I spent only a couple hours in the garden yesterday, but I have to document it because later I’ll want to know how long ago this happened.
My pond waterfall has been getting slower and slower lately. I knew the culprit was hair algae because I’ve been pulling it off the plants every once in a while. The rain we’ve had plus the slower circulation of water has made the pond dark, so I couldn’t see to the bottom, but I knew the pump was covered with algae. So I waded into the water and dragged out the pump so I could pull all the hair algae off. There was a ton of it. It was gross and fascinating at the same time – kind of like peeling your skin after being sunburned. “Hair algae” isn’t a metaphorical name. It feels exactly like hair.
After I got things cleaned up and the waterfall was looking nice again, I was a mess. I had been in pond water up to my thighs and I’d been reaching into murky water up to my arm pits. I checked myself for leeches *jibblie* *jibblie*, then took a shower.
Also for memory archive purposes, the prickly pear is blooming.
I celebrated three birhtdays yesterday. It was Carol’s birthday, so there was a lunchtime celebration (which I missed because I had lunch duty), but Carol’s husband invited us to suprise her with a little appetizer and drink gathering after school. It was a fun way to end the week. Happy Birthday one day late, Carol!
Later in the evening, I was going to a party to celebrate the birthdays of two other co-workers. They were both born on the same day (the 27th) and were both celebrating their 27th birthdays. Twenty-seven on the twenty-seventh! It was their Golden Birthday. I went to Target to find them something golden. I ended up getting them some “Haribo Gold-Bears” gummi bears. The gold packaging was perfect!
Something strange happened while I was at Target, though. In the eight minutes I was there, two different people asked me if I worked there. What was that all about? I wasn’t even wearing red. I was wearing grey pants, a white shirt, and a tie with music notes on it. Do I look like a Target person or something? Maybe next time I could get in to the employee lounge and see if there’s any birthday cake there or something. Mmm… free food…
Four years ago I saw a rather cool looking flower in a catalog. It was big, shiny, dark and purple. The leaves on the plant looked sort of tropical as well, which would help with the tropical look I was trying to create in my garden. Even better, the plant was called a Dragon Flower. And even better than that, the Latin name was Dracunculus Vulgaris. That has to be the coolest plant name I’ve ever encountered! I got three bulbs and planted them in the back border. Only two of them came up, and they looked pretty sad. The next year, only one came up. It looked awful again, then died to the ground in June. Last year it looked a little better, but still died before July.
This year, the plant looked really healthy. I thought maybe it was going to make it after all. Then I saw flower buds. I couldn’t believe it! It was finally going to bloom! Actually, a more descriptive name would be giant flower-pod spikes. They were huge. I wasn’t disappointed when one finally opened. It was gorgeous. While admiring it, I suddenly remembered something else I had read about these flowers. They are pollinated by flies. In order to draw the flies, they give of the scent of rotting meat. It was stunningly identical to the actual smell of dead animal. After retching, I admired the flower some more. I can’t wait for the other flowers to open.
I stopped at Home Depot to more birdseed yesterday. Lowes is a better place for birdseed because it’s cheaper and doesn’t have corn in it, but Home Depot is on my way home. While I was there I also got a light bulb. The bulb in my kitchen just burned out.
While trying to decide if I should get a regular bulb or a “natural light” bulb, a guy walked up and said he was from BGE (the electric company here) and wanted to ask me a couple of questions that would only take thirty seconds. I agreed, so he asked. It took more like five minutes, but that was okay. I wasn’t in a hurry.
First he asked if I used CFL’s. I wouldn’t know what that was, but he held one up while asking. They’re the squiggly fluorescent light bulbs. And actually I do use a few of them. I like that they last a long time, and I like that they give you a lot of light for the wattage. He asked me what percentage of my house was CFL’s. I didn’t know. I said 40%. It’s more like 6%.
Then he asked what energy-saving measures I take at home. I almost laughed. Instead I made something up. I said that I turned lights off when I leave rooms (which I don’t), and that I open windows at night and close them during the day to cool the house (really I just turn on the air conditioner). Then he started pressing me for more answers. “Do you use weather stripping?” No. “Do you take short showers?” No. “Do you do laundry late at night?” No.
I guess I’m not very energy friendly. Comfort is more important. And laziness always wins. And I spend a lot of money on electricity.
For about a week I’ve had a sore gum in the lower left side of my mouth underneath a crown. I didn’t think much of it at first; I’ve had sore gums before. But this just hung on. I wondered if there was something stuck in my teeth, so I flossed. My gum bled like crazy. I decided not to do that any more.
On Sunday, my gum really puffed up. It looked like it was going to blow or something. I was a little freaked out. I went to bed hoping I wouldn’t die before morning. I didn’t die. In the morning, I called the dentist’s office. They were closed for Memorial Day. Dang. I swished with mouthwash a lot on Monday hoping my gum wouldn’t get worse. It didn’t.
Yesterday I finally got in to the dentist. They had some time during my free period. First they took an x-ray. It wasn’t an abcess. Whew! The dentist said it was probably something that irritated my gum and now it was infected. He numbed me and started scraping and reaming and doing many other things that didn’t hurt at all but sounded awful. When he was done, he gave me some antibiotic tooth-brushing gel, instructions to swish with salt water, and a prescription for antibiotic pills. He told me he had cut away part of my gum *jibblie*, but that it would grow back.
This morning it finally doesn’t hurt. At all. I think I’ll be okay. Unless my prescription kills me. It’s for amoxicillin. It’s my first try with a penicillin product since I got tested at the allergist. Here’s hoping all goes well!
