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Praetorium Honoris

Sunday, April 21, 2024

In the Garden ...

OAFS Photo
The Missus Herself did decree, Friday evening, that the time for the annual cleaning of the pond at Chez Sarge was upon us. Though the forecast called for rain on Saturday, I was to hold myself in readiness to assist her, should the foul weather abate. Which it did, taking me rather by surprise. I had placed my money on "rain all day," the weather decided, "eff that, the fat bastard needs to get off his ass and get outside."

So I did. Discovering in the process, that once again, I'm not as young as I used to be.

After all, I'm within hailing distance of the 71st anniversary of my birth, in two and a half weeks I shall commence my 72nd orbit around the sun. For me, physical labor is a thing to be avoided, assiduously. I tire of discovering muscle groups I forgot I had.

A nice walk, at a leisurely pace, is what works for me ...

Doesn't work for The Missus Herself. Though she too doth age, and very well I might add, she has the willpower of some ancient hero. We don't stop until she stops, and she doesn't stop until the task at hand (which often includes many and sundry other tasks) is done. She is implacable and unstoppable.

The girls (LUSH and The Nuke) discovered that being in college, some sixty miles away, was not far enough to escape the demand of garden work. I do believe they both got such good grades in college by avoiding the family manse during gardening season.

I cannot avoid it as I live here. As I don't wish to be planted in said garden, I stand to and do what I'm told. Though I grumble, a lot, even though The Missus Herself does not appreciate said grumbling. I must have a nascent death wish.

Sigh ...

Anyhoo, the pond is clean, the waterfall flows yet again (it's shut down in the winter for fear the pump might freeze), and the fish seem happy. Those that survived the winter that is, far as I can tell, we lost one this year. I don't know why one or two die every year but the majority go dormant and wait for spring. They don't eat during that long period.

Hope everyone enjoyed the trip down memory lane the past two days, I know I did. Lex lives on as long as we remember him. I enjoy revisiting the old times.

One note, boron mentioned "liking the new format," uh, sorry, it was a straight copy of two old Lex posts from the Wayback Machine. It's an old format used by Lex, not sure what you liked about it boron, and I'm not sure I can (or want to) use that format going forward (first I'd have to figure out exactly what it is, also what you like about it).

So gomen nasai, no new formats for now.

In other news, it's been a week of old equipment crapping out. First the 20-something microwave decided that it had had enough. Then, the pump we use for various chores (primarily pumping out the pond each spring), also decided to retire from active duty after some 24-odd years. Also, the pump and filtration system we use on the pond is starting to get, shall we say cantankerous?

Water coming out in places it shouldn't, somehow an O-ring went missing last year when I replaced the infrared bulb (kills nasty stuff in the water) so water came blowing out the top of the machine. The Missus Herself, somehow having found the missing O-ring, in the garden mind you, asked if that might be the cause.

Why yes, yes it was. (How the hell it worked from July to November last year without gushing water remains a mystery to me.)

A number of other minor leaks were dealt with, and now it seems, for now, that this unit might last another year. I hope so, the things are bloody expensive!

Oh, one last thing, d'ya know how sometimes that last step at the bottom of the stairs can go missing? (For you young'uns maybe not, but for us old farts it does, with increasing frequency.) Anyhoo ...

Heading into the basement from the "garden work" I decided to shed my rather filthy attire there. So I headed through the bulkhead and down into the basement.

On the way, that last step vanished. I found myself falling, in what seemed like slow motion. I had one thought, "Oh dear, what now?" It seems that as I age I view my own demise with something approaching not caring, I mean I find it interesting, like last year's being on a plane which seemed determine to plunge to earth shortly after reaching altitude, a guy in the back was screaming about making fudge, or something.

I simply looked out the window, wondering what the pilot was up to, and viewed the approaching earth with something like reluctant fascination. "So this is how it ends?"

Anyhoo, my years in Korea studying a martial art did teach me something, how to fall.

Though my right elbow is sore, not the point mind you but the fleshy bit near the top of the forearm, I am in fine fettle.

But after an afternoon in the garden, everything else aches.

Tomorrow should be such fun ...

Cheers!



39 comments:

  1. Can see it now, a new tome coming out titled "The Misadventures of OAFS-Life and Death in the Backyard". Man....... fish kept in the pond all winter. Here it would be A). Pond completely freezes top to bottom..... B). Neighborhood racoons turn pond into All-Night Buffet.

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    1. Fortunately it doesn't get that cold here in Little Rhody. While there are raccoons around (had a baby one hiss at me on my own damn deck some years past) there are also plenty of restaurants around. Dumpster diving being easier than fishing. Not that I have any personal experience with that ...

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  2. Tuck and roll, Sarge; tuck and roll!
    BG

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  3. Well...at least THIS comment got published! A much longer one, written with some care, on the last Lex entry, disappeared into blogger and I was not disposed to try again.
    Gird yourself for the garden, Sarge and soldier on!
    Boat Guy

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    1. Turns out the comment reappeared overnight, though not quite as good as I'd thought/remembered.
      BG

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    2. I did see that comment, it was a good one.

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  4. As I get older I have found that handrails are a REALLY good thing.
    Are those cherry blossoms in the header picture? Very nice!

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    1. Cheery blossoms they are! We have two decorative (i.e. non-fruit bearing) cherry trees in the back yard. Lovely they are! (Well, except for last year when hardly any blossoms appeared, most disappointing.)

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  5. Sarge, rolling is one skill that has saved me more than one head injury as well.

    The older I get, the more I find it is about recovery time.

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    1. Recovery time, yes indeed. This morning I feel as if I've done a round or two with Mike Tyson.

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    2. "Rolling" is a great skill (that IMHO) should be learned thorouhly in one's 20s; it's saved me from unfortunate results in my 70s and 80s when healing broken bones is typically more complicated. I think it could be learned later in life with good instructors/instruction/proper mats and save much grief.
      A major cause for falling in the (I hate to say it) elderly is a "loss of one's gyroscope" due to myasthenia gravis (becoming far more common or MDs more aware of it?), diabetic neuropathies, and minor "strokes".
      Walkers, much despised by many for some very good reasons, can also reduce the number of falls: major reason being that a walker immediately designates you as "prey" in more and more neighborhoods today, unfortunately.

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    3. Rolling when you fall is a nice skill to have. It's persistent if you do it enough in your youth (apparently I did). It's as easy as falling off a bicycle. Riding, I meant riding.

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    4. "Rolling" used to be taught in school as part of Gym Class.

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    5. Beans - Not in my day, would have been useful!

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    6. TB - The art of falling, and it is an art.

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  6. Glad to hear you survived your misadventure on the cellar steps. How's the lighting there? Seems the older we get the LESS our eyes respond to changes in lighting, as in bright outside vs less illuminated cellars.

    That and those bright industrial style safety paint efforts, perhaps? Designed for the perhaps distracted souls trying to do three things at one?

    Yeah, I want to keep you around, Old AF Sarg.

    Really hard to get even basic yard cleaning help anymore. Guess folks don't need money enough to set aside some of their time for that Mexican Dude "Manual Labor".

    Let alone actual technical THINKING work like your O rings and such.

    Oh well, time for my spring yard cleanup and the house spring cleaning. Maybe I'll survive :-)

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    1. It was the transition from bright outside to not-as-well-lighted interior which did me in.

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  7. I found the font (color, depth of color, and size) easier to read: I could sit back in my chair and read it comfortably rather than lean forward towards the screen.

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    1. I examined the html on the two Lex posts, I shall attempt to reproduce that effect on Tuesday's post. Let me know ...

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  8. You know, if you retire then The Missus has access to you for more gardening. Might mention that to her.

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  9. So glad you survived the fall with minimal damage! Now, please post pictures of the yard & pond!

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    1. Ah yes, pictures of the yard, forthcoming, soon, yes, I must.

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  10. Fall with grace, I like the sound of it.

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  11. Fall with grace? I can fall FROM grace very easily.
    JB

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  12. I am glad you survived. I spent the weekend in Madison, at The Great Midwest Horse Fair, which I enjoyed enormously.
    I was pleased to find that there is a Norwegian breed of horse, the Norwegian Fjord Horse. HUZZAH!
    I saw a demonstration of a six horse hitch of Belgians. Huge, impressive beasts!
    I also saw clinics on herding cattle, and competitive jumping, and driving carts.

    I did find indoor polo to be strange, but I think a lot of that was in because the inside of the Dane County Colosseum really wasn't anywhere near as large as polo required.

    So, we both has satisfactory weekends, YAY, US!

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  13. No gardening here, yet. Had to clean out the jugs to get ready for baby goats. They are getting ready to pop out and cause all kinds of mischief....

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    1. We just had two little girl goats born, one gray, and one gray with white polka dots. I had to chase them down, today, as we had a large Deere end loader in the barnyard, moving round bales.

      Baby goats are soft and cuddly.

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  14. I have admired your garden / yard through your photos for many years. Not with envy, as I have no interest in the dedication, but for the beauty. We have some nice tropical-ish plantings in our small front yard- Birds of Paradise, Palm tree, and a couple others I don't recall, but we have some guys who speak pretty good English maintain it for us. My only gripe is the mulch which neighbor dogs love to kick and scrape out of my yard into the sidewalk/street. I lose a bag or 2 every six months I'd estimate.

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    1. Ah, mulch. The Missus Herself insists on spreading at least eight cubic yards of that stuff. Every. Year.

      At least there are no dogs to kick it into the street ...

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