Friday, July 6, 2012

Joys(?) of Gardening

Gardening has proved to be great way to relax and sort through things in my mind.  I have been known to refer to it as "dirt therapy".  However, on a few occasions it's not fun or therapeutic! 

When it is blistering hot is one occasion.  We've been experiencing such for over a week but today is a little worse for there is no breeze.  The majority of my garden work areas are shaded for a part of the day because of my grandparent's forethought in planting lots of trees 49 years ago.  Unfortunately prior to my buying the property, the yard was unattended for about 10 years as they were caring for my great grandmother.  Many a time in the middle of my "recapturing the yard" projects I am just tempted to give up and call "uncle"!!!!!!!   During one of those early episodes I had stumbled upon II Samuel 5:22-25 where David is inquiring of the Lord how to fight a battle.  God's statement was to wait until he heard the breeze moving the tops of the trees which would be God going into battle before him.  Every time I want to give up it never fails there is a slight rustling of leaves that reminds me that I can persevere through Him!

Let me tell you of the other occasion.... but in order to do that I need to back up a bit.  One beautiful October Saturday I decided to spend it reading on my brick patio.  Later in the afternoon I felt something very light on my eyelid so I brushed it off.  Whatever it was bit me and I immediately began to swell.  My eye, cheek, and one nasal passage swell almost shut.  ER and my Dr didn't know what it was but did require me to carry a epi-pen.  Six months later the same thing got me when I was out walking my dark chocolate lab.  This time it was just on my cheekbone and it was slightly swollen.  By the next morning a rash had emerged.  In another day it turned into lots of weeping pus pockets that would not go away so I was sent to allergist.  He got it healed up after many visits and medicines.

We decided that I needed to do a full out allergen test since this had been twice in six months with severe reactions.  Weirdly I had a few random hives but not on the area that was inflicted.  After a week of the common allergens test patches on my back, nothing happened.  My allergist believes that it is tied into recent vitamin D deficiency and thyroid changes which in turn causes me to be hypersensitive.  How frustrating! 

So back to my other 'gardening is not fun' occasion....because we had little to no winter we are having a very buggy summer!  Between the bugs and allergic reactions, I'm not finding gardening as relaxing as usual.  However, I may have come up with a way to fix that....so if you drive by Gottadew Gardens and see a lady with a beekeeper's hat on, please wave hello!

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