There are No Safety Tips for Pole Bean Planting

My mom said she sat by my grandmother during the opening service at her church's Sunday School.  A deacon (who is in his 80's) slid a bulging envelope into Mam-ma's hands, and she quickly stuffed it into her purse as if it were diamonds!  It was pole bean seeds!  Mom said he began to tell Mam-ma how to plant them, and she said (I'm sure rather curtly), "Oh, I know how to plant them!"

For the record, summer has come early to the Ozarks.  It's 95 in the shade, with humidity almost that high... and a heat index well above 100 degrees.  The last place my nearly 98-year-old grandmother needs to be is puttering in her yard, much less planting pole beans.  I feel quite certain she has had my cousin (who has a heart condition) plant them for her, as he tends to planting much of her summer garden now.  But she did go out and water her plants and ferns last week, much to Mother's chagrin.  She said they needed watering!

When I did errands last Friday, Mam-ma said, "I talked to a friend, and she asked, 'Have you seen the baby lately?'  I told her 'No... GREG was supposed to bring him over to see me, and he never did.'"  Now, my husband did stop by to visit my grandmother one day (totally his idea and unbeknownst to me), and he did tell her that he would bring the baby by sometime when we were keeping him.  BUT... last week, my sister took the baby by for a 2-hour visit with Mam-ma, and the next day, the baby came to our house.  We did not see the need to return to Mam-ma's with said baby in such short order.  I reminded Mam-ma of this, and she said, "But Greg didn't bring him."  So you see, there is no pleasing her.  And I had to laugh - neither my husband OR my sister got credit for a visit and bringing the baby!

Summer is upon us, and I'm quite sure that it will mean phone calls for us to come pick up fresh vegetables... those grown by my grandmother - but more likely, the bushels and bags full that she will request from friends and church members.  She recently called one evening and asked if I wanted fresh lettuce.  A man in her church had just brought her a big bag full of garden lettuce... and my grandmother cannot eat lettuce!  Rather than refuse it and let him give it to someone who can eat it, she accepted the gift.  I had just bought lettuce that day, so I had all I could use.  I think she told my sister she tossed lettuce in her back yard - probably to lure the baby rabbit that ate her first crop of beans so she can have a chance at nabbing him!

Somehow, the "Ten Steps to Easier Care of Your Senior Adult" phamplet (see post below) did not have a section for preventing your grandma from gardening!  Maybe it should have... if you figure out how that's done, let me know!