Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

After I read Pablo's comment in the last post I admit, I felt kinda bad.  I didn't mean to sound so gloomy.  It was just my usual pissing and moaning that comes and goes about like the phases of the moon.  I have noticed for some time that the demeanor of this blog had been changed and I guess it occurred to me, finally,  that some of the emotion was gone that used to be here.  I used to rant a good bit about Wal-Mart and rampant consumerism and all that sort of thing but I guess I've lost my taste for it.  Oh, I still hold all the same beliefs I used to (believe me), and I've never been under the delusion that my opinions ever influenced anybody, but it has just felt like beating a dead horse I suppose.
I've been frustrated with my body and it's apparent attempt to cause me misery at every turn.  And with the doctors that really seem not able to care any less.  I've come to the conclusion that 90% of them are just legalized drug dealers anyway.  If you can't or won't take their drugs they seriously have no knowledge of anything else to do.  To give you an example of how desperate I've been lately for some relief I actually tried 2 different prescriptions and a couple of doses of steroids.  The 'scripts had bad side effects and after 5 days I had to stop.  Do the docs have any alternative plan or treatment?  Nope!  Just nothing.  So, I've been trying to figure it out myself.
Another honest confession; I've had trouble writing posts for probably over a year now.  I have trouble organizing my thoughts enough to write, as you can probably tell.  ha!  I forget a lot.  My hand coordination has gotten worse and I spent as much time correcting my typing as I do typing.  I drop things a lot  that I used to have no trouble holding on to.  But I know, I know!!, that I am so much better off than many people.  I can still do most anything I want to do.  Maybe not as fast as I used to...but I can do it!  It is life though.  You adapt, you get by, you figure a way.  I think I have figured out some stuff and I am working on improving.

The garden this year is a good example of all this.  It's been so cool here that things are not like they usually are.  I have yet to harvest enough okra to make a dish for supper.  That's unheard of for mid-July in Alabama.  The tomatoes are finally coming in but I haven't had enough to can yet.  My Romas are very prolific but very small, like plum tomatoes, so I have been drying them instead of canning.  I've never tried that before but I can't bear to waste them and I think the chickens are even getting a little tired of tomato scraps.  The potatoes didn't do a whole lot but I had a good harvest of garlic and the rhubarb is still hanging in!  The first round of figs got wiped out by frost but they actually sprouted again so we'll have figs but very late in the season.  The cukes got borers in them so I may not get to make many pickles this year but amazingly enough the squash is untouched.  And it goes on and on.  We will make do with what we did get, maybe buy enough to can of what we didn't get and we'll try it all again next year.  I know I've learned a thing or two from this season that I can hopefully remember next year.

Really, things not going your way are often a blessing.  Makes you look at stuff from a new angle, try things you've never tried before and that can end up being a very good thing.