Don't Come Too Close
So, Dearest Darlings, how are you today?
We at the House O'Piffle have taken to sampling various cruds this week:
Charles thought a nice mucusy case of bronchitis sounded good and, after a couple of weeks, finally achieved the perfect consistency and purulence in phlegm. He is now on some nice antibiotics as his next course.
Colin went with his old favorite: stomach ache. If true to form, we will be chasing it with lots of vomiting and some diarrhea in a few hours.
I, being the adventurous one, have opted for the Crud du jour: a nice prickly sore throat with a reduction of congestion and post nasal sauce. Tasty! Hasn't affected my appetite, though. Excuse as I brush the crumbs from the keyboard. Toasty banana bread makes everything better. As an aside note, my very favorite patient comment is, "So, how do you manage to not get sick?" I then enlighten them with the truth, that I average about 5-6 bouts of something-or-other a year. They look horrified until I reassure them that this really isn't bad, as my first year here, I got 14 different bugs between November and June.
Sara is still asleep, in our bed, as she was up every few hours, just cranky and crying. As this is atypical for our little darling, I imagine she is perusing the menu and will announce her choice in aliments in the near future.
Emma seems in fine fettle, barking loudly at all passersby. I plan to let her out in a bit, though, so she can bolt down mass quantities of long grass and then vomit it up.
On the garden front, I finally managed to finish doing something to the odd slab of concrete in the back, next to the swingset. It is about 10' x 15' and was originally the bottom of a fenced-in dog kennel area. The previous owners took everything but the slab. It had a perimeter if gravel around it that kept the weeds nicely at bay last year, but this year, seems to act more as, well fertilizer, as there were more weeds there, most of them very frighteningly large thistles, than pretty much anywhere else in such a small area. (Note: this does not include either of the two thistle gauntlets. but that is a rather large area and also off to the edge of the property. I will get to it at some point.)
As I am (all in chorus, now) So Very Lazy removing the slab really was not an option. As I am also So Very Compulsive, though, I spent several days with my trusty spade and removed, by the roots, if possible, each and every mother-hating-one of those bastards. I then planted the last 5 blueberry bushes, a viburnum, 2 buddleia (butterfly bushes) and then, a bunch of butterfly-loving annuals, like latana and heliotrope, as well as several African daisy (too damn lazy to look up the spelling for oneotropium-or-something). The slab is currently used by Sara to draw on with chalk. I figure it will also be a pretty good place for either a stand-alone hammock or a table with an umbrella, when everything has grown up a bit.
While at my drug dealers, I mean the nursery, I also just happened to have a few scabiosa (pincushion flower) follow me home, which found homes with all the others in the front. Yes, yes, I had some scabiosa, but some from last year had died and, well, you can never have enough. I think I am done planting this year, except for Colin's sunflower that he brought home, that is on the kitchen sill. Maybe later today if he is feeling better, we can plant it with the other 2 sunflowers from school (those ones planted in a plastic bag-with-paper-towel vs this one planted in a plastic cup).
So there. More piffle. If this blog isn't aptly titled, I don't know what is.
We at the House O'Piffle have taken to sampling various cruds this week:
Charles thought a nice mucusy case of bronchitis sounded good and, after a couple of weeks, finally achieved the perfect consistency and purulence in phlegm. He is now on some nice antibiotics as his next course.
Colin went with his old favorite: stomach ache. If true to form, we will be chasing it with lots of vomiting and some diarrhea in a few hours.
I, being the adventurous one, have opted for the Crud du jour: a nice prickly sore throat with a reduction of congestion and post nasal sauce. Tasty! Hasn't affected my appetite, though. Excuse as I brush the crumbs from the keyboard. Toasty banana bread makes everything better. As an aside note, my very favorite patient comment is, "So, how do you manage to not get sick?" I then enlighten them with the truth, that I average about 5-6 bouts of something-or-other a year. They look horrified until I reassure them that this really isn't bad, as my first year here, I got 14 different bugs between November and June.
Sara is still asleep, in our bed, as she was up every few hours, just cranky and crying. As this is atypical for our little darling, I imagine she is perusing the menu and will announce her choice in aliments in the near future.
Emma seems in fine fettle, barking loudly at all passersby. I plan to let her out in a bit, though, so she can bolt down mass quantities of long grass and then vomit it up.
On the garden front, I finally managed to finish doing something to the odd slab of concrete in the back, next to the swingset. It is about 10' x 15' and was originally the bottom of a fenced-in dog kennel area. The previous owners took everything but the slab. It had a perimeter if gravel around it that kept the weeds nicely at bay last year, but this year, seems to act more as, well fertilizer, as there were more weeds there, most of them very frighteningly large thistles, than pretty much anywhere else in such a small area. (Note: this does not include either of the two thistle gauntlets. but that is a rather large area and also off to the edge of the property. I will get to it at some point.)
As I am (all in chorus, now) So Very Lazy removing the slab really was not an option. As I am also So Very Compulsive, though, I spent several days with my trusty spade and removed, by the roots, if possible, each and every mother-hating-one of those bastards. I then planted the last 5 blueberry bushes, a viburnum, 2 buddleia (butterfly bushes) and then, a bunch of butterfly-loving annuals, like latana and heliotrope, as well as several African daisy (too damn lazy to look up the spelling for oneotropium-or-something). The slab is currently used by Sara to draw on with chalk. I figure it will also be a pretty good place for either a stand-alone hammock or a table with an umbrella, when everything has grown up a bit.
While at my drug dealers, I mean the nursery, I also just happened to have a few scabiosa (pincushion flower) follow me home, which found homes with all the others in the front. Yes, yes, I had some scabiosa, but some from last year had died and, well, you can never have enough. I think I am done planting this year, except for Colin's sunflower that he brought home, that is on the kitchen sill. Maybe later today if he is feeling better, we can plant it with the other 2 sunflowers from school (those ones planted in a plastic bag-with-paper-towel vs this one planted in a plastic cup).
So there. More piffle. If this blog isn't aptly titled, I don't know what is.
Labels: Garden Wars, Whining to a Captive Audience
posted by Diana at 8:59 AM
9 Comments:
first I really hate people who would even build a dog kennel with a concrete slab... yikes. Glad your putting it to good human use.
Also when IIK first started working in a cubicle environment I was sick for 3 months straight. Getting used to all the germs I guess. I feel sorry for you having to endure every flu and cold strain every single season.... yuck!
I seriously have a typing deficiency
I share keyboards with 20 other people at work, we are constantly using disinfectent wipes after each other, but...you know, we aren't always successful...sniffle.
I'd like to see a pincushin plant. Never heard of it.
~K!
I see that medical professionals are the one species that have a worse environment than educators. How many days did I spend shaking with a fever and a cuppa trying to get ignorance out and learning into dull fever-ridden heads. After 10 years, I am immune to everything, and after 20 years I am immune to gamma radiation. Somewhere inbetween, bullets loss their impresion.
RF
Mojavi- I agree with you! But then, our pets sleep in our room with us and are only outside with us. I feel so sad for dogs chained or penned in small spaces outside, especially in harsh weather. These must have been inside dogs, too, as the unfinished part of the basement had quite a nice collection of dog shit.
Kismet- You are so right. Quite the germ collectors. That alcohol-based hand cleanser that comes in a tube is actually very good for disinfecting hands. It might be worth it for the company to buy you all a vat of it to keep by the computers, if they won't buy you each your own personal detachable keybord.
Here is a link for pincushion flower: www.botany.com/scabiosa.html
It is one of my must-haves. At the bottom of the site page are 2 of the common ones. They make good cut flowers, bloom for months, especially if you deadhead. Bees and butterflies love them. I have a 3rd color that is magenta, too, and believe they now come in yellow.
Dad- Actually very similar. My friend, Debbie, who teaches grade school reading recovery, will not let ANYONE borrow her particular pencil. At first they laughed at her but now that she seems to get about 1/2 the bugs everyone else picks up, some are starting to copy her. As I so tiredly joke, between what I get exposed to at work and then what Colin and Charles bring home, small pox will bounce off me in a few years.
I got sick a lot more often when I worked at jobs where I come into contact with other people. Ah, blessed freelance writing, where the phone is my intermediary. I have no idea what all these people look like and I don't care. :-)
I hope you all feel better ASAP.
Do Buddleias grow as insanely fast up there as they do down here? And get this: Here, lantanas are perennial. They die back to the ground and are slow coming up, but the roots are very much alive and the plants double in size every year. I never expected that!
You are the only person I "know" who can make the crud sound almost appetizing. This frightens me. I used to get bronchitis/walking pneumonia twice a year. All I needed was some one with a cold to even look in my general direction and I would be out of work for weeks. Weak, stupid lungs.
Finally, when my doctor told me I was going to die if I didn't stop smoking, I went through hell and was able to quit. Of course, I am weak and went back to smoking but now it's only maybe a pack to two a week. And now I can have the sniffles and they stay the sniffles. Lungs are strong.
Your dad needs a blog. I would love to hear more about his life as a teacher. That used to be my dream job until I figured I just don't really like kids that much.
NOW it lets me comment - but now I can't bcs it's old news now and all's been said!
Blah.
Speaking of diseases, I always think scabiosa sounds like a disease--sort of a cross between scabies and roseola or something.
Such a yucky name for such a pretty flower.
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