Back Pain Took Me Out of the Garden - This Kneeler is Getting Me Back In
Last time I wrote a blog post I was headed to the garden for some quarantine activity. Unfortunately I overdid it and put my back out (this didn’t happen even 10 years ago). I looked for some guidance online and mixed hot soaks in the tub with careful stretching and some ibuprofen. And I obeyed the guideline that suggested giving my back two weeks to heal (it could have taken up to eight).
Fortunately I’m back in the garden now and have cleaned out a lot of weeds that accumulated during my enforced “time off.” But I’m being very careful of my back and part of that is aided by using my garden kneeler/seat. I’ve been using the kneeler for years to avoid pains in my knees, but I realized during this layup that I hadn’t been using it at all the day I hurt my back. My husband has been using it for a couple years (we have two as a result) and he swore by it while listening to my pain complaints.
Another benefit of the kneeler/seat is that when you use it for kneeling it makes getting up a lot easier. Used to be I could go out in the vineyard to prune grapes, squat to get the lowest part of the vine and stand up with ease. Today’s reality is that 30 years takes a toll on your flexibility and you need to adjust. This bench helps me do that. Best of all, it comes with a tool holder so I’m not making holes in the bottoms of my pockets as I stick pruners or clippers in them.
If you are making some modifications in your gardening to accommodate the realities of aging, then this is something you should look at. There are lots of kneeler/seats on the market but I’ve found that the less expensive ones work just fine.
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Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
