Daffodils 2

So I had daffodils in some tubs and meant to replant them last Spring after they bloomed.  But didn't.  I got busy with other stuff.

I tipped the bins over last week and picked the bulbs out of the soil,  Wow, those bulbs loved the rich soil!  Most had multiplied into 4.  Well, I have this new island around a tree and boulder in the front yard.  About 40'x20'.  I tried planting Astilbe there, but the deer just kept pulling them up (couldn't eat them, but kept trying).  Well, I know they sure can't eat daffodils (toxic to most mammals). 

The bed was covered with large saucer magnolia leaves.  I raked them just off the bed so that I could use my little electric tiller (which is great for small areas) to kill the weeds.  I have a large tiller, but it isn't good in small areas.

I planted those recovered 100 bulbs in the front island. 

I am now utterly worn out.  I have put away all my planting tools.  I am done for the season...

And actually, this was several days ago.  I am really done.  I've pushed myself to my limit, getting inside before sunset and sitting in a chair exhausted.  I get muscle cramps from all the digging and bending.  I've been getting my hands clenching up, cramps in my legs, stitches in my sides.

I AM DONE FOR THE YEAR!

But oh next Spring is going to look SO wonderful...  It will all have been worth it. 

Physical Gripes

As always, I approach any complaints of mine by first recognizing that I am generally fortunate and others have worse complaints.  But mine are mine and they are the only ones *I* have ever experienced.  And so many ailments are impossible to compare; a person with a constant itch, a person with occasional migraines, and a person with sciatica can never really compare how they feel.

Me, I get muscle cramps in my legs, my hands and my upper rib side.  Not at the same time fortunately, but always by surprise and every few days or nights.

I understand the hand cramps, where all of a sudden my whole left hand will claw up.  It happens about 2 hours after I've been doing yardwork.  I'm technically right-handed, but I suspect I was a natural lefty as a child and was taught not to be.  That used to be common.  Regardless, I tend to do many things left-handed.  Like pulling weeds and sometimes in tool use.

I try not to overdo it.  But sometimes I'm fine working for hours and no problems; sometimes an hour work causes left-hand cramps.  And the cramps always start as I'm preparing dinner.  I like to prepare fresh food (lots of raw vegetable work), so there is a lot of knife-work involved.  And that's when the cramps start.

I'm considering the possibility that I actually don't get enough salt...  That may seem strange given modern eating habits, but I eat mostly fresh food  and don't add much salt to my food.  It's not especially deliberate, but I think I may start drinking more Gatorade (an electrolyte drink for anyone not familiar with it).

Then there are the ribside cramps.  I originally thought "heart problem", but they occur on both sides randomly.  Usually after I twist around too much.  So its not a heart threat.  Oddly, it used to occur mostly while I was kneeling on the floor cleaning the cat litter boxes.  I have to pound on my afflicted side and do "wall push-ups" to stretch the rib muscles.

And I got a surprise the past few months.  Because I twisted my right knee in April and kneeling became painful (a whole different problem) I started lifting the litter boxes onto my workbench

[Bizarre but true timing.  I just had a leg cramp and had to walk around for 15 minutes and stretched the right leg each step.  I took a small amount of salt and large glass of water.  It helped.]

and cleaning them up there.  It is actually MUCH easier that way and I will continue to do it that way even if/when my knee heals.  Lets me sweep away loose litter from around them too.

Usually, the leg cramps happen while I am laying in bed.  No reason I know; I'm just laying there motionless and it starts.  Always the right quadricep.  It feels like the muscle is going to tear loose from the bone.   

I suppose it was because I was weeding and planting in some crowded space so I had to squat awkwardly, so it happened while I was still awake.  But usually, I'll just be laying there in bed and it happens.  

Speaking of the right knee, it has been 3 months since I originally injured it.  I wish I had a good cause to blame but it is only stupid.  All my life, I have tended to sit with one ankle up on the opposite knee (both ways).  And I fidget!  So I shake my on-the-knee foot.  I have probably loosened my knee joints that way (though some thought says that OUGHT to strengthen the muscles there).

I can walk almost normally again, but I still can't put my right ankle on my left knee because it seems to twist the knee.  It has happened before but healed after a couple weeks.  I hope it is not permanent.  To kneel while doing yardwork, I have to wear knee pads.  You know those knee pads that carpet installers wear?  I use them.

I'm used to injuring myself and healing fast.  Or at least "eventually".  Years ago, I threw a rock at a groundhog and strained my rotator cuff.  Couldn't raise my arm above the shoulder for 2 months, but it healed just fine after that.

I think I had better start being more careful.  And some preventative exercises might be in order.  I have a bicycle, maybe I better start using it.  Or at least walking a mile a few days a week.

I sure don't want to be using a walker in 10 years.  Or taking medications either... 

Minor Miseries

I've been feeling rotten the past 10 days for various unrelated reasons.  Now please do understand I'm not comparing that to any serious problems.  No broken bone, no serious illness, no diagnosis of lifelong condition.  Just several surprises.

I've been fortunate to be generally healthy all my life (and I turn 66 next month).  So it is more a matter of what I am unused to.

So when I started violent sneezing fits 10 days ago, I was surprised and concerned.  And I mean SUDDEN and VIOLENT!  I went through an entire box of Kleenex in one day.  I literally could not be out of reach of tissues.  I barely slept for 2 nights. 

Now, I do recall having to take Coricidin-D for allergies to our family cat as a teenager.  And a couple of times, I had a brief sneezing fit when I had a teen job mowing lawns.  But all that went away.  The most I had since teenage years was a couple of sudden sneezes when I first walked into bright sunlight for the day once or twice a year. 

So this sudden constant unending sneezing and nose-blowing really baffled me.  And it was actually debilitating.  And exhausting.  You know how, when you blow your nose, you tighten up your abdominal muscles?  Well, I did that so many times it HURT.  Can you sprain your diaphram?

It lasted 3 full days and then stopped like flipping a light switch.  The only thing I can think is that (which climate change) some new weed as moved into my area.  I saw one unfamiliar plant I think is a wild mustard, but it is still blooming and the sneezing has stopped. 

One odd thing is that I had walked outside through the tall lawn grass just before it started and the cats were all upset by the smells on the cuffs of my pants.  They gave the "flehmen" response where a smell suggests an enemy.  I wonder is some unusual animal came through the yard and maybe peed on the grass I walked through; some thing I reacted to...

Then, as soon as that was over, I twisted my right knee.  I've been limping for a week!  At first, I thought it was an attack of gout (I have had a couple incidences of that in the past 20 years, but the knee wasn't sensitive and swollen like gout.  I must had just strained it too much doing yardwork.  That has happened before.  I push myself too hard sometimes. 

But that usually only lasts a day or two, and this is the 7th day.  It is nearly gone away, so it isn't serious, but it sure made getting around and doing house and yard chores hard!  And there was NO comfortable position in which to sleep. 

And now I'm getting muscle cramps on the sides of my chest.  No, don't worry, not heart attacks.  I get them from twisting around too much while working.  That's been a problem for many years.  I try to be careful, but sometimes the most innocent movements will cause it.  Happens on both sides, but never both at the same time.  Sometimes just cleaning the litter boxes will start it. 

I had a roommate once who got pnuemonia and coughed so hard he actually broke a rib, causing similar problems.  I have a slightly constant cough from smoking (don't bother telling me how stupid that is, I KNOW).  But I wonder if I have done the same damage to some ribs. 

I hope this series of problems is only temporary.  Otherwise, the rest of my life if going to be rather uncomfortable...

My apologies to people with REAL problems.  But what you aren't used to is difficult to GET used to and I sure hope I don't HAVE to get used to these sorts of things.  My dad never had any physical problems in his life until his last year.  If things don't get worse and I live to his age (92), I will be very grateful...  And I suppose I would be grateful at 80 if it doesn't get worse.