Random 3 for October 23, 2022 – Medical tests, flowers, squirrels

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One of the deck flowerboxes. Tomatoes were pulled at the beginning of September.

Short one today. It’s been an “unremarkable” week.

Unremarkable? Me? – I recently had a series of blood tests. I swear they took a gallon of blood and did 87 gazillion tests (this is all for dry eye related syndrome). I’m sure they tested for leprosy too! The last test results just came in this past week. The medical person interpreting the results noted in the comments section “unremarkable.” I think that’s the nicest thing any medical person ever said to me.  I hate comments like “whoa, never saw this before” or “she’s a bleeder!”  (I actually heard that during a minor procedure on my foot for which I had local anesthesia.) There is the “hmmm” too that is unnerving. I’ll take unremarkable anytime.

Gone, gone, gone – Yesterday we pulled out all the semi-dead annual flowers from the planters. We had our killing frost so although a few were still pushing some flowers up, the majority were gone. I hate to put it off too long or I’ll freeze my butt off cleaning it all up. Been there, done that, not doing again! I have two chrysanthemum plants on the front porch still blooming and that’s it. Next stop Christmas decorations but not yet.

Mine! All mine!
Source: deviantart.com

Speaking of planters, I have deck rail planters and I have squirrels. As I was cleaning them out I found about a half dozen black walnuts buried in there for the winter. Poor squirrels. I put them back out for them to find and rebury. Life is tough.

So how was your week?

47 thoughts on “Random 3 for October 23, 2022 – Medical tests, flowers, squirrels”

  1. “Unremarkable” is always a welcome word. Wouldn’t you liked to have seen the squirrels’ expressions when they arrived with a nut in their mouth to bury it in the planters for Winter retrieval? I hope they put two and two together. 🙂

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  2. Wow your deck flowerboxes were prolific. Congratulations on your unremarkable tests – always music to the ears. I hate black walnut trees – there’s a whole row of them one street over and they sure make a mess when walking with white sneakers. Worse than geese goop to clean up. I like my sidewalks pristine.

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  3. Mark Rober put up a new squirrel obstacle course today. He says squirrels only refind .25 of the stashed nuts. They are the wild gardeners. Planting seeds and nuts every where they go. You may well be pulling oak tree “weeds” next spring. Also, if you’ve never watched Mark’s ridiculous battle with squirrels eating his bird feed… it’s worth it. Start with his 2020 battle cry. It’s hilarious. The squirrels outdo a NASA engineer. Anyone whose dealt with squirrels is vindicated.

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    • I just put out corn for the squirrels. Helps keep them away from the bird feeders although with my new deck, I don’t have a good place to hang them without a major mess underneath. My most interesting lesson from last year’s bird feeding experience was not about the squirrels. I kept finding poop on my deck. Not squirrel, either cat or dog. My deck is second story so whatever had to climb the steps and why? Then I saw the neighbor’s cat lounging on my deck. She comes up to scout for birds and other critters feeding on the deck. I guess when nature calls….

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  5. I have routine lab work tomorrow morning, and I’m hoping to join you as “unremarkable.” Music to our ears. 🙂 And the squirrels in my backyard are disrupting every potted plant I have, and there are many! They are burying their acorns, concentrating on their winter diet. We will have plenty of acorns all the way through the winter, but their instinct tells them to make a terrible mess for me, just to be sure! 🙂

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  7. I actually still have a couple of begonia plants still blooming. My citrus chrysanthemums are starting to fade. My rose bush is blooming away. The hostas are done for.

    Unremarkable. Heh. 😁

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  8. That’s funny about the nuts. I found a stalk of corn growing with my flowers once. I suspect it was from a buried corn kernel that we were feeding the squirrels once. I wonder if they really do remember where they buried stuff?

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  9. How nice to have a unremarkable blood test! Congratulations. I love the cute, greedy squirrel. Every so often I remember that squirrels are rodents. It doesn’t seem possible. They’re so cute.

    After a very hot, dry summer, Friday, Oct. 21, was a turning point here. It finally rained and washed away the smokey air. I’ve never seen Seattleites so happy to see rain. Immediately the temperature dropped from the 70s to the 50s.

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  11. I think WP ate my 6 AM comment, but it was basically, “Shhhh, don’t tell my husband that I will make the dog wait on his bed while I let squirrels drink from our fountain when it’s really hot. Even though the squirrels are jerks and dig up his vegetables.”

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  12. Sometimes it is wonderful to be unremarkable. I have seasonal allergies, but they aren’t awful, just a bother. I plan to get some pansies for my balcony this week or next. They will be fine all winter in this part of the south.

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  13. It’s good you have a few flowers hanging on. Hope you get the decorations up before the cold. We had warm temps through October until yesterday when it snowed. I’m not happy. Hoping it melts in a few days.

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  14. Congrats on the ‘unremarkable’ tests – best kind ever. Hurry to the stores because Christmas stuff in general is all on sale right now. As for the squirrels, a friend had a noise in her car, and when she took it in to be checked, they found an air filter full of acorns. They were nice enough to not charge her to clean it out and put in a new filter. 🙂

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  15. You’re far kinder than I would have been toward the deck squirrels. After filching all my strawberries, and now moving on the remaining cherry tomatoes, I’m not making ANYTHING easier for those hoodlums. I’d love it if they permanently moved elsewhere. Sounds like I’m a NIMBY afterall. 😬

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  16. Unremarkable seems to me to be a positive comment; at least it feels affirmative that nothing life-shattering is apparent. I was in the ER this week, as ordered, about my jaw issue, and the PA took the x-ray I had out to show the doctor, who, in the hall where I could hear from the exam room, asked if the x-ray was of my jaw or my pelvis! That didn’t feel reassuring at all! I wasn’t terribly upset after that when they chose to send me to another hospital for the alleged surgery I will need. And yea, digging up the annuals at this time of year makes it difficult to ignore that colder weather is on our doorsteps! That’s why I have such a love/hate affair with the season of autumn!

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    • I have a love/hate thing with fall too. By the end of summer, I am tired of the super hot weather we’ve been having in the past few years and tired of all the watering. However, I already miss my petunias and all the rest. The deck rail plantings gave us privacy too. Your jaw or your pelvis? That would have jarred me too (unless you have a funny looking jaw!). Good luck with whatever that is.

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  17. I think I’d rather be “unremarkable” on a test result than “uh oh”. I hate waiting for test results! I’ve got to clean out my deck containers – my geraniums are the only thing still hanging in there – being in a sheltered area has helped keep things going for longer than usual but the time has come to clear out!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • One year I stretched them out until Thanksgiving, then it snowed and it was a real pain to clean them out. I was sad to pull the petunias in the front which have been protected from the frost and blooming like crazy. It’s a new variety. They bloomed through August drought when all petunias get leggy. Hope I can find them again next year. My ivy geraniums were still blooming too. It was sad. More fun planting than cleaning up.

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  18. We had a “remarkable” week ~ temps in the 50’s at night due to LOW humidity.

    I would like to say that we took advantage of the great hiking weather by going for a great hike or two . . . but no. Instead, I napped, played Bridge, made a pot of chili and stayed indoors for the most part.

    I’m guessing that your outdoor yard work each fall is significantly less than at your last place ~ yard work in the spring seems more “promising.”

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    • It is significantly less and I have a guy I can hire by the hour to help if I need it. Part of my aging has included allergies I get when I’m out in the dirt for more than an hour or two. Boogers up my eyes too. I can walk but the act of planting (or unplanting) and cleaning out potting soil = bad evening.

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