Flu bugs, spring blooms and lies of omissions

The first blooms of the spring popped up this weekend.  I didn't get a chance to take a picture of them until now, because I was busy dying of the flu.  I'm feeling a lot better now - I'm pretty sure I'll live, if I don't speak or breath - but man, was it a crappy weekend.

Anyway, back to the blooms.  Not the best pictures, because I held the camera at flower level instead of getting down there myself.  These are what you might call blind shots.

The red ones showed up first, with the lambs ears:

Then the multicoloured ones showed up.

The camera seems to prefer the Toad Abode over the tulips.

And now, the lies of omission.  Before I went in for my recent surgery, I was given a lot of advice and/or  warnings.  Some was true.  Some was unnecessarily harsh.  ".... is going to be incredibly painful". "You've never felt pain like the pain you'll feel when..."  Most, while I'm sure came with good intensions, did more harm than good because it made me dread the things I'd have to do anyway.  Even worse - a lot of it wasn't true for me.   You know what I wasn't told?  I wasn't told that my stomach would stick out like I'm 6 months pregnant for so long.  Sure, I did read that "there may be some swelling in the tummy" but not this much for this long.   I'm actually really lucky that I lost as much fluid as I did after the surgery, because if I hadn't, I suspect that  I'd be walking around in maternity pants... kind of ironic, considering the surgery that I had.

So, today I took the bull by the horns and brought a stability ball in to replace my desk chair.  I sat on that thing for three hours before giving up and going back to my usual chair.  I wasn't sure why I was feeling so shaky (I was sitting the whole time, after all) so I looked it up online.  Apparently, you're supposed to start using stability for a half hour at a time and work up from there.  Oops.

Views from the Home Office

To the left:

To the right:

Underneath:

Only one pic of the Dude, because he didn't move all day.

There's something to be said for working from home.

Cranky Questions

• When you call customer service at big companies and their automated systems require that you enter your phone/account number, why do the operators always start the conversation by asking you your phone/account number?
• If I can pick the exact colour for the look I'm thinking of 90% of the time, why does it always take me three or four cans of paint before I figure out how to fix it when I don't get the colour right the first time?
• Why did the RCMP close the highway today, all the way from the west side of town to the east side of town, causing everybody to detour over 45 minutes out of their way, just to avoid an accident that happened 10 blocks from the highway on the east side of town?  
• Why do the dogs wait until I'm in the most crankiest of moods, and walking in front of a couple of  seriously hot guys, before they bust out with the worst of their horrible behaviour?

Rewarded by laziness

Looking back on last year's blog entries, I see that I posted about a week earlier in April to say that I had blooming tulips and lots of garden progress.  This year, things are not as far ahead.

Snow ball fight, anybody?

On the bright side, the tulips are popping up and getting ready to bloom... I figure a few weeks from now, they'll be on full show.

The Mystery Plant that I still haven't identified is green and happy.  When it blooms this year, I'm going to take a picture of it to the local nursery and get it identified.

The bigger peonies are just barely starting to come out of the ground.

You have to look carefully for the red shoots.

So is the iris that the lady from the local golf course gave me.  (Every year, they split a lot of their perennials.  The landscaper out there hears about my gardens from my mom, who practically lives out there, so she always sends me goodies.)

Other than 'It's an Iris', I don't know what this will look like.

Trees are still pretty dormant, but I can always count on the lilacs to come out early.

Last year, I didn't get around to cutting back most of my gardens.  I usually do it by late October, but that didn't happen.  So, the snow flew and piled up high around the plants, and when the spring came, I found some surprises.

The snap dragons - very much an annual in this climate - is sprouting and trying to grow back.   They're struggling, but I'll leave them there for a few more weeks to see how they do.

Then, in my annual garden, there's a surprising amount of greenery.  Last year, after Winter ate my lavatera seeds, I had to go out and buy replacements.  Lavatera plants were scarce, so I bought two flats of dianthus seedlings... which are also an annual plant, I thought.  All two flats of them (except one plant) are coming back like gang busters.

Which leads me to wonder - where will the lavatera go this year?

My Latest Toy

You guessed right.

Sam gets truckloads of poop.  I get a composter.   I wonder what it says about me that I'm still jealous of her?

I was going to build a basic wood and chicken wire frame for a compost pile and then plant climbers all around it.  The problem is, I've said I'd do that for at least 5 summers and I still don't have a place for compost.  So, a few weeks ago, when I found myself wandering through the garden equipment section at Costco and saw compost tumblers at a really good price, I decided I had to have one.  Little did I know that it'd take over 6 hours to put together or that it'd be big enough to second as a bomb shelter.

Either way, my dad and I spent the afternoon doing yard work and loading it up with everything we could think of.  There's a long way's to go to get this thing even close to full, but it's a step in the right direction.

Let the composting begin!

A teaser, and a new challenge

I got a new toy a while ago.  Unfortunately, it's not ready for presentation yet, but I'll show you something else that'll give you a hint about what it is.  I've had this for a long time, in anticipation of the new toy.  It's just taken a while to figure out how to make it work in my little city space.

Note the air holes.
No.  Oscar the Grouch has not relocated to Where the Fur Flies.


In other news, I've decided to take on a new personal challenge.  Last year, I read every book that I heard or read good reviews about.  It expanded my horizons, and exposed me to some great books.  This year, I'm focusing on produce.  That's right.  I'm going to try suggested produce (or recipes for produce), even if I'm dubious.  I do have a fairly healthy diet, in that I try to eat a lot of fruits in veggies, but I'm stuck in a rut.    I tend to eat the same things over and over again, and I need to find something new.

So far, I tried Pioneer Woman's Bourbon mushrooms and Dawn in Austin DC's Brussels sprouts.  In both cases, I switched things up a little bit.  Not because I thought my recipe would be better, but because that's what I do.  The mushrooms were a no-brainer (I love mushrooms), but the Brussels sprouts were a little riskier.  I don't dislike Brussels sprouts, but I don't usually love them.  I have to tell you, though - Dawn's Brussels sprouts are good!  I cut way back on the garlic, and added the juice of a lemon while cooking them.  Then I sprinkled with a little bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  It was so good that I ate it for lunch.  Just a big bowl of Brussels sprouts.  Yum.

My next challenges are to try a dragon fruit, which I've never had before, and guava fruit, which I suspect is the mystery fruit I've had a few times in California and never managed to identify.  Then maybe I'll work up the nerve to make the blueberry hamburger patty recipe that I've been saving for the last 4 years.

Pattes de poule

Somebody had his teeth done this week, which means that they shaved his leg for the IV.

 Pattes de poule - aka chicken legs

He's got awful teeth because he won't chew or let me go anywhere near him with a toothbrush.

Show them what you've got Cotton:

Yeah, that's a lot of teeth missing - and they pulled three more this time.

As much as it makes me sound awful, I'm half tempted to have them pull them all out.  (No, I wouldn't really do that.)   I can't afford $500 a year to keep doing this, but I don't see a lot of choice.  There's a direct link to the condition of his teeth to the rest of his health... for one thing, the worse his teeth are, the goopier his eyes and ears get.   The next time you consider a breed with "bad teeth" listed as a characteristic, listen carefully folks.  It's about more than pearly whites.

In the meantime, I'll get a few weeks when it won't seem like I'm sleeping with a fish monger.  WOO-EE, was his breath bad...  Even Tallulah kept her distance.

It's a good thing he's cute, I tell you.