Gettin' Old

[WaianaeCrider]

I'm 81 now and was in great shape until March when I came down  w/shngles.  Yea I got the shots and still got it.

Then as that was clearing up something swelled up below and to the right of my belly botton.  After an Ultra Sound, a CT scan and a MRI my Dr's said they don't know what it is but it's not a hernia or any cancer.  Pain is gone now but still swollen enough that bending over to put on socks or shoes is uncomfortable.

As they say getting old is a bitch but it beats the alternative.  LOL 

Anyway back to palms....I  can finally use my weed wacker for the first time in 3 1/2 month.  Spent about 3 hours w/a lunch break clearing the "back 40" which is a triangle of land about maybe 2000 sq feet... Some day I'm gonna measure it.  LOL.  It's the are labled Plumeria Patch.  None there now but 40 years ago I was selling the flowers until I realized it was a twice a day job 7 days a week so I quit doing that.  That long straight boundary is 700' long.  Oh yea it' 2 acres.

Here are two photo's before and after.  I'll add some of the palms up there. Not to many planted way back there.  This is in the lower portion of the "patch" looking at the long straight white line.

 

 

[Barry]

More power to you! Your work amazes me every time. I turning 59 this year and don’t have half the energy you do. I hope you feel better and keep going, maybe a little slower, lol. I keep forgetting to schedule the shingles vaccine, I don’t want to get it, but I guess no guarantees even with the vaccine. Your place is amazing from the photos you post. I’m a huge fan of your place.

Barry

[flplantguy]

Im about to do that same song and dance with the CT scan for a mass above my kidney.  I hope they are right and its not an issue for you any more.  Mine may explain why every time i get going outside and do and hard work my heart starts to pound and i feel awful, so i can work for about an hour and need a day after to recover.  Hence why not much has been getting planted yet, but im hopefull ill be back out there soon like you! 

[WaianaeCrider]

2 hours ago, flplantguy said:

Im about to do that same song and dance with the CT scan for a mass above my kidney.  I hope they are right and its not an issue for you any more.  Mine may explain why every time i get going outside and do and hard work my heart starts to pound and i feel awful, so i can work for about an hour and need a day after to recover.  Hence why not much has been getting planted yet, but im hopefull ill be back out there soon like you! 

Bummer.  Hope goes all for you.  I'm back to bowling in a league again as well as cleaning up the yard.  Nice to be retired.  Can't wait till I can hike again once a week for say 5 hours.  It's just about Avocado season and we usually pack out POUNDS that fall from "wild" trees that are probable the results of sugar can workers checking out various water tunnels in the valley.  They probably tossed the seeds and we reep the harvest 75 years later.

[Harry’s Palms]

I hope you both recover from your condition . It does make even gardening a chore when we have additional ailments on top of not being young any more. I am only 69 and feel very good ……now. I am 10 months after a broken hip and that weren’t no fun. The screws held and the bone healed but still recovering. I am able to tend to my palms , even digging a hole to plant a new acquisition! Riding my bike on the weekends , back up to my 40 mile rides. That was the first time I had to “step back” from the things I love , cycling , gardening/palm care. Get better guys , Harry

[peachy]

Well you had a longer running time than me. Diagnosed with MS in my early 30's that put me in a wheelchair not long after,  I used to get someone to dig all the holes for planting palms.  Now I am in a new house designed for wheelchair occupancy,  I get on my knees and dig my own holes with a little camping spade. Then cancer surgery about 5 years (I think) ago., then a double mastectomy last year. Just when I thought it was as bad as it gets, my spine decided to imitate a roller coaster so now I can't lift anything heavier than an overfed chihuahua. Now I move plants and potting mix etc in a little cart attached to my chair with cable ties.  Now I am at the time of life when I should be browsing the catalogues for comfortable coffins and burial plots with a nice view, the cost of living crisis has forced me to go back to work just to survive. On the plus side, I like my little house and the pretty things in it.  The Poochies, Pussies, Parrots, Palms and Potted Plants give me a reason to get up in the mornings and reward my nurturing efforts threefold.  Shingles is on my list of terrors, along with a stroke or early onset dementia.  I too had the vaccination and felt safe until 20 minutes ago, ya bum, however I survived the pandemic without catching Covid so hopefully I will dodge shingles as skillfully as I am dodging the coffin.

Peachy 

[Harry’s Palms]

Peachy , I think your tenacity speaks for itself. Life is certainly challenging for most of us , some have more than their share of challenges. I love your sense of “ look on the bright side” attitude with a dose of reality. Keep on truckin’ ….and towing the garden cart around! The visual put a big smile on my face! I read your post to my wife , now we are both smiling, Harry

[WaianaeCrider]

Zoomed in on the property lay out picture

The first two photos were taken from position  1  in the direction of the line

The second two from position  2  in the direction of the line.

 

[peachy]

You still need a ride on mower

Peachy

 

[WaianaeCrider]

17 hours ago, peachy said:

You still need a ride on mower

Peachy

 

Don't think I could get it up there.  It's above this terrace and about 500 feet from the house. 

[WaianaeCrider]

For the past week I"ve been clearing the area labeled Kong's Side.  It's a slop I've been terracing for the past 20 years.  Started around 2000 and quit for at least 10 years around 2008, starting up again w/Covid Time in 2020.

When it's cleared as it was back in Nov. of 23 it looked something like this

After 3 1/2 months of some rain and the inability to  do yard work it looked like this .

It took 2 tanks of gas in the weed whacker to cut it back to this

Because the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle loves decomposing plant material to lay it's eggs I can't leave the cuttings laying there as a mulch.  I'll have to rake, bag and remove them as well as dig the roots of the grass out.

In the same general area lower and to the left I have a bed with a Cyphophoenix alba and a Beccariophoenix alfredii that have been in the ground since Nov. of 2020.  They were also lost in the weeds until today.  The Cyphophoenix is in front.