Your neck of the woods part 4 9/22/2013

Sally, the best to your son and other marathoners today.! Did you bring your BDay binoculars ? Hope you don't et lost as you move from point to point. Enjoy your day.

Goof ball me - I thought it was your daughter. Well change my comment to exceptional women and young men LOL.

Hi! No problem Terri.
Gotten warm out here!
Centennial Park
The binoculars are great but not enough sight distance. The race goes out of the park into neighborhoods. He has about five more miles or forty minutes of run to go. There truly are some iron people out here today and i mean the ones visibly struggling and pushing really hard.

Something esle has hit the tri events. Fit people who do the event with a disabled person in tow. They swim pulling a rubber raft then bike with extra seat in front then run with large three wheel strollr. Saw one today i think they relayed the 'runner' but still so touching to watch their care and patience transitioning the rider from bike to stroller.
There is a dad who has been doing this with his son for years.

I've heard a lot about a Dad who's been doing such events with his son for a long time; it really warms the heart, doesn't it? THESE are the sorts of stories we should see on the news!! =) Did your wonderful DS have a good time? Had he been training much in advance for this? Well, THREE CHEERS for DS!!! < =D

speedie , google for 'dad son triathlon cerebral palsy' I bet you'll get the video. I think the dad's name is Dick. you will cry.

Scott's been training for couple months. This is something he's wanted to do, an early bucket list? This was his longest triathlon and only about his fifth ? i think of any length over two years. WHy do people do this? There were hundreds there yesterday. So many nice feelings from all the family and friend support of all the runners cheering them on.

Everyone who crosses the finish line has their name announced over the speakers. How cool is that? Everyone wears anklet thing with a chip to record all their times. I now think the chip also puts their name up on the laptop at the announcers table as they near the finish. He has their name, hometown, and age handy.

Looks like a storm a brewing out there today!

Sally, sounds like a wonderful event! So glad you guys are able to participate!

Yes, I sure hope we get some good rain today...

Oh my goodness Sally, ... yes, crying indeed, what a BEAUTIFUL video I just watched of the Hoyts. Talk about LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three (hundred) more CHEERS for Scott!!! < ='D

The race sounds like a very exciting event. It's the type of gathering that everyone gets joy from the anticipation as well.

Ric, my DH used Turtle Wax color restore on our old black truck and it came out great!! It was worth all the elbow grease.

Hello, We're finally home, a little damp but otherwise happy to be home.
Paul that was at New Smyrna Beach Florida. http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/08/us/florida-shark-bites/index.html
Sally, it's cool Scott has finished yet another event.
RRR, I was pleased with the results and it should have helped protect against some of the salt.

Ric and Holly! I wondered today whether you skipped all this rain or got caught up. Gosh you're prolly going to look around the yard tomorrow and say wowwwwwwww.....

Glad you are both back safe and sound. Look forward to your reports of adventures along the way and how your garden fared in your absence.

When your lives settle back down (hahaha) maybe you can bring your sawsall down and we can divide some large pots of clumping bamboo on clearance for $40 down here. Green Panda and Great Wall. Interested?

Robin, What fun and how brave. I have long wanted to do that. Back in my 20's I was all set to take a few lessons and learn to jump. Only time I remember my Mother telling me as an adult that I couldn't do something. She said I had 3 children to think of and she wasn't going to raise them because their mother was a daredevil and I was absolutely "Not" allowed to jump. LOL
Watch out Sally next thing you know you will be out there with your son doing a few of these Triathlons. They are great fun to watch and the excitement of the day. If I was younger and had a better knee I might try a small one myself but my age shouldn't stop me there were women my age and older in the Hawaii Ironman.
Coleup no bamboo for us. I sure do like it but don't want it growing here. We can bring the saw and divide it up for you.

I am really in awe of people that actually want to do those dare devil and/or mega athletic endeavors. I am so unadventurous with those kinds of things. When I was talking to Robin at Jill's on Saturday, she said hang gliding is next!

Teri--

I am also, totally, unadventurous--NOT a risk-taker in any sense of the word.

I am a big chicken! "Chic-Filet" could use me as their mascot......:o)
G.

If you can't come to my Fall Leaves Library Storytime, do this:
Shake your sillies out
Read Red Leaf Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
Fill a basket with various fall leaves and have a child pull them out one by one, discuss the color, size etc
Read Leaves by David Ezra Stein
Sing London Bridge but change the words to All the leaves are falling down…Grab a rake and rake them up…Make a pile and jump on in…do the actions of course
Read Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See by Bill Martin
Make a tree with half paper plate, craft stick trunk glued on, color it fall colors, glue on bits of bark, maple seeds, or colored paper. Enjoy!

Wish me luck! my first time

"Shake your sillies out"?? Noooo, I want to KEEP all my sillies!!! < =D

Oh my gosh, this looks like SO much fun Sally!!!!!! I'm sure you're going to be GREAT!!! Just remember: Sillies are GOOD for you, the more you have, the better! < =D

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Sounds adorable, Sally--have fun!! :-)

How fun!!!!!

Sally -- that sounds GREAT! Please, a full report!

Oh Sally, What cute ideas. You will have a great time and the kids will love you.

I survived!
16 kids with average age barely 2 years..not even old enough to explain why leaves change…I cut the books short, but they love being silly, doing rhymes, and the third book which is very repetitive and colorful. Seemed to go well.
Tomorrow we expect about 30 and slightly older, 3-4 yr olds.

Adorable little girl stayed at the end and spent fifteen minutes solid of playing with a box of acorns and pine cones....love it.

Sally sounds like it was the great success I knew it would be.

Sounds adorable! Glad it went well!

Woohoo!!!

Sally, that sounds like so much fun! I still love story time at the library. :)

YIPPEEEE!!!! Three Cheers for Sally!!! Next time will be even funner!! < =D

What fun to combine love of nature with young children. And to get paid for it! Go Sally Go. Like the 'London Bridges' action song and the "Brown Bear' books are favorites, too.

In my neck of the woods, my adjacent two neighbors have been taking down large trees and clearing tons of brush and vines that have grown for all the years I have lived here from their acre
properties. My 'wild' yard no longer blends in! And, it has totally disrupted the wildlife and bird populations and habits. (Yes, deer are now browsing my yard but that's another thread posting)

The squirrel 'highway' now has lots of dead ends where they must touch down to get to their acorn and nesting trees. My white oak is a favorite stop and source especially since I have allowed Winter Creeper to climb it up about 30 feet to where the big branches start. This gives the effect of the oak arising out of the midst of evergreen droopy spreading vines about 15 feet wide which is a good screen from my closest neighbors front door and picnic table site. (Not a 'planned' solution, but it works for me).

Yesterday while actually planting, dividing and up potting many of my 'shopping frenzy' finds this Fall, there was a lot of activity in my oak. Then I heard a cry that sounded like a bird in distress, I ran towards the sound thinking immediately that a bird had been caught by one of the three members of my feral cat colony (read well-fed). I was right, it was a feral cat, but not with a bird, but a squirrel in its mouth! Got the cat to drop the squirrel and lured it away from its prey with a fresh can of cat food. When I went to retrieve the body, it was gone...disappeared into the vine covered trunk. When the cat finihed eating it looked for the squirrel and not finding it sat in the sun licking itself and I went back to work glad to not have to bury a squirrel.

About ten minutes later the was much activity again in the tree where rival squirrels often chase each other. I would have thought with such a close cat call they would have moved on. But no, evidently the escapee had re allerted the cat to its presence and was now being pursued by the cat along the big branches of the tree and trunk 30 - 40 feet up! Thankfully the squirrel leap on to another tree and cat couldn't or wisely didn't follow. The ruckus did attract the feral cat's slightly smaller brother and they both spent the rest of the afternoon climbing up through the vines looking for squirrels! Hope their hunting prowress turns to voles.

But then ground level hunting has some added hazards as back neighbor told me of 3 copperheads just 'up the hill' from me.

whew, too much excitement !

Lol at one point, one of the cats was up tree and the other stationed at the base waiting for the squirrel to be flushed into the open! Better than 'Nature' on TV.

The deer don't seem the least bit deterred by this grey team even though they have tried staring them down once or twice!

Agreed!! Better than TV

Coleup, you're certainly kinder to squirrels than I!

The #@$& squirrels have been digging up the bulbs that I worked so hard to get in the rocky soil. I wish the feral cats in my neighborhood would catch them but the $#*&@ squirrels are so fast!

I was so desperate today that I decided to use this CatScat.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/page.aspx?c=&p=10302&cat=2,51555

I had bought them earlier this year to prevent my cat from eating all of my houseplants. If this doesn't work, I may have to use chicken wire over the bulbs.

SSG--

Why don;t you buy a bag of Milorganite and sprinkle it all around
your bulbs? It may deter animals--as it may have a smell that they don't like.
Like--you have "marked" your territory...
If it does not deter the squirrels--no harm done--your bed will
be gently fertilized.

HD has it in 40lb bags for $12.35. You can use it anywhere in your garden
and it is great on lawns. It is in the lawn fertilizer aisle.
Gita

SSG--there's a neighborhood cat who likes to hang out in my backyard and hunt wildlife. Would you like to borrow him, if I can catch him? ;-)

Catmint, I have a feeling my own (indoor) cat would be insanely jealous!

Gita, I thought about using some sort of an odor deterrent, but the squirrels dig non-stop from October until March or April. Anything with an odor will eventually need to be replaced, and I need something that will last all fall/winter.

I've given up on crocuses. Squirrels leave my daffs and tulips alone, but the crocuses have no luck at all.

Well phooey about the crocuses. Rotten pesky critters making things such a challenge.

Holly beat me up again today, cleaning the corral, cutting and splitting firewood, moving this and hauling that. I'll almost be glad to see her off on her dive trip Sat. Besides she has earned it. We're not only trying to do all or most of the fall yardening, but get things set up for her to do most everything for a couple of months after my 11/11 surgery. It has been a maelstrom of activity here since we got home.Just getting her set to care for the wood/coal stove is a major project. I've planned a couple of leisurely jobs for next week, but I'm sure more work will come my way. I know I've not been engaging the forum as much as usual, and completely missing threads, but ya'all see more of me when I'm recovering 'cause that and walking is about all I'll be allowed to do. If I do more, Holly will tie me to my chair, just so she will not have to help me roll over. LOL

The squirrels are trying to bury the acorns that carpet my front yard and uncovering the bulbs by accident. I've heard that squirrels are very territorial, and that must be true. They rarely dig up anything in the backyard. Species tulips and crocuses in the back have been completely left alone.

I thought I had spilled some water in the basement while watering the houseplants, but now I think I may have a leak. It's been 3 days now that I've found water in the middle of the floor. Is it possible for water to seep in through the floor? :( Who do I call? A plumber? UGH.

Ric---
Are you having a knee replacement? Been there done that--TWICE!

Please do not worry too much. Usually, you are not restricted from doing anything
as long as you can deal with it. It is actually good to do as much as you can.
Just extra PT....that is how I looked at it. Remember--I have steps everywhere--
and I had to use them.
The pain so many people fear is not all that bad--compared to the pain you had before.
Besides--it heals and goes away quite soon.
The biggest recovery is to regain the strength and activity in your quadriceps
thigh muscle, as that gets cut lengthwise in this surgery.
This will be the main focus of your recovery. Yes--it is hard to do this,,.

The one ABSOLUTE MUST is to do all your exercises as prescribed.
NO slacking here. You will hate it--but you must do them.

If it is your left leg--and you have an auto transmission--you can drive in 2 weeks,
If it is a clutch--may be longer...maybe 4?

This one is hard!
As much as you may want to do this---NO putting a pillow under your knee as you sleep.
And--it is hard--because it is uncomfortable--but...deal with it....
Your leg has to stay straight--or it will heal with a small bend in it. A NO---NO!

You are tough like me--so, in 3 months, you will be pretty much back to normal.
Four months if you are a bit more "soft"...YOU??? NO WAY!!!

OH! The only restriction I had was (forever)--NO KNEELING!!!
You will find out how weird and unpleasant it feels if you try to do it.
This WILL put a glitch in your yard work and projects. Maybe not all Dr.'s require this??

I wish you all the best. You will be glad you did this.. Guaranteed!

Dr. Gita