Lilac Time

That time of year again. The lilac bush that is slowly taking over the garden is in full bloom. last year it rained every weekend in late Spring, so I never got a chance to prune it back. Then it was summer, then come fall the buds were already in place. So after this bloom, it'll definitley get a haircut.

But for not, it's pretty amazing. the fence behind the lilac is about 6-7 feet tall, to give you come scale. When the wind i right, the lilac smell can be smelled throughout the garden. I'll cut off a bouquet every morning, and still I won't get to cut all the blossoms. They come and so do quick, I feel as soon as you start enjoying them they fade away. but I'm sure the broccoli will be happy when I cut the lilacs back. (Yes, Lilacs do enjoy getting a hair cut ;-)




A close up of the flowers.



A few years ago I planted a second one, closer to the aisle. This is the first year it has given me a blossom. Nice white flowers. Decent scent. Growing taller as well, so I hope next year I'll get even more.



Thre in some nice sots of the bleeding heart as well.

More garden 2009

The broccoli are doing well. not exactly skyrocketing, but they've settled in and are taking hold. Not as tidy a bed as I'd like, but with the bum arm weeding isn't high on the priority list.

Second PT session

Had my second session of PT today (Physical therapy). Apparently I'm progressing along, as I didn't get yelled at. :) That's one of those things you do the exercises you're supposed to, but you wonder if you're doing enough... the woman I met with today thought I was progressing nicely. And then proceeded to torture me...

Last week was my first session. Doc just gave me some basic stretching and passive 'arm swinging' to do. If you check out this web site and scroll down to the images, you can see the swinging motions and the 'wall climb' stretches I have to do.

I'm basically starting off by stretching the joint and muscles as a first step to use them again. For the wall stretches, you put your hand against the wall with your arm horizontal. Then use your fingers to 'crawl' up the wall, slowly stretching your arm upwards without using the shoulder muscle. I do one stretch facing the wall, and then one perpendicular to the wall. Those are a lot harder. Last week I really couldn't stretch more than an inch or two more than horizontal. Now I can go almost vertical - maybe 20-30 degrees more to go before the arm can stretch up a full 180 degrees. Hopefully I'll be there next week.

So the woman today pretty much went to town on the arm. I laid down and she just tried to stretch and rotate my shoulder in different directions. Yow. Some were easy. Some were "hey Hey HEY!". A little tight in some directions it seems. Funny though. She'd move my arm in some weird direction and I wondered if she was helping or just trying to extort money from me. :) Then I'd use my right arm to try the same motion, and could move it in that weird direction easily.... Guess some stretching will take longer than others. So I have one additional stretch this week (#2 on that web site is my new one - the rest of those photos happen to be the sae stretches I've was doing since my first visit)

So still no lifting of the arm; just these stretches. In it's own way, I feel a lot better. Before PT, my arm was in "do not use" mode, just hanging by my side, not doing much with it. Now that it's "safe" to use the arm, I've found the stretches are making it easier to do things. So simple tasks like putting on socks, tying shoes, washing a dish or two, are now much easier to do. (Activities that don't require raising the arm, mind you). Just having that greater mobility back makes me feel like I'm getting back to normal.

So I'll continue to stretch, and see what torments await me next week :)

Math R Us

Had two interesting mathematical experiences this weekend. Being a smart guy, it's always interesting to see when people actually pay attention to numbers.

The first was an email I got. One of those things your family forwards to everyone, and never deletes all the old header information. This one was a letter to the editor that had supposedly been published - and is now circulating the internet. Basically, it said there were 40 million people "ready to retire". Pay them a million dollars each. That will free up jobs, give people money to spend, and be cheaper than the current bailout. Apparently neither the letter writer, the newspaper, or anyone on this chain of emails bothered to do a little math. 40M * 1M is 40 trillion dollars, about 50 times more expensive than the 800 billion bailout. Maybe they just didn't know how to use big numbers.

The second was more fun. I asked the hardware guy to cut me 15 feet of chain. At the chain display it took him a minute to find the yardstick sticker that was stick to the shelf holding the chain. hmmm. Maybe there was a reason he was sweeping the floor...

So he starts measuring chain. 1 yard. 2 yards. 3 yards. He stops and goes for the cutters. I stop him and remind him I wanted fifteen feet. He points to the measuring sticker and say No, this is a yard, not a foot. I said Yes, I Know that's a yard. Then he gives me a bit of a "you silly customer you" looks. I retain any composure I might have and resist chuckling. Instead I resort to my fingers. and count for him 1 - three 2- six 3- nine and stop with three fingers raised. After way too long a pause, he finally realizes what's going on and laughs it off.

At the register he gave me a little discount. Hopefully that wasn't a math error either. Perhaps more broom is in his future...

That darned economy

So my retirement plan only lost $11K last quarter. Does that mean things are looking up? :)