Coir and Missionaries

 Saturday was a great day. I had to wait for Tommy to wake up to go shopping. But, I would never make noise to wake him. Finally, he awoke and ate breakfast of cereal and then something for lunch. I scrambled 6 eggs, ate three and will have three for Sunday breakfast. Finally, we left.

It took two stores to find one with a cart. The first had only one working cart. At the second store in Hoover, I found a cart in the parking lot. I had Tommy come in with me and it wore him out because I wanted him right with me. 

I was having heart palpitations, was coughing from asthma and throat was constricting, and there is a huge knot on the back of my calf, maybe a blood clot. When he asked me why he had to go in and stay with me, I told him I wanted someone to call 911 immediately when I fell off the cart instead of having people try figure out what to do!

A Wave Petunia and a geranium were the two flowers I wanted. There are shepherd's hooks that need hanging baskets. I found the coir baskets I wanted. Actually, they are wire baskets with coir liners. So, pretty and perfect. The three shepherd's hooks each have a double hook. I have three hummingbird feeders, two hanging plants, and two birds to hang. The whole thing needs more, but this is a start.

We need two more plant hangers that screw to the posts on his porch. I will get the plants for those later. But, those decisions will be for next week. It will be pretty when I get it all up and IF we can keep it alive. 

My concrete bunny and my wire chicken need plants, plus I need the two more for the posts. So, that is at least 4 more plants. Maybe they both need coir. At some point, I want knockout roses and the azalea that bloom for three seasons. 

We could go out to eat tomorrow, but I would rather get my two hanging plants into the black wire and coir baskets. In the meantime, I have to shorten the metal chains so the plants don't sit cockeyed from the ramp railings hitting them. I hope the coir holds water like everyone claims.

Friday, we were driving along, a bit early for the food giveaway, when I caught site of young men in white shirts and black pants halfway from a restaurant to their cars.  "Mormons! I need to talk to them!" Well, Tommy barely got the car slowed in time to turn in. We pulled up and I asked them if they were Mormons. "We are missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ--Latter Day Saints." I was horrified I had offended and asked if "Mormon" were a pejorative. 

They explained that they are Christians and do not worship Mormon like some people think. They told us other things we both knew. I had no idea people think they are not Christians or worship Mormon!

I was babbling on and explained I needed help and said friend had missionaries help her and she fed them. Well, they were quite taken with the food part. They said, teasingly, that they would always work for food. Then, they told me they are to do two hours of service each week. 

The first time, I will have them take everything out of all the cabinets in the kitchen, pull off all the stick-on shelf paper, scrub out the cabinets. Same thing on lower cabinets. I made sure they knew I only wanted the contents put into boxes and we could wash or discard the items. Sooooo, that is the plan and they agreed they could do that. I am so excited. 

When all this is done, we can put food and dishes we use in there. We can do that slowly. If we cannot reach to put something in the cabinets, we cannot reach those things to use. Of course, up higher can go things Tommy wants to keep but that we will not use. Tommy has cabinets that go to the ceiling! 

So, they gave me their number and told me to call. I have started planning what to feed them. I will put in chicken pieces and vegetables in a pan, roast it all. I will bake a cake and frost. I might instead bake a pork loin with the vegetables. I will probably make a banana pudding and buy Hawaiian rolls or some bread. This will all have to go with them as I have no place to seat them. They told me I did not have to feed them. I laughed and said men work well for food. They laughed. Actually, I would be willing to pay them!

Okay, do you use coir in pots for your plants? Does it really help to hold moisture?