Garden Buddy

My Little Garden Buddy

Lately I have been thinking about aging bodies, specifically mine!  I have been having tired back lately.  Tired back is caused by bending over too much, and I have been bending over too much in my garden.  The sun is out--what else can I do?  I have to Make Hay While The Sun Shines.  There is a reason for that old cliche'.  But tired back is coming way too often now.  I used to be able to spend a couple of hours doing major gardening--hoeing, raking, digging, pruning.  I used to be able to squat down and weed for a long time and get up and still be able to walk.  

The reduction in the ability to do those things has been coming on gradually.  A few years ago I bought a little wagony thing called a Garden (or Lawn) Buddy.  It's a nifty little vehicle, 4 wheels, a lid that open and acts as the means to pull the wagon, a nice big compartment for tools, a tray, even a couple of "cup holder" spaces on the lid when it's closed.  I sit on the cup holder places so they aren't that useable.  The Garden Buddy is for sitting on so that I don't have to kneel, something that has always, even as a kid, given me fits.  I bend over from a sitting position to weed.  That worked great for several years, but now that bending over action is causing me problems, too.  The upshot is that I have had to weed for shorter and shorter periods of time--frequent breaks result.  Lots of getting up and "walking it out"--going for water--reading the paper while the kinks relax--watching the birds--going back, doing 15 more minutes, taking another break.

My Mom used to call me Powerful Katrinka because my arms and hands were so strong, or at least stronger than hers.  But now those same arms and hands belong to a woman who needs a jar opener to help her open the pickles and, thankfully, a husband to help lift heavy things. "Lift with the knees bent" has become my mantra.  A graduate buddy told me that he no longer can peel logs the way he used to.  He can still do it, but not as well.  I'm impressed that he can still do it!  

I know I'm lucky.  I don't have bad knees, I don't really have a bad back, my eyes are good, my hair is pretty thick.  My stomach doesn't digest the things it  used to but I don't have ulcers. I can't hear anything, and that's a problem for another day.   I merely wish that my muscles and ligaments were a little more forgiving.  Now that I have all this time I can spend in the garden, I wish I had the body to do it.  That's the irony, isn't it?  Retire at 63 and still have the energies and the abilities of a 50 year old?  Wouldn't that be the cat's meow?  Our generation wants to have it all and do it all and if we wait until we're in our 60s to have and do, then we have to face it,  the "it" being the fact that our bodies ain't what they used to be, ain't the efficient machines they once were.  My body may be more happy to be on a cruise ship, or at a resort, and it will be there, too, eventually.  

I'm sorry, I have to go now.  The sun is shining and I have to get out in the garden.  I'll see you later when I come in to put ligament on my sore muscles.