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Just in time for Halloween:
With all the rain this month, I got an explosion of weeds in my (common in Arizona) gravel front yard like I would normally get in February only much worse because of the warmer fall temperatures. I've had a lot of problems over the years with weed killer killing my ornamental plants. So I take the time to weed the yard by hand. The bulk of the yard doesn't need to be touched, but the edges along both property lines take real work. In past winters squatting for long periods got so painful I'd end up kneeling much of the time. Obviously that's very hard on pants, and I don't want to destroy my work pants so early in the winter. So this year with more exercise than usual over the summer, I did most of the weed pulling from a squatting position.
It worked fine while I was weeding. (It's a slow process. It's very tiring. I'm old and I only work for about an hour a day, and I've still got about one more day of work out front.) But every night, my ankles, calves and the tops of my feet would hurt something fierce. I was taking an aspirin every night to help get to sleep. I decided it wasn't a great idea to keep doing that over time. So yesterday I went out and bought something to rub on my legs.
I'm used to the rubbing stuff smelling awful. Vicks Vaporub from my childhood and Cramergesic from my days as a distance runner in high school smell powerfully of eucalyptus. I bought the smallest tube of something I could find. I was shocked when I opened it up and it smelled powerfully of toothpaste! I thought it was a bit more pleasant than the old stuff. But my cat was terrified! After I rubbed it on last night, every time I took even a single step toward him, on purpose or otherwise, he bolted off in the opposite direction! Black cat repellent!
Happy Halloween.
With all the rain this month, I got an explosion of weeds in my (common in Arizona) gravel front yard like I would normally get in February only much worse because of the warmer fall temperatures. I've had a lot of problems over the years with weed killer killing my ornamental plants. So I take the time to weed the yard by hand. The bulk of the yard doesn't need to be touched, but the edges along both property lines take real work. In past winters squatting for long periods got so painful I'd end up kneeling much of the time. Obviously that's very hard on pants, and I don't want to destroy my work pants so early in the winter. So this year with more exercise than usual over the summer, I did most of the weed pulling from a squatting position.
It worked fine while I was weeding. (It's a slow process. It's very tiring. I'm old and I only work for about an hour a day, and I've still got about one more day of work out front.) But every night, my ankles, calves and the tops of my feet would hurt something fierce. I was taking an aspirin every night to help get to sleep. I decided it wasn't a great idea to keep doing that over time. So yesterday I went out and bought something to rub on my legs.
I'm used to the rubbing stuff smelling awful. Vicks Vaporub from my childhood and Cramergesic from my days as a distance runner in high school smell powerfully of eucalyptus. I bought the smallest tube of something I could find. I was shocked when I opened it up and it smelled powerfully of toothpaste! I thought it was a bit more pleasant than the old stuff. But my cat was terrified! After I rubbed it on last night, every time I took even a single step toward him, on purpose or otherwise, he bolted off in the opposite direction! Black cat repellent!
Happy Halloween.