Every year at this time I part ways with my therapist. I just go stomping out into the darkness of November and December willy nilly like some kind of perfectly sane person.
I've had a long session this year though! I devoted time to therapy from April to October. I had about 4 sessions per week that whole time.
If you assume each session was 3 hours, then that would mean I was at a Howard Stern level of therapy this year.
Yet I never had to pay a therapist. Or find parking near one.
I got all this therapy for almost free at the low low price of seeds, some soil & a shovel. And fencing. And lumber and insect netting and bug spray, then there was the time I had to buy a 2' long compost thermometer because my compost pile was filled with snakes and I didn't want to stick my bare hand all the way down to the middle of the pile to take the temperature of the compost.
I acknowledge that the above paragraph is clunky by the way. It's easier to explain that I know it's a clunky paragraph than it is to fix the clunky paragraph.
You see I am once again racing the clock to get this post published by midnight E.S.T. for no other reason than the fact that it's a goal I've set.
I leave you with your Saturday morning puzzle.
A photo of what was gifted to me from my therapist.
My time: 10:18
Have a good weekend!
Loved the puzzle, but it made want a big veggie bowl, so I hurried through it. 6:58 Now to rummage through my freezer for veggies.
8:17.... and that "thock" sound the pieces make when they connect...? It's therapy in itself. Thank you!
My middle finger goes to playing a puzzle on a cell phone and when down to the last few pieces it goes away to advertisements.
30+ minutes of my life that I don’t get back.
Karen, I enjoy all everything you post. You are a joy to my day!
There's a very real stigma about seeking out mental health care. I know this was not your intention, but equating therapeutic activities with speaking to a trained mental health practitioner reinforces that by minimizing the value of that dialogue.
I agree. I was surprised to see the post headline, and happy to see a post that would be normalizing, and talking about a tough subject. I think you nailed it by saying these are therapeutic activities (which are very important and part of progress), but not to be confused with professional counseling.
Beautiful harvest, Karen! You beat my time (again)... 11:23
Ooooo. Just barely! ~ karen
I love these puzzles! 17:19 I keep saying it - I need a new iPad! Thank you for sending them to us! (Today was the first time I saw the “Daily Puzzle”, so I did that one, also. 😁) This was a very bountiful harvest, looks like. I’m so glad you love it, and can eat it, because that appears to be such a huge amount of work. I’m not an outside kind of girl, but I keep thinking I’ll try something under the covered patio. Grape tomatoes hanging upside down? Potatoes in a bag? Thanks, Karen, for continuing to share your life with us! 😍❤️❤️
Please tell me how to do those puzzles!
Click on it, the puzzle pieces should show up. I alway begin by sorting out the edges and sort by color a bit. (Then I do a “weird” sort by innies and outies. 😁) just look for a matching color and shape, and Bob’s your uncle! Am I allowed to say that, an a Kansan turned Arizonan? 😂 Good luck! I have to do it on my phone, and it gets tricky!
I have been loving these puzzles!!! Such a great idea. This one was a bit tricky and took me longer than I'd thought. Thank you for these gifts.
The garden..best therapy ever. That puzzle sure wasn’t. Lol
I had my fastest time on it because I really REALLY tried. But I thought I'd be done in about 3 minutes. It was way harder than I thought it was going to be. ~ karen!
;Beautiful abundance from your garden! I'm too embarrassed to tell you my time on the puzzle - I really need to practice! Isn't it lovely to have a therapist anytime you need? Have a great weekend!
Thanks Kelly! You too. :) ~ karen!
I am hoping I can post this video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf5TgVRGND4 If not, the video on YouTube Nature RX Part 1 address all how we feel about being out in nature.
I am blessed to live where my therapy break is quite short, less than 3 months. And during that time, I can still do self therapy thru things like soil building, raised bed maintenance, and such.
Then seed catalogs arrive!! Not long after that I can start planting cool season yummies...
Now if only I could find a fix for my almost 70 year old back.
You saying that just made me realize I think my back pain is gone! Ever since I got Philip I've had lower left back pain brought on by carrying him up and down the stairs until he was about 35 pounds, lol. It's going to be 71 this weekend so I am going to have at least one more therapy visit. ~ karen!
I couldn't sleep - I have rice weevils all over my house. They are marching around the floor after hatching from under my door jam. They are looking for something - assume rice? They are teenie, tiny things that I thought were just droppings from the herbs I've been dehydrating. I kept sweeping the stuff up then realize one of the things was walking s-l-o-w-l-y. I found where they were hatching and vacuumed them up. They stuck to the floor evidently as unhatched bugs they are very sticky. I dumped vinegar then the next week, clorox, finally I flooded them with Raid. They didn't die. They keep hatching. They craw out and march around the walls searching for whatever. I found one in my bedroom yesterday, then I moved the stack of empty canning jars and found about 50! So far they crawl slowly, I can pick them up with my fingers and flush them but when I sweep, I collect about 50-60 at a time. I can now see cement under the black sticky unhatched stuff. So maybe there is an end in sight. But as I lay in bed thinking they will crawl up and into the bed and dive into my mouth when I lay sleeping, I tried to guess what they were looking for - rice? I've looked in all my grain storage containers and none were found. I threw out bags of flour, rice, bran, etc. just in case but why would they be in there if they lay eggs under the door? My daughter thinks I can't see them and have been cooking with them but she is wrong. They would be in the grain and they are not. Does anyone have an idea of what will kill them or at least why they are marching around my house? I'm sleepy and must deal with them today - it's been a over a month of fighting but until two days ago, they were so tiny and few. They have grown and I can actually see them - about the size of a small grain of pepper. When magnified, they really are weevils. WTF? How can I play puzzles all day and deal with these things, too? I wish I kept chickens in my house. I made a deal with myself to not play puzzle today - then I get this post! Thanks a lot, Karen. I wish I was in your garden instead of looking at it as a puzzle!
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=22569 You can try the suggestions here and keep using your white vinegar to clean and get rid of them. Otherwise, you can always call in a professional to help deal with them.
I see that most have hatched out and crawled around my house now. I hand pick most now and toss in garbage or flush. The next JOB be finding where they all went. I read there are 1000's of varieties and nothing kills them - not sure why. Anyway, I'm handpicking my new housemates one by one today - fun times.
Hi Mary! Would't it be easier to vacuum them up? ~ karen!
Hi Mary, Gosh that sounds pretty horrible. 30 years ago I used to do pest control but never ran into these guys. Here is a great webpage for battling them: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IG120
Check out the part under "Control".
They didn't mention cereal but maybe look there if all else fails? If it were me, I'd be putting all dry food stuff in plastic or glass containers that the little monsters can't get into.
Thanks for the link! I still can't find anything that they have gotten into except the door jam and it is almost empty now of the 'things' that are marching around the house. All my dry food is in canisters sitting on the counter except for long storage and they are plastic cans with gamma seals. I have found one potential place they could gather but so far, they haven't found it - my parakeet seeds. Into glass they will go! Thank you for the link - I need all the help I can get!
Tried vacuuming but only got a small portion - better than nothing but they hatch slowly so I would have to stand there vacuuming for hours waiting as they hatch. I don't think they are rice weevils as the hatchlings are coming from under the door jam that goes to the pool deck. They hatch and walk in. They are stuck inside the jam and the shop vac got some. One of the commenters sent me a link for dealing with weevils and it suggested using sticky trap tape so they get stuck as they don't die from poisons very easily - no clue. I'm getting some duck tape down as soon as I get up again. At least they don't bite, itch, or stink. Always look for the good LOL.
Is it some where you can pour boiling water on? That'll help de-glue them.
That is a good idea but they are slowly crawling across my wood floors once they climb up from the cement under the door threshold. So I would be damaging the floors but that is a good idea or maybe sit there waiting and us boiling water in a squirt gun so not as much damage to the floor and that may be a fun activity. They have almost all hatched and I pick them up quickly now that they are hatching. I can see there are only 40-50 left to climb up now. I did go through my cabinets right next to that door and found they had gotten into the spices. They didn't get inside the jars but I found seems like a couple hundred piled under the plastic turnabout almost like they got in but couldn't get out. Weird but I wiped them into a plastic bag then sealed the top and put them in our outside garbage can. I looked at all the other cabinets and the only place I found them was in that pile under the plastic tray - so weird but now gone. Thanks for the advice!
I found out that the adults can fly…
Thanks a lot! LOL I really don't think they are rice weevils since they are not in the flour, rice, or any of my easily gotten into grains. They are now climbing up the walls but I have gotten so many - 5 or more times a day I get the ones that hatch and destroy them. I borrowed my daughters shop vac today and vacuumed which really worked as they must have all gotten out of their egg cases. If it was a grain weevil they wouldn't have been on the cement but instead eggs would be in the grains. Whateer, they are almost all gone as well as all the accumulated dirt and dust from behind all the furniture, oven, craft supplies, storage containers, etc. I had a huge bag of bird seed I'd forgotten about and all my garden seeds and cat food stored 'away' where I never see them and didn't see any in them. The migratory birds have just appeared (FL) and I will toss all the seeds way out back for them. Thanks for letting me know, actually. I'd rather be prepared than unaware of their circus activity in flying into my upper cabinets.
Don't soil & seeds just make a great therapist! And animals too! Haven't said goodbye to mine yet, but soon. Still lots to do. And bird feeders to set up.
I knew right where you were going with this title! I, too, parted ways with my therapist yesterday! I planted 82 cloves of 3 different varieties of garlic and shut the gate on Gardening Season 2022! I’m going to sit back and enjoy this “extended summer” Mother Nature is currently gifting us :)
I know! It's um, weird. It's going to be 22 here this weekend (71F) so I actually probably will pay the therapist another visit tomorrow, lol. ~ karen!
Hi,
I've been enjoying the puzzles, but the last two won't open for me...what to do? I miss solving them.
Nina
Hi Nina! What do you mean won't open. They don't actually load on your phone/computer? The first thing you can try is clearing your browser cache and if that doesn't work you could try a new browser. Switch from Safari to Chrome for example and give that a shot. ~ karen!
Hi,
Cleared my browser (Chrome) and still won't load: the arrow doesn't change to the little pointing hand over the jigsaw--sigh! I'll try changing browsers, but I'm no techy. I love that you publish these puzzles.
Hi,
I cleared my cookies, and it worked! What a great puzzle! Loved it, although it took me 20". Keep them coming!
Perfect! ~ karen
This was a tough one!
I know! I thought it was going to be really easy - but no. ~ karen!
I love your therapist; actually it’s mine too…right after dogs (yeah you got that!) and horses (they also take priority over growing stuff!)
I love spending time with my gardens; but this fall, they make me feel guilty!! I didn’t given enough time for preparation, etc! So I erased that guilt by dumping a few loads of great rabbit manure on top; and saying: ‘see ya in the spring’!!
BTW; I can’t solve ANY of those puzzles…is it a new personality disease I have; or should I be using my computer (as opposed to the phone?)
Love you, though!
Confused and in need of a better puzzle device…
;) kathy
Hi Kathy! It's likely because you're doing it on the phone. It *can* be done on a phone but it's tricky because of the limited amount of space to move the puzzles around. But you can squish and squeeze the puzzle to make it bigger or smaller to help with that. ~ karen!
You are truly a woman of courage, fortitude, bravery and a possessor of a good soul. I am just a silly old man who finds those qualities endearing. I feel privileged to have found you somehow in the ocean of mediocrity that is the internet. Keep on keepin' on as we were wont to say in my 'yoot.
Is that similar to Keep on trukin'? Crumb was FASCINATING. ~ karen!