Tag: invasive plants

August 6, 2024 Tuesday Teeth

Shirleyjdietz1 Comment

Tuesday is hiking day for my new bunch of friends, the Birkie Girls. Today’s instructions were to meet in the Walmart parking lot at 9:20 am to car pool to the trailhead some 20 miles away.  I was there early, because Walmart is in my backyard. Of course, I walked – still no car.  When no one showed up I started wondering if I had the wrong day, or the wrong time, but no. The email was clear. Apparently no one needed to car pool, and I hadn’t communicated that I needed a ride this time. So, no hike for me. Not to worry though. It’s evening now and I’ve gotten my 10,000 steps in doing gardening, and walking to the dentist.

This was the long awaited day to get the veneers on my top middle teeth. I have nothing good to say about the temporary set that I’ve had for two weeks. It was like my childhood nightmare of my teeth being loose and falling out come true. They were plastic and not very toothlike, hard to clean, and had to be re-glued once. The second time they fell out was yesterday so I put them back in and didn’t chew anything until my appointment this afternoon. The permanent ones are on now, and what a process. It must be very good glue that they use because it took a good hour to clean the residue out, and now my gums are sore. But they will heal.  My teeth look and feel normal again and I am glad to be done with it. I have spent way too much time in the dentist chair in the last month or so.

Now if I could just refurbish the rest of me…

I feel like teeth are important or I wouldn’t have gone through all this repair and refurbishment. I’ve seen too many unhealthy mouths, especially on the elderly, and I just don’t want those problems as I continue to age. 

I’m struggling with a gardening issue. I want to have a better perennial garden in the corner of the yard, but the deer keep eating the lillies. There’s a lot of Sweet William and Oregano there already but grass and weeds are prominent. A lot of the weeds are invasive species and have to go. Invasive weeds are a metaphor for a lot of what goes on in life…

I am serious about fixing these problems because I want it to be a memorial garden. It’s a garden that Mom started and has always loved and I want to keep it going for her. I also want to put the husband’s ashes somewhere in that space.

The corner garden. This will be my “before” picture.

On the other side of the fence from this corner garden is Walmart. And that will be a story for tomorrow. What on earth are they doing over there?

How to Get Dog Tired

Shirleyjdietz3 Comments

I could lie down on the floor just like this, right now.
I could lie down on the floor just like this, right now.

A couple of weeks without writing goes by so fast – I don’t even notice.  Sometimes I just want to go live life for a while so I have something to write about.  I think so much better when my hands are busy, especially when I’m outside and busy.

This morning it was English Ivy.

“That’s a really pretty plant covering your fence now.  Couldn’t you plant some of that after the new fence goes in? It looks like it grows pretty fast.”

Um, where is the fence?
Um, where is the fence?

My daughter and I were discussing plans for replacing the existing fence which is nearly ready to dissolve in the next rain.  It has been there since the house was built in the 50’s.  The dogs keep finding/making holes and escaping. The new fence has been in the plans for a while but fencing here in Washington costs so much it takes my breath away.

“There’s a problem with that plant – it’s an invasive species so I don’t think we should keep it”.   So that was settled. It had to go, and I had a new project.  I love having a clear, understandable goal with a probable outcome (because it  helps make up for all the unclear, non-understandable elements in my life that have no known outcome…)

Armed with gloves and two sizes of nippers I took off the outermost layer of vine, hoping to see fence.  But as with many plants with dense foliage, there was another layer of dead, dry leaves, mold and dirt beneath the living.  Clipping and hacking my way down to the fence, I began to notice the dust in the air, especially when a new section was pulled clear.  The thought occurred that it might not be good to be breathing all that.  This thought was soon followed by coughing that I couldn’t control and a nasal sinus condition that made me wish I had an inhaler.  I’ve never had allergies, but this stuff wanted me to develop one.

Eh, no plant easily deters me from a well made plan.  I coughed my way through and stuffed all that section of ivy into trash bags.  Some of the main branches were two inches thick and many of the vines had grown right into the fence and become part of it  – and I only mention that to impress you and to explain why I’m now tired as a dog. And I don’t  know if dogs are really tired or just bored so I’m just sayin’ that they look tired and that’s how I feel.

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There was a fence under there and I found it.