What parts of the chores in the garden world can be completed with one arm? I am finding out this month as I sit here and await the surgery that is scheduled for my left shoulder. Turns out that lifting trees and bales of compost are not so good for parts of your body when you reach the AARP crowd. I have always been a careful person regarding lifting, I thought. I lift weights and walk/run in the winter to stay in shape for the spring season that hits the garden center business like thunder, and I eat right and get lots of needed sleep. Well, maybe not rest - my husband would say, but I do get sleep. I do yoga on a semi-daily basis, just as much for my peace of mind as the strength of my core. So when my shoulder started to ache a few months ago I just put it on the back burner part of the brain and didn't worry to much about it. Figured out that if I just babied it a little all would be well. Turns out a 3" tear in your rotator cuff does not heal on it's own.

So, in a few weeks you will still find me at the nursery, but I will be the one behind the counter dispensing my best "Garden Words of Wisdom". I just won't be out loading any more trees or bales of compost for awhile. See you there, Susan