Gallbladder Decision and Time to Move Some Dirt

Posted on by Julia

April 16, 2026

Updated April 17, 2026 – Thanks to Beth for noticing I wrote “loom” instead of “loam”.

On and off for several days, Bruce and I discussed whether or not I should have my gallbladder removed. After some more bad attacks, I realized that diet would no longer control my gallbladder’s problems.

On Saturday (April 11), I decided to have my gallbladder removed. Bruce is very supportive.

Knowing I was going to have surgery soon, I want to try and get as much done in the garden as I can before I am unable to do a lot.

On April 12 (Sunday), I got up at sunrise and started a load of laundry.

Sunrise

After eating, we let our breakfast digest for a while.

Once our breakfast digested, we went outside and started working.

Bruce headed off with his pickaxe to knock dirt from the root ball of Pine Tree 3. He also worked on the root system of Pine Tree 1. I walked to the garden to start dealing with the tall garden bed, D3. The level of dirt sank 18 inches over the winter. The bed was filled with Lowe’s dirt. Over the winter, all the bark in the Lowe’s dirt rotted, turning it into a loam.

First, I dug up weeds from the garden bed D3 with my spade fork. I started moving dirt from the large pile of the Bama Dirt Pro Mix into D3. To move the dirt, I put three 5-gallon buckets into my wagon. I shoveled dirt into the buckets, which were about equal to the wagon loaded with dirt. A 5-gallon bucket is something I can lift safely. The three 5-gallon buckets of dirt were lifted and dumped into D3, tall garden bed. I repeated this until the bed was topped off.

Meanwhile, Bruce gave up on swinging the pickaxe and stopped by to see how I was doing. I went inside with him to take a break. Once we cooled off, I went back to dirt moving, while Bruce went off to mow. His shoulder was bothering him, but he wanted to do something useful.

It took a lot of dirt to top off the bed. Once the bed was topped off with Bama Dirt, I used the spade fork to mix the the Bama Dirt with the loam from the rotted Lowe’s dirt. Once the dirt was mixed, I planted bush beans.

I was tired and it was getting hot, so I was done working in the garden.

Later in the day, we walked around admiring how the plants looked

Front Garden
Herb Garden
Blueberries
Toad on Porch at the End of the Day

I discovered I didn’t post when I planted rhubarb, horseradish, and the June bearing Honeoye strawberry. The best I can recall, I planted these around April 6. I planted the rhubarb and horseradish in the tall bed, D1. This is my perennial garden bed, with sorrel, rhubarb and horseradish.

I am trying to grow rhubarb again. I will watch it closely to make sure the fire ants don’t kill the rhubarb. See this post about fire ants and my poor rhubarb plant. https://retirementrvdream.com/2025/07/13/the-bat-is-back-with-a-friend-bruce-gets-the-chipper-running/

I planted the strawberries in bed D6. Before planting the strawberries, using the spade fork, I mixed up the loam from the rotted Lowe’s dirt with the Bama Dirt Pro Mix. (What a run on sentence! My 8th grade English teacher would be disappointed with me. I’m not going to change it, since she’s not going to grade it.)

20 thoughts on “Gallbladder Decision and Time to Move Some Dirt”

  4. I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry you feel bad enough to need to have your gallbladder removed. ☹️. You sure did get a lot of work done, though! I hope that help to keep you cheerful through the coming weeks. 😊

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    1. Thank you for your sympathy for my health problems. I know you have your own health issues that are way more serious than mine.

      I am trying to focus on hard work now so I can do light work after surgery.

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      2. We’ve gotten so much done, but so much more to do.

        It depends on how much I can sit up. If I can’t sit for long, I won’t try to draw. If I find I can sit upright for a while, I will do some drawing.

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  7. Your teacher would probably mark you down, though, for not knowing the difference between loom and loam! One of those things spell check can’t do – and I’d put a smiley face there, but my computer won’t do that!

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Published by Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. We bought a ranch house on a hill in the middle of five acres. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist and I’ll share my current projects. Reading is my favorite hobby.