Too much shoveling? and a movie!

I strained my calf muscle last week. All of the sudden in the middle of the work day I had the mother of all charlie-horses. It was a killer. I could barely walk by the end of the day. Just an aweful series of muscle spasms. It has been slowly getting better, but I can feel in my feet and legs that I am walking a little differently to avoid the pain. Everything I've read says just let it heal, let it rest, give it two weeks.

Because of that, because of the weather, and just because I haven't been in the mood for it I've stayed out of the garden for about a week. I headed out this afternoon to pick some kale and lettuce for dinner and just to putz around. I grabbed the shovel to dig up some dandelion weeds creeping in along the edge and started digging.

Then the zinger! I realized why my calf muscle freaked out. The previous weekend I spend 3 days straight in the garden dig dig digging! I use the same leg for digging each time and it is all the calf muscle's job to wedge the edge of the shovel into the ground. Of course, then I walked 2 miles (including up our Seattle hills) several days in a row. So of course my muscle needed a rest.

Is this a sign of getting old? It is a sign to claim sabbath/rest when I can? It it just a pulled muscle and I shouldn't fret. Probably all of the above.

On a side note: Sadly, the chard is limping along. The birds are eating the seeds of EVERYTHING that I intended to seed and honestly, we just haven't had enough rain (I know Seattle right??) it's just been damp so today I put the sprinkler on things just to help them settle into their new homes in the ground.

The good news on the garden front is the kale is rocking out! The greenbeans are growing well, the cucumbers are entering adolescence (putting on grown up leaves) the tomatoes are holding on despite some chilly days and we have now had 3 ripe strawberries from our small row!

Oh, and our girl loves to laugh! Kid laughter is addictive for us parents!