I had lost my voice for over a year. What was heard when I spoke was a whisper, a croak.
Over a year ago my gardener spread Diatomaceous Earth (DE) on my garden. The next day I watered the garden and the DE puffed up like a cloud from the soil and I unfortunately inhaled it. Instantly I began to cough and I got two bouts of bronchitis. I’ve been coughing every since.
It was a year long of seeing doctors from Clear Lake to UC Davis and not going anywhere because of the coughing and being tired.
I went from an active person, making a backyard patio to a couch potato and a bed potato. Not an easy transition.
With help this year, I got my two garden boxes planted. First, I germinated seeds and then in time they were planted in the soil. I actually put netting over each box, secured with u-shaped metal stakes. Unfortunately, with all the time spent, the money, the water, the security netting, raccoons got in there and went crazy. They destroyed my beautiful garden. Damn them!
Not one to give up, I planted a few more plants. Again they fed themselves on my veggies! They even took the last vegetables still growing – my kale! There’s two pathetic basil plants still hanging on. Apparently they don’t like basil. I should have gone with my original idea to plant nothing but basil.
Unfortunately I couldn’t scream at the little masked buggars because I had no voice!
No worries, I’d fix that. Hopefully.
Months ago one of my doctors scheduled an endoscopy for me and the day finally came. “It’ll be a nice nap,” the anesthesiologist said. True that, yet the hardest thing for me was not the endoscopy, and removal of polyps, but waking up from the anesthetic.
It’s great to get my voice back. However, if I talk too much it reverts back to a croak.
So what’s next?
For my garden? I’m going to sprinkle two packs of basil seeds and see how that goes.
If the raccoons get those sproutlings I might give up. A friend tells me to relocate the raccoons but I’m not sure I want to cage a ticked off raccoon.
When I was a kid my parents would take my brother and me to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where my uncle had a big cabin. My parents would ride in the back of my uncle’s pickup truck lounging on beach lounge chairs. My brother and I sat up front laughing at my parents.
One time we went to visit Mr. and Mrs. Bible. Their cabin was very rustic and birds would fly into the house, land on the rough-cut table and eat crumbs from the table.
A year or so after that, the word was Mrs. Bible (who, to me, seemed a bit off) had shot and killed 50 raccoons. Fifty! Whatever for? I’m mad at the raccoons for eating my kale but to shoot and kill them? Nope!
The internet told of several ways to deter raccoons from vegetable gardens; ultrasound and flashing lights was one, trapping one at a time and relocating was another, leaving outdoor lights on because raccoons are nocturnal and lights would deter them or motion-activated sprinklers, to name a few. I’d rather forget the garden and go to the farmers market for my veggies than try any of those options.
My favorite option is peppermint oil. I found a four-pack of peppermint pods that would do the trick and get rid of the raccoons. Bingo!
What’s a girl to do?…”peppermint paddies here I come,” I shout in my new normal voice!
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes comments at lucywgtd@gmail.com
