Sunday, August 1, 2010

Long Distance Critter, self seeders and doctor's visit

That same old refrain "hot and humid....and dry".

The last post should actually be for Thursday, don't know how to type one day and post the next with the correct date.

This one is for Friday, Saturday and Today.

First, I will get this out of the way. It fits right in with my theme of cutting back, simplifying, and streamling things. Three days ago I woke up with very sore, stiff and swollen wrists and hands. Also my left shoulder was hurting again. The wrists and hands was something new for me. I took Aleve for a day but then some sweet internet friends told me to go to a doctor asap. They scared me up a bit so I did. Went to the Urgent Care Clinic since I don't have a Primary Care Doctor (I hate that whole setup). They took three x-rays and three tubes of blood. The RF test (rheumatoid factor) for arthritis came back slightly elevated (normal is 0-14; mine was 15.1). The blood was good as was bone density in wrists and they found no damage to bones due to possible RA. I had no idea it damaged bones. I will be calling a PC doctor Monday first thing to schedule follow up. They said she will probably refer me to a rheumatologist. In the meantime, I am taking Aleve and have prescription pain meds if I need them and usually don't.

My wrists are still swollen and quite stiff when I first get up but after about an hour are much better. The shoulder is bursitis and is taking a long time to heal. I was able to mow yesterday afternoon and used the string trimmer some with no adverse effects.

and life goes on................

Coming home we spotted a groundhog waddling across the field. I had to stop and take a very long zoom. We haven't seen one in years.
From July 2010

Gardening

I love self seeding plants. What a help they are; no planting in trays; no transplanting and they come up when the time is right; no worrying about when to do it.

This year I have melampodiums, a whole row of them in fact.
From July 2010
and in that same row one single plant of ageratum Leilani. I haven't planted or had it in years, yet here it is this year.
From July 2010
and a rudbeckia by the porch that started life as rudbeckia 'Prairie Sun'. I like this one just as well; it is a huge bloom.
From July 2010
in this same foundation bed around the south side of the house are cleome.
From July 2010
and my very favorite for edging, vinca.
From July 2010
I also have a row of short red maybe 'Lady in Red' salvias on the south side of the hummingbird bed....and they do love it.
From July 2010
.

Also self seeded are zinnias and nicotianas and cosmos....had the sprinkler on so didn't photgraph them.
Whoops, I did take a picture of the nicotianas out front.
From July 2010
Harvest

Last is a picture of the tomatoes I picked from the kitchen garden this morning. I need to figure what to do with all the grape tomatoes I will have!
From Harvest 2010

Hope everyone has a super Sunday.

2 comments:

  1. When I zoom in on ground hogs, I'd prefer a high-powered magnifying sniper scope. ;-)

    I love the clean crisp look of vinca - the dark green leaves and laundry-day white. It actually makes a hot day feel a little cooler.

    I hope you find out what is causing your swelling. Why is it that lots of healthy folks don't want to do stuff, while us broken down souls still try to get in 18 hours of work a day! Go figure....LOL Take care. Don't work too hard. (Suuuure, like you'll slow down or something...hahahaha)

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  2. Hi Glenda,
    I had to laugh at Kris's comment. I actually cringed when I read that you mowed. You may need to give your muscles some rest so they can heal. I hope the swelling is going down, and they are figuring out the cause.

    You have some very nice volunteer plants! Some of those are inconsistent for me, and others don't grow here. My cleomes didn't return for a year or two, then came back, and since I moved a couple to the front bed, I now have a few in the veggie garden as well as a bunch in the front bed, that I have done some thinning on.

    I hope you are feeling better.

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