Accessible Gardening: #19 Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners , 1 by seacanepain

seacanepain wrote:
Hi Gang! Doctor’s orders are that I should not spend more time outside than absolutely necessary, but I caught a whiff of a new bloom and had to take some pix. We’ve had Mexican hydrangea for several years, but this is the first summer it bloomed. I prefer Mexican hydrangea’s larger, but less aggressive relative the peanut butter tree (Clerodendrum trichotonum). It grows to about 20’ and has white blooms that smell something like jasmine, but I can smell why Kay wanted this Clerodendrum also. The flower of Mexican hydrangea is showier, but one person commenting in PlantFiles compared it to Chinese wisteria and kudzu. I don’t know that I would go that far, but it does colonize an area quickly by suckering. We planted it in a granite tub. I think that might keep it under control.

It was cool today relatively speaking. I wish I could have spent more time outside, but Doc warned me the meds I am taking would make me heat sensitive and the last thing I need is to get a heat rash beneath the back brace. I got a little stir-crazy yesterday and decided to see how well I could drive. Driving is do-able as long as I only attempt it when the oxycodone is at minimum level and I keep the drive short. Sitting upright for an hour is my limit for now. I must use mirrors more than ever before. I had a habit of turning to look over my shoulder rather than make full use of the mirrors.

I can get out on the deck since it is roofed and I have an electric fan there. The box planters I built atop the railing are accessible from a w/c. Kay is moving the strawberries from one of the planters and I will be able to do something new with it. We put strawberries there to keep the fruit from being eaten by rabbits only to find out skinks also eat strawberries. Skinks and lizards lounging on the deck are a common sight. One skink has made his burrow in the planter with the strawberries. Everbearing strawberries are apparently destined to be a groundcover for the flower beds and snacks for little animals. The June-bearing varieties because they ripen all at once are easier to protect from critters and will be our strawberries.

TTC, is Zoe one of those service dogs I’ve read about? Nothing I have ever read made it clear how a dog can predict and warn of a seizure if the person with epilepsy themselves have no heads up. I can get how a rat can sniff out cancer that scanners miss. I even get the logic behind hookworm therapy to treat auto-immune diseases like MS.

I simply don’t get what it is a dog trained to warn of a coming seizure is detecting.

Kay is pushing again for simplifying and minimizing to make our lives more manageable. I admit I am more open to that now than in the past. We cleared out my nightstand and desk to make the things I use all the time easier to reach and getting rid of excess. The only thing I am having trouble letting go of is the fun little things I’ve always kept on my desk. Okay, I get that I don’t actually need a slinky, or a harmonica or a Taz figurine in a Superman suit. It is all taking up prime real estate where stuff I need could go. Every self-respecting computer geek needs a screen critter and a band of Neon haired, naked Trollz to keep things running right. Your troll takes care of any nasties that get passed your firewall. My DW doesn’t believe this. She honestly thinks computers are based on physics and mathematics, not magic. Since she has to dust and clean all the cubby holes in my desk now and sweep beneath it, I have to humor her in her delusions. We agreed I could keep one creature to sit atop my screen since these creatures are designed for that space where nothing else goes and I do get to keep Taz. (I told her this really sad story about a sick child giving it to me. You do what you have to do to survive.) I held my tongue and didn’t say a word when she questioned my level of maturity and talked on about how computer geeks as a whole need to grow up. I’ve ordered that gadget from ActiveForever that allows a person who can’t bend to put on their own socks. Soon I will find a way to dust all the nooks and crannies of my desk again by myself. I’ve already learned how to clean under my desk with the long attachment on the vacuum cleaner. When Kay, imprisoner of innocent trollz, starts to get ready for bed tonight…when she reaches for her favorite nightshirt and finds Eeyore is gone. When she looks in the shoe rack for her Tigger slippers and discovers they aren’t there. I just know enlightenment will come and the cyber magic will return to my desk.

A Paleolithic diet sounds like the blood type diet for Type Os that I’ve been considering. My nephew lost weight and looks much healthier being on a blood type diet for Type O blood, our shared blood type. It sounds like something I could do and not feel deprived. I’m not officially lactose intolerant, but milk does give me trouble. All the hormones and antibiotics pumped into milk cows can’t be good for anybody.

I have my avatar up. I’ll start working on Amargia’s next sitting up session. I should not have to go through a physical rehab program as long as I stick to the routine the therapist at the hospital gave me.

(Jim, Liberator of Imprisoned Trollz)

This message was edited Jul 24, 2015 8:05 AM