Yes, I did.
Between suffering with long covid, dealing with forced early retirement and all the life-changing decisions and paperwork associated with that, and then having my property contaminated with pesticide, literally out of the blue, all in a four month period, was quite a bit for me to handle by myself. A weaker woman might not have survived.
While I was frazzled, confused, and distraught at the time and did quite a bit of ranting, I don't feel that I owe anyone an apology. I stated facts and was justified in my position on the subject. The lack of understanding and support was hurtful and I reacted accordingly.
With that said, I'd like to post an update.
The long covid is all but gone except for occasional fatigue. Retirement went as planned and after two years, I'm not only getting used to it, but loving every minute. Unfortunately, the pesticide issue continues although I have come to terms with the fact that there is nothing that can be done about it, or to prevent it from happening again.
I have resigned from that crusade; not because it isn't a worthy cause, but because there is no hope of winning.
If someone had mentioned that Tennessee is a "Right to Farm" state and told me what that meant in 2022, it would have saved me quite a bit of grief. I would have thrown in the towel a lot sooner.
There was a bright spot during the summer of 2022 though; a pumpkin vine appeared out of nowhere in the yard and grew like crazy into the fall and made the most perfect pumpkin you ever saw. I harvested it when we had the first freeze, cut it up, cooked it in the oven, packed and froze it, and eventually ate every bit of it in pies and bread.
A recap of spring 2023, the year after initial contamination...
I was hopeful early on when things started to green up and leaf out but by April I was seeing an exact repeat of the year before, nearly to the day, of tree and plant damage. I called the Dept of Ag inspector out and he tested again. Results showed 24-D ester again which he believed was residual from the previous year spraying, as I was told by the experts the previous year that would happen.
I didn't take many photos, or document as much as I did the previous year since the damage was identical and by this time I realized no one cared and nothing could be done about it.
The redbuds, buckeye, and Paulownia trees, again, were hardest hit. I was raking leaves all summer from these trees into a mountain of a pile that took four days to burn last week.
On the bright side, I planted squash, zucchini, maters, and sweet potatoes in the garden and they did fairly well, sweet potatoes especially. I also planted Ocoee vines around the fish pond and they did great and the Gulf fritillaries loved them and filled the yard.
So, here we are going into year three.
Things are turning green and starting to leaf out. I see fat buds on the buckeye, but no blooms on the redbuds yet.
There was an awful lot of limb dieback the last two years so lots of yard cleanup ahead of me.
The yard is full of robins this morning and I am looking forward to a beautiful spring. I am hoping for the best, but I am now better prepared for the worst.
It's good to be back.