Gardening/health
Mar. 12th, 2026 07:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gs_silvaI woke up to a light rain and an insistent cat. Typhoon wanted to be let onto the catio RIGHT NOW. She loves watching storms. She wants a front-row seat. This isn't really a storm, but it appears to have been a lot of rain cumulatively - the stubborn backyard snow is almost gone, replaced by a veritable swamp. I don't have adequate footwear for wading through swamp. It actually is a swamp - it's been filled for development but the untouched patches of my neighborhood are still fully functioning swamp. I think I'll go for a walk with my mother soon and check out the budding skunk cabbages. They're thick and purple and they don't smell any worse than the surrounding swamp, but they're teardrop-shaped, like a skunk's tail. So maybe that's how they got their name.
The neighbors' little girl pointed out the crocuses in their front yard while I was hacking at the burning bush yesterday. We had one feral crocus last year; I haven't had the chance to scout out more. I should give the neighbor kids fictional names. Let's see. How about Mia and Ennio. Mia is four, I think, and is starting to develop social skills just like her brother's - talking rapidly at anyone who will listen with whatever crosses her mind, and a lot crosses her mind. When Ennio used to do that, his grandmother would come up to us and say, "Sorry, he's a little bit autistic. Ennio, stop bothering the nice lady."
And I'd say, "It's fine! He's interesting. I'm learning something." And Ennio would beam.
But then the next time we were outside simultaneously, it would happen again.
Once, he was playing music on whatever little device his grandparents had gotten him, and I could hear the strains of "Rainbow Connection" from their yard. So I sang along. I don't know if Ennio was impressed or put out; he had to tell me all about "Rainbow Connection" and that he was listening to the cover version by Blink 182 or somebody, I don't know, I wasn't paying that close attention. Kid, I learned it directly from Kermit the Frog, and I learned it well.
I haven't seen Ennio around lately. I heard that last summer the kids went to England, and the grandmother promised that they'd tell me aaaallllll about it, but I didn't see them again until Halloween, and then they were too busy to chat. I suppose Ennio is busy with school and activities now. I hope Mia can be allowed to putter idly around the yard for a while before she also gets sucked into the busy-kid lifestyle. As a second child, she seems like the kind of person who doesn't like to play alone.
I did a little bit of early spring clearing yesterday. The burning bush in the front, although now it's just an ugly stump and I'll have to get down into the root base before it replaces itself with new growth. Then I moved to the backyard where I hacked at the Japanese quince next to the bulkhead. What a terrible place to put a thorny shrub! I suppose it's 20+ years old, and when it was small it seemed like a good idea to someone. Its blossoms are very pretty, but I have four of the things, and this one is by far the oldest, and I've been cutting it back for the last 2 years (as long as we've lived here) and I really should get it out once and for all.
But even a small amount of labour wears me down, so now I'm in a lot of pain and will take this storm as an opportunity to rest.
I have more notes about my health, but it's just for my own reference so I won't do it here.
Haha! My phone autopredicted that "it's just for my own" should be followed by "navel-gazing." Yeah, phone, I don't think so! It's still better than the autopredict my Huawei phone in China had. I swear the English in that phone was programmed by people who had learned English by watching a bunch of 80's action movies.
The neighbors' little girl pointed out the crocuses in their front yard while I was hacking at the burning bush yesterday. We had one feral crocus last year; I haven't had the chance to scout out more. I should give the neighbor kids fictional names. Let's see. How about Mia and Ennio. Mia is four, I think, and is starting to develop social skills just like her brother's - talking rapidly at anyone who will listen with whatever crosses her mind, and a lot crosses her mind. When Ennio used to do that, his grandmother would come up to us and say, "Sorry, he's a little bit autistic. Ennio, stop bothering the nice lady."
And I'd say, "It's fine! He's interesting. I'm learning something." And Ennio would beam.
But then the next time we were outside simultaneously, it would happen again.
Once, he was playing music on whatever little device his grandparents had gotten him, and I could hear the strains of "Rainbow Connection" from their yard. So I sang along. I don't know if Ennio was impressed or put out; he had to tell me all about "Rainbow Connection" and that he was listening to the cover version by Blink 182 or somebody, I don't know, I wasn't paying that close attention. Kid, I learned it directly from Kermit the Frog, and I learned it well.
I haven't seen Ennio around lately. I heard that last summer the kids went to England, and the grandmother promised that they'd tell me aaaallllll about it, but I didn't see them again until Halloween, and then they were too busy to chat. I suppose Ennio is busy with school and activities now. I hope Mia can be allowed to putter idly around the yard for a while before she also gets sucked into the busy-kid lifestyle. As a second child, she seems like the kind of person who doesn't like to play alone.
I did a little bit of early spring clearing yesterday. The burning bush in the front, although now it's just an ugly stump and I'll have to get down into the root base before it replaces itself with new growth. Then I moved to the backyard where I hacked at the Japanese quince next to the bulkhead. What a terrible place to put a thorny shrub! I suppose it's 20+ years old, and when it was small it seemed like a good idea to someone. Its blossoms are very pretty, but I have four of the things, and this one is by far the oldest, and I've been cutting it back for the last 2 years (as long as we've lived here) and I really should get it out once and for all.
But even a small amount of labour wears me down, so now I'm in a lot of pain and will take this storm as an opportunity to rest.
I have more notes about my health, but it's just for my own reference so I won't do it here.
Haha! My phone autopredicted that "it's just for my own" should be followed by "navel-gazing." Yeah, phone, I don't think so! It's still better than the autopredict my Huawei phone in China had. I swear the English in that phone was programmed by people who had learned English by watching a bunch of 80's action movies.
no subject
Date: 2026-03-13 12:29 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2026-03-13 01:09 am (UTC)You might want to get some. Waterproof footwear is easiest to find in late winter to early spring.
>> It actually is a swamp - it's been filled for development but the untouched patches of my neighborhood are still fully functioning swamp.<<
We live on reclaimed swampland too, technically wet prairie, which floods in spring and sometimes other times.
>> I think I'll go for a walk with my mother soon and check out the budding skunk cabbages. They're thick and purple and they don't smell any worse than the surrounding swamp, but they're teardrop-shaped, like a skunk's tail. So maybe that's how they got their name.<<
Oh, they definitely smell like skunk when damaged. Do you have jewelweed around too? That one has kind of fleshy leaves and puts out vivid yellow or orange flowers in summer.
>> The burning bush in the front, although now it's just an ugly stump and I'll have to get down into the root base before it replaces itself with new growth. <<
Herbicide on fresh cuts will sometimes work. Another option is to cover it with wet compost and then something like carpet to block light and encourage rot.
no subject
Date: 2026-03-13 04:06 am (UTC)Thanks, I can probably mitigate the pain if I try. I didn't do very well at that today. Tomorrow maybe I'll handle it better.
no subject
Date: 2026-03-14 11:36 am (UTC)My sister's predictive text is the funniest, I should make a list, most bizarre!!
no subject
Date: 2026-03-14 10:59 pm (UTC)But my current cat totally takes the cake with her chili pepper obsession. She LOVES capsaicin. And she's not just playing around when she carries actual chili peppers around in her mouth - if I've been handling hot sauce, she licks my hand! She's from China, but you'd think she'd still have taste buds typical of a cat....
no subject
Date: 2026-03-18 12:42 pm (UTC)