Busy Day

Finally started cleaning the basement to start planting seeds soon.  What a MESS it had become!   I could barely move around in parts of it.

Part of it is Loki.  He's an explorer and a real climber.  And when he jumps up of some places, they aren't as sturdy or stable as he thinks.  Appearances can easily deceive a cat.  They think that anything that looks solid is solid.  A stack of stuff can fall over.

So my stack of soil-filled planting trays (ready for planting) wasn't as sturdy as he thought it was.  It all crashed down and spilled the soil out everywhere!  

But most of it is my fault.  Last year, I had a bit of a return to some of the results of falling off the extension ladder.  Sore back, sore knees, some general fatigue.  So when finished with yard/garden work, I tended to put stuff in the basement wherever I could fit.

Well, you run out of space eventually.  Things don't get put away as they should.  Buckets stay a bit dirty.  Seed packets sit out and expire in the warmth (I usually keep them refrigerated).  Fallen soil collects on the floor.  And I fell into a habit of just laying in bed every night for 10 or more hours (mild depression, long covid, aging?) and that didn't leave much awake time for other than basic stuff (and blogging, which I just have to do).

I'd been meaning to tackle cleaning the basement for a month, but there was always something more immediate to do.  The seductive comfort of the heated waterbed, doing laundry, cooking, shopping, etc...  

But I've been getting myself up earlier lately.  Yesterday I made lunch fast, just skimmed the newspaper (must read the editorials and comics), and got myself down the basement.  Where on earth to start?  Well, if I am going to cook dinner, I want the kitchen clean.  I know I will make some mess cooking, but I need it to be clean to start.

So, in the basement, I picked stuff up off the floor, then swept it (I have a shop-vacuum, but I don't like the noise).  And sweeping is rather "meditative".  Quiet, repetitive, calming...  I knew I would mess it up again cleaning higher spots later, but it gave me a good surface to work from.

I mix my own potting soil.  When I run out of it, I mix more.  Which means I have bags of various stuff (peat, sand, compost, lime, fertilizer) left over.  I also used to buy kitty litter in 35# tubs.  They make great containers for the leftovers.  

So I combined 1/2 buckets of some of those and stashed them under my potting bench after sweeping that area clean.  Then brushed the empty buckets clean.  Stacked them up and set them in the garage.  That got me some space.

Collected everything that should really be out in the toolshed and set them next to the patio door for moving there by wheelbarrow (today was for organizing, not moving).  That got me some more space.  Took the trays I grow lettuce and other small crops in and dumped them all into a large shallow bin.  Broke up the chunks of soil and mixed it around with some organic slow-release fertilizer.  Refilled the trays and stacked them aside for planting in a few days.  

That got me the small TV-Tray-size worktable back.  It sits next to the basement refrigerator.  I use it for  holding bulk fresh food while I fit it into the fridge and I also use it for planting.  I was glad to have it available again.

I have a large planting stand, 2'x4' and 5 shelves high.  Bought it many years ago and added fluorescent light fixtures to the underside of each shelf.  Fluorescent lights last well and are energy-efficient, but at 14-16 hours per day, they last only months and even then, they collectively use about 800 watts!  And the fluorescent tubes aren't free either.

So, 1 1/2 years ago, I bought special "grow-light" LED) panels to replace them.  I haven't done that yet.  I need to take all the fluorescent fixtures off and install the LEDs, but I didn't have space (or energy) to do it before.  I am ready to do that now.  The LEDs use 1/4 of the energy and should last many years.  That almost starts to feel like "free", and the seedlings will get better light!  

But it will probably take an entire day to get that done.  I will remove the old fixtures one half-day and install the new ones the next half day.  Because I know my hands/fingers will cramp if I try to do it all in one day (and may anyway in 2 days).  

And I still have to clean the potting table.  The soil from the stacked trays Loki knocked over a couple months ago is still all over it.  The seed packets are still sitting out on the table and are probably useless now.  I have a pile of seed labels that need to be sorted out.  I rinsed out the old 6-pack cells a few days ago, and they are dry and ready to reuse.

Aside from basement-cleaning for planting,  I need to re-order many seeds.  It's a bit late, so some I want will be "out-of stock" now, but that's my fault.  Vegetable seeds will be easier to replace, but flower seeds become unavailable fast.  

But at least I am making some serious progress in the basement.

 

Lori Update, Part 1

I brought Lori to the vet for her rabies shot and to discuss her meds with the vet Friday.  The rabies shot went fine.  They clipped her nails too.

She is still having diarrhea.  It has been well over a month now, and I'm worried.  The vet can't really tell if it is a digestive problem or stress.  She doesn't even seem to know she is dribbling.  There will suddenly just be a line of little "chocolate syrup" drops as she walks around...

 A couple nights ago, she wanted to get under the covers with me.  And as she was getting in,  she dribbled on the pillow and sheet (and my elbow).   Sometimes it is on my blanket, sometimes the hallway, sometimes near or in the litterbox.  

It doesn't seem to connect to any immediate fuss with Loki or Binq, but maybe there is some psychological lag involved.   It is bothering me more than it is her.  I don't think she knows it is even hers.  She just knows she has to clean herself more often.

I've been doing a lot of floor-cleaning and laundry.  I soak the washcloths and soiled parts of blankets/sheets in the basement laundry tub with a 1/4 dose of bleach and then launder them separately with regular detergent and a spoonful of powdered Oxi-Clean.  

The mess itself doesn't really bother me.  When I was 15, Mom presented us kids with a new Sister.  Being the eldest, I was the natural baby-sitter.  And as such, changed a whole lot of diapers.  And back in the 60s, that meant reusable cloth diapers that had to be swished around in the toilet before being put in a special diaper bucket.  And sometimes I laundered them too.  

I probably changed and cleaned more diapers than most husbands back then.  LOL!

So the mess and the cleaning part are not unfamiliar.  But I sure wish Lori was cured of the diarrhea problem.  The mess is annoying, but I'm mostly concerned about her health.  She has lost a few ounces over the past couple months.  Not enough to threaten her health, but it can't continue.  She is down to 7.2 pounds (from almost 8).

I think I'll stop here and address the Vet visit more tomorrow.

Planting Trays All Fall Over

I have a routine in late Winter.  I soak old planting trays in the laundry tub with a bit of bleach to drown/kill any insect eggs and rinse them thoroughly.  Then I fill them with newly-mixed potting soil I make/mix myself.  I fill the trays of plastic cell-packs with my mix.  And then stack them up for easy access.

Well  "Some Kitty" seems to have considered that a good way to jump up onto the old basement refrigerator...

AARGH!  

It sure took a while of sweeping, moving stuff around, more sweeping.  But everything is clean and the soil recovered in buckets.  I'd rather it hadn't happened, but the potting area is cleaner now that it has been for a few years.  

I made sure to leave the recovered trays stacked lower and make more stable.  Set me back a week (I didn't clean it all up in a single day).  But at least I am ready to move forward with planting seeds again...