater because you need a battery and an invertor. A direct hookup would require a DC heater and for the sun to shine brightly. No sun, no heat.
The heater I have is pretty efficieit it made the list of the top five in efficiency by best products. For the solar powered heater I was looking for an all in one system, that stays outside, otherwise I would have considered a solar generator. I Don't have room for a solar generator in my bedroom, plus there too costly. We don't have windows in our bedroom.We have a glass patio sliding door. If I had a window, I would have considered the Mother Earth News Heatbox That uses no power except the sun.
I have been taking it easy since the middle of December. This morning, I felt the need to get out, so I went to two of my favorite haunts. First, I stopped at the library and went to the back where they have donation books that you can buy at cheap prices. I picked up a few books for my grandkids, and they had three National Geographic Kids magazines that I got for them also. I always take a shopping bag with me to make carrying the books to the desk easy. A bag full of books and magazines cost me $.85c. Then I went to the Dollar Tree they had spring stuff out, and I picked up eight packets of vegetable seeds. They were 4 packs for $1.25, and I also picked up two 10 packs of peat pots. I couldn't resist. When I got home, my wife looked at the gardening stuff and said, "I thought you were cutting back this year." I said,"Just in case." It made me tired, but it felt really good getting out a little bit.
I'm running behind on gardening this year, also, Tony. Sometimes we need to slow back, and regroup a little. Life seems to be full of surprises; we never know for sure, what's ahead of us. We haven't had much rain lately at all, and it has helped my back, not to hurt so much, and get me down. I have the three cages and two ten inch rods, six nuts and bolts, and when certain fronts, come through; not sure if it's high or low. It will hurt my back so bad, I will have to use my walker to get around. And without rain, we run a higher chance of fires though. I just can't have it all; and I realize that I have to take the good with the bad. I really do hope, and pray, things are medically great for you,"Tony". As far as myself; and medically, I have bad white coat syndrome, that shoots my BP to the moon, even when I'm on BP Meds., and if there is a "bad nurse", out there, I seem to get them; won't go into stories, in case you're not interested in them.
Tony we have solar we bought 10 years ago, we still haven't hooked it up because we use the batteries on the golf cart 6, 6 v Trojan lead acid batteries. I was thinking too of getting a battery-operated electric blanket,
This is true too no sun no heat but while we have sun maybe charge up whatever we have on batteries when we do. I also thought of battery-operated sleeping bag.
Jake, Sorry you're having all these problems. You're right, though."We can only do, what we can do, when we can do it." I have been trying to find an enjoyable EASY things to do. The other day when I went to the dollar tree, I picked up a book of word searches, figured that would keep me busy and it's easy. I did five of them in a half hour and got bored. If I'm being honest I hate going to doctors, I always wait till the last minute. I have to be really sick. My BP is generally high When it's taken in the Doctor's office, Because I have a touch of white coat syndrome. Like you, I've had some bad experiences with Nurses and physical therapist, That will be a future story for this thread. My back Problem is spinal stenosis, and disk issues. It Started about twenty years ago and progressively got worse. The weather also affects me, Sitting is OK, sleeping I have to find the correct position, walking, lifting and bending in painful. I have to take a lot of breaks. I've been to 2 different specialist, two pain management centers, and chiropractors. One pain management center When I started I was walking pretty much vertical. After 3 months I was on a 45° angle And couldn't straighten up. My wife Said seems like you come out worse than when you went in she was right.