h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That is certainly one thing one learns in Africa and that is how to water correctly and so conserve every last drop. And also how to cope with new plants and seedling in hot weather.

Being obliged to water with a bucket and a watering can I have been doing it religiously once a week and the more demanding plants twice a week. It is quite a balancing act, to get the bucket from the tap and walk gingerly backwards down my ramp, balancing myself on hte rails on either side of the ramp until I reach the "safety" of my wheelchair and can relax for a minute before going back and filling the watering can. . Once they are both full, I push my wheelchair b backwards with my feet and drag the two water utensils on either side of the wheels, keeping a beady eye on the pavementedge so that I do not go over it and then make a headlong dash down Granville road to the station and onto the express for London!.

These exercises, in some strange fashion, have actually strengthened my back muscles trmendously, and I feel I should send them to the Society of Physiotherapists.
They could use them as alternaitves to the very painful exercises which I was forced to do when trying to learn to learn to walk again.

The other morning I was watering and along came a very busy-looking lady. She was going to walk right past me so I saluted her and said

" Isn't it a wonderful morning." then hurriedly because I wanted to share my good news with someone

" One of the wonderful things about this waterban is the fact that I think that it has strengthened my back muscles."!

She went on walking and then turned back and looked at me saying

"Well just don't do it with a hosepipe!!!"

Ah me! Ah my!

a somewhat dejected
Christiane AR1

My daughter is nurturing her very first Sunflower this summer, so we've been hard at the watering! Some of can appreciate the garden and not snap about the use of watering implements! Hopefully you're keeping yourself duly 'watered' in the heat too

not every one is dedicated as you think.

for you!

one , because a bunch of s need water

We don't have much luck with plants in our house In fact I had to shift our plant graveyard from out front door last week, as they were piling up
Mind you, we have managed to hold onto a tree type thing (that I have no idea where we got it from)but it seems to be thriving

Last week, I planted some new Ivy in a pot outside, and it seems to be growing
A cut killed the last one, by ing in it,, so we hope to take the ivy plants with us if and when we move
Smudger,

Smudger, and Squirrels on our plants, but the bird splatts don't seem to do any harm thank goodness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A1, I am glad it is strengthening your back but I do worry as it sounds a bit precarious. What a snooty lady - woman! We have no water restrictions as yet but I am doing my bit by watering with a watering can, very sparingly -too much water in this heat isn't good for plants anyway. I use washing up water to wash the patio provided it isn't greasy. We already have showers only - we have no bath and no hot water tank. Water is heated only as we need it which saves a lot on electricity. One toilet has a double flush - one for a tinkle and two for a dump and we put a brick in the other one! I think I drink more water than I use for anything else in this weather!!

Take care,

Websailor

AR1 you never cease to amaze me. Your efforts with watering and keeping your garden going are always heartwarming.

It is currently raining here and thank goodness too.. our garden was getting a bit crispy about the edges. All of the multicolored coleus is doing very well, as are several hostas we planted on one side of the house. The hostas have already started blooming and have these lovely flowers going.

The privet-like shrubs we relocated to place some nandinas and lorapetalum seem to not appreciate their new homes and are apparently on the road to suicide. My thought on it - PC was wanting to toss the lot of them anyway but I suggested relocating them instead to try and save their little lives, so if they choose to throw that chance away that's their loss.

My very dear friends,

thank you all for your your kind thoughts and messages.

Darling K. helps me as much as he can.Yesterday he said to me

"Maman you really love your plants. and do your realise how much you know about them"

Well that was just him being comforting and loving.
I do take great care dear websailor so that I do not topple over. and I do not water when my head is giddy and my BP is probably sky hig. I feel that is courting trouble.

Batty super to hear from you. I did not realise that you were also having a drought across the pond. Mind you, what we are having is zilch compared to what they are suffering in places like DARFUR. It makes me feel really ish to moan about it. Neither do I have to carry water on my head. That must be incredilby difficult to do.

Two new friends on this thread. Welcome Matt. I thought you were a man!!. I love your homepage. It was quite unlike me. All dreamy and tantalising. !!

As usual my dear pheloxi comes in and comforts me as does smudger. thank you one and all. I needed your affirmation. There was an article which was forwarded to me on caring. It appeared in a London newspaper called the New Statesman and was entitled "Special Report, Who cares about carers? It was written by Kira Cochrane and was dated the 12th June 2006. I think that is part of my reaction to this silly woman. Caring is a tremendous strain on a parennnnnt/child/carer. Sadly people do not realise it. Mostly one's friends disappear and do not want to be burdenedd with having to share one's worries.
I think that is the tremendous value of this wonderful site. I know, that someone, out there someone is going to understand my need and my pain and anguish. One cannot talk about it all the time otherwise life would not be worth living. But when a silly little "thoughtless" remark is tossed towards one, suddenly the whole tragedy is brought up in all its huge overwhelming burden and one sinks into a deep depression. .
So thank you all for cheering me up. And affirming me and making me feel worthwhile.
I feel like calling her a silly old but will refrain from doing so.!!
Websailor thank you for the details of the waterworks. I have had several plumbers come round, and only one has come back with a quote. I want to have one of those toilets installed in my bathroom. And also in K's home. But they never come back.
Difficult to get old. Everyone thinks one is dotty, senile, demanding, bad-tempered (that I would agree with that assessment sometimes!!)

Much affectionate to all you wonderful friends.
Christiane AR1

call her a silly old .
- she is not here!
- you might feel better!

moo!

Dotty, definitely, in the most delightful way. Demanding, well so you should be - if you aren't no-one else will stand up for you. Bad tempered, well, with good cause sometimes I would think! Senile - not now, not ever. Much too clever, funny and gutsy to go that way.

I would call that woman a lot more than a silly old Moo but I have a reputation to maintain though quite what sort I am not sure. If she had been a lady, and nice, she would have offered to help.

Dear A1, just turn the other cheek - which one I leave up to you - only you know your athletic capabilities.

Websailor

Hello AR!,and i must say i agree with phelox,call the woman whatever you feel like calling her!!!
Sometimes it is nice to pass the time of day wth someone going by,but i think people fail to realise that we can still hold a conversation,even if we're sat in a wheelchair!!
It really annoys me when someone says "would she like that wrapping",to my hubby,when i'm buying something in a shop.
Maybe, when the hosepipe is over of course,you could catch the lady passing again
Do take care when hauling the buckets ,,,,
salx

Oh pheloxi,,

What a joy these three postings are. I feel a bit ashamed having let my hair down, so to speak , but your comforting words have cheered me up no end.


Thanks so much
Moo! Moo! Moo!
Tral-la-la

Christiane AR1

Very dear WS

Thank you for your words of comfort and cheer. they made me feel much better.

I shall turn the other cheek, but not before I have taken up Smurfles suggestion and made her dance like a lily, on the hosepipe which I shall be wriggling around like a snake - so she will be doing a real hula dance!!Poor silly lady.

Muito obrigada,

Christiane the Moo-cow Also Ran1

Dear Smurfles big

Your brilliant idea had me rolling on the floor (literally speaking of course) laughing my head off.

I shall devise a little dance for her to do, and with glue get her attached to the hospipe, and then snake it around through all sorts of thorny places.
No, I do not think I would do that. I think I would take her through a beautiful garden, and force her to look at the beauty of Nature, and how dreadful it is when plants do not have water!.

I agree with you about people always talking to the one who is pushing the wheelchair. The only people who treat me as equals are children in pushchairs and we commiserate with one another eyeball to eyeball!!.

Much affection dear friend,

Christiane Moo-mooAlsoRan

I think one of the greatest punishments you can give to people like that is to be *overly* cheerful, and *make* them acknowledge you! Nothing annoys people like that more than someone being cheerful and in-your-face!

I'm sorry that you get ignored because you're in a wheelchair. I'm learning more and more about that since so many in TJ's family have physical difficulties. His mom needs to be in a wheelchair most of the time, although she can walk a bit ... not for very long, though. TJ's always helping strangers with wheelchairs ... he's an expert pusher!

We just planted a flat of New Guinea impatiens into pots on the deck and in front of the house this weekend. I fear they're the only flowers I'll be able to keep, as the lawn guys are *still* whacking things they shouldn't be. I got 5 small primroses at a flower sale at church on Mother's Day, and they whacked two of them already. *sigh* The good news is that my Mom gave me a bunch of seeds last year from a flower of hers that she didn't know the name of, and they're coming up! I just hope they're allowed to grow! I'm considering getting netting ... the kind you put over berry bushes to keep the birds off ... to put over my flower beds.

AR1!

Hi dear TJ and Shea

Well done to you TJ! big (I'm sure you don't mind Shea!! And a big to you too for being the link of a combined family who love and cherish one another.)


But is helping/being considerate/thoughtful/unselfish,
something which is inherent in one's character?
Something which is learnt at one's mothers knee?
Something which one has to expereince before one can do it?
Something which is all three and develops in time?

I totally agree with you Shea about what annoys people. I must admit that I do do it sometimes. However,on Sunday. in the porch of the Church, I stooped to "their" level. I was talking to someone, when someone else came up and started talking to her, without acknowledging me at all. If looks could kill I am ashamed to say I threw her one which was all barrels blazing!!. Then I felt so ashamed of myself!! I thought of writing a letter of apalogy and then thought better of it.
No, Next time I see her I shall go out of my way to greet her!!.
Then the question of sincereity comes in. I think one can just like everyone - as my darling K. does - and just never get offendd by anyone. Wish I was like that!

Ah well. I shall keep on trying!.
I love the idea of the New Guinea Impatiens. As far as I remember they are quite big plants and extremely "showy" with brilliant colours. How about getting some fine gravel mulch - you can get it in very pretty colours - and placing it around the area where you have put in the impatients - in fact making it a sort of marked out area, and asking them NOT to water it or mulch it because you want to see how your "experiement " works.? Mulching of course is vital in this period of water shortage.
Incidentally how are your wrists? A friend of mine is having the same op next week.

With "oceans " of

Christiane AR1

I really do not know.

dear Christiane,

not acknowledging is uncountabhe times more rude, then your reaction. in a wheelchair does not mean brainless.

my advice is to be polite assertive.

I just had conversation with Dutch mobile operator about their redesigned website, wich is not readable, because it designed for small letters. he said it was reported to responsible department. I said should look into better mobiles for blind and visual impaired too. I said I saw few, but expensive. he horten my current contract so I could change visual better mobile with a more expensive contract, but I got usb memory stick and no discount. Ishould have reen more polite assertive.

Hi pheloxi,

Te two "a"s

Assertive
Aggressive

I try and be polite first and then
Whoops
instead of being Assertive I become
Aggressive

Must try and do better!!
Sorry about your small print.that is difficult. Hope they can fix it.

Christiane AR1

count to 10 if that does not help count tiles on the ground if you are still anoyed be angry the person is realy anoying.

never stay angry / anoyed / aggresive when the person is no longer in visual range, because person like that is not worth your precious energy. another reason is in that person memory you are forgotten, beause you are their short time memory. it is also difference intrest.

you can better be nice and befriend to an elephant, than with human with no comman intrests.

Very dear pheloxi,

What wise advice.

Thank you dear friend.
I absolutely agree with you - I just need to be reminded about it occasionally!!.
Go Weell

Christiane AR1

I glad to remind ol' fogey like you

we are all human.

your life is inspiration to me!