Still Kicking

Hello all,

I haven't been able to post pics of my car crash. This blogging site seems to have switched posting protocols, so I will just have to keep trying.

Anyway... March 3 was the three month anniversary of my heart operation. I'm on half a dozen medications - mainly for either sustaining a low blood pressure and/or preventing blood clots forming around my artificial heart valve. And I'm exercising regularly. I fact I've lost quite a lot of weight, at least 20 kilos, which is substantial. I'm trying to get to around 90 kilos; an ideal weight for my BMI.

I don't know when I'll be back at work - waiting for my cardiologist's all clear. But whatever happens, I'm not going back to a high stress environment. Nothing at work is going to stress me out - of this I'm determined. If my boss' aren't happy about this then I'll either quit or they can fire me. I've learned one thing over the last couple of months - "Life is too short. Live and love every day."

Anyway, I hope to post some pics soon.

ALIVE AND STILL KICKING!

Crisis

Hello all. It's been a couple of months since my last post. I've had a major health crisis. If you want to know about my heart problems, I have written an account of what happened to me.

Look here: http://aorticdissection.com/2013/02/03/steven-riley-49/

I hope this sheds some light on why I've been so quiet, and so lucky.

What's in my Curry?

I have two chilli plants in the garden, growing into small shrubs. The chillies themselves are still green, eventually to turn to red. But of course they can be picked while still green (the flavour is slightly different). Keen to try them in my curry, I picked three big beauties.

The picked chillies next to garlic, also from the garden. I'm glad I deseeded them before throwing them into the curry. I had a small bite of one of the chillies - it was unbelievably HOT (and I love spicy hot food). Much hotter than I expected.

You Know You're Old When...

These ideas have been floating around in my head for months.

You know you're old when the last music you bought was a CD. Neil Diamond. Greatest Hits. Five years ago.  



You know you're old when you stand around the water cooler at work and instead of talking about last night's TV or football, you talk about arthritis. (click on pic above)



You know you're old when you watch reruns of Happy Days and think that Ritchie Cunningham's mum is HOT.



More Garden Pics

See, I told you this trellis would soon be covered. The runner bean tendrils are coiling up and up. And the cucumbers are also thriving. These pics were taken this morning before work, and it's raining! Which is good news.  

In this pic can be seen tomatoes on the right, pots on the left, and a new box bed of French Marigold seeds in the centre. Some have germinated.

In my main tomato bed the plants have been planted in the standard way, but the two tomato plants above have been planted using a different method. When I bought the plants, which were tall, I laid them on the lawn on their sides, with the stems parallel to the ground. Over the course of a few days, the foliage on these plants turned at right angles, growing towards the sun. I then dug a trench and planted the entire stem and root ball in the ground, leaving the foliage exposed. Roots will then grow out of the entire stem length. The results can be seen above. I must say they look healthier than the standard plantings. In the foreground are capsicum (sweet peppers). I have never had much luck growing capsicum (for whatever reason) but am determined this year to get a decent crop.

My potting table. In the seed tray are basil seeds. Foreground are cucumbers. Behind these are more capsicum. At the back are squash. I mean to plant out the squash this weekend. I only have to find somewhere to plant them (they will need training up a trellis of some kind).

Hope you like my pics. Remember to click on each one for an enlargement.

Garden Update

Hello everybody. It's been a while since my last post, but a lot has been happening in the garden. You can see in the photo above new plantings. From left to right: runner beans on a trellis - very vigorous. Radishes - French Breakfast - surrounding two chilli plants. The chilli plants, contained within housebricks, have lots of fruit. Spicy fruit! Then another upright trellis with two tomato plants. Just behind the tomatoes are 4 capsicum plants. I only planted them yesterday so they won't move for a while yet. Then some open ground, before we get to my teepee trellis. See pic below.

The teepee trellis. On each leg of the trellis is a runner bean plant. Then between the runner beans I have planted a couple of Lebanese cucumber. I have wired netting over the closest three legs, for the cucumbers, but left the far side open so that I can get to the fruit. I suspect that this trelllis will get pretty crowded later on.

Another photo of the established runner bean, radishes and chillies in foreground.

This is my main tomato garden. On the extreme left, in two square pots, are baby carrots. To the left of the carrots, hidden, is a long pot of germinating lettuce seeds. Six tomato plants, all different varieties. Extreme right is a cherry tomato plant. The rest are standard varieties, although one will produce purple tomatoes and one will produce yellow tomatoes. In the bottom left corner, where the soil looks darker and fresher, I have planted sweet basil seeds. I intend to plant some more around other plants, and also plant some French marigold seeds.

Another view of tomatoes. The cardboard is an attempt to suppress weeds. I intend to pave this path (which will be a lot narrower than this wide cardboard) between the rows with decent pavers, but haven't the money nor the time at the moment.

Well, I hope you enjoy seeing my garden. Remember to click on these pics for enlargements.





Typos of the Month

Ok, it's been a while since my last post. After a number of health issues, and general laziness, I'm going to blog more often. And of course our weather is turning warm so it's easier to take some interesting photos.

When I'm out and about in the community I often encounter typographical errors. These are often hand-written, whose erroneous nature is sort of understandable, but are sometimes printed. I find the latter a little inexplicable.  Here are some I snapped in the last month or so:

My local gym. For the pain we about to receive, may be be truly thankful.

Are you going to join the club, or stand apart?