Monthly Archives: March 2012

Garden and Yard

The seeds (Tomato, Eggplant & Artichoke) I planted last weekend are already starting to germinate! Not much, but just poking through the potting soil. Yea!

The weather was so nice I hoed the garden and planted the 1st row of peas.

I have a large pile of leaf mulch, courtesy of neighbor Rick, to put between the rows once the garden is set.

The ice on the pond in the background is melting rapidly and the redwing blackbirds and Canada geese have been checking it out.

The crocus and daffodils are flowering. The bees are already checking out the blossoms.

“Cullen Underfoot*” was also checking out the blossoms and bees.

*Name not yet approved…..

 

 

Signs of Spring

This past weekend Kathryn and I saw a large flock (~150) of snow geese flying west.  Driving home on Monday I saw a blue bird, someone mowing their lawn (!), a young mom pushing a baby carriage for a walk, a runner and biker.

I have seen 1 robin, several red-wing blackbirds, Kathryn heard a night hawk and the red tail hawks are active near their nest.

Knee / MCL Sprain

In mid-November 2011 Eric and I were throwing the football in the yard when I stretched for a pass and felt a tweak in my right knee – nothing serious.  There was no real swelling but it ached for the following few days and I took some time off from wallyball & volleyball.

Conveniently, I had a general checkup with my family doctor the following week and I mentioned it to him.  He checked it out and put me through range of motions tests finally declaring that he thought I sprained my MCL.  He declared “these things can take some time to fully heal – 6 to 8 weeks.  Wear a knee brace if you are doing anything strenuous.”

I rode the exercise cycle and I took some more time off volleyball & wallyball, bought a decent knee brace and started playing in a limited manner after another month or so.

My knee behaved sporadically.  Some days there was no pain, other days minor things like standing a lot would trigger pain.  I would walk across the road with it being a little achy and sometimes the pain would go away – other times it would intensify but then recede.

In mid-January I went to Poland to play a couple hours of pickup volleyball.  After 90 minutes I jumped for a block on Mike Spadaro’s hit on game point and came down re-tweaking my knee.  There was swelling the next morning and I decided to call Hamilton Orthopedic Surgeons.

Surprisingly, I got an appointment the next week.  They took x-rays determined that I had a sprained MCL and told me to wait another 6-8 weeks.  If it didn’t clear up then I should come back for a cortisone shot.

Last Friday I decided enough was enough and scheduled a follow up appointment.  Amazingly there was an 8am slot which I took.  I made the drive to Hamilton where they gave me a shot of Lidocaine for short term numbness and pain relief and cortisone for longer term inflammation and pain relief.  The Lidocaine provided immediate relief all day long making me think I should have asked for a shot in both knees.  The cortisone caused some heat flashes during the night but otherwise the jury is still out.

HP Gold Basketball Playoffs

Last year both HP teams were dominated by 4th graders and they ended up playing each other in the championship game.  This year the 4th graders moved on and the two HP teams were dominated by 3rd graders playing for the 1st time.  HP Gold had two 4th graders, Deegan and Matthew (who had never played before).

HP Gold’s repertoire consisted of two out of bounds plays: BOX or STACK usually in-bounded by Michael, Deegan or Eric.  They had five plays:

  • OHIO – Spread the floor and point guard penetrates middle and looks for open low post players
  • #1.    Wings (2 & 3) set picks for Low Post(s) (4 &5) who come to foul line to receive a pass.
  • #2.    Right side or left side signaled by hand calling the play.  Depending on side 2 or 3 sets a pick for the point guard and then rolls to the basket after setting a pick.
  • #3.    Both 2 & 3 set a pick for the point guard and then roll to basketball and/or crash the boards
  • 1-3-1 NAME – NAME stays in the low post and uses three person screen as they wish.  Three on foul line crash the boards after NAME passes them.
  • 21/31/41/51 Numbered person takes the handoff from point guard and loops around.

Positions:  1 = Point Guard, 2 = Takes ball out and plays wing, 3 = Wing, 4 & 5 = Low Post

  • Point Guard: Deegan / Luke
  • Wings: Jack / Luke / Eric
  • Post: Michael / Trevor / Matthew / Sawyer

HP Gold entered the playoffs as a #8 seed and played a highly organized, white T-shirted team from Oriskany. The white team called all their plays as CAROLINA #whatever and ran 90% of them on the right side.  It was a low scoring game with HP Gold playing superior defense; taking away the white team’s initial options and causing them to reset their offense multiple times.  HP Gold was more aggressive than usual rebounding the ball with excellent rebounding performances by Matthew, Sawyer and even Eric.

Game 2 was played versus a maroon team.  It was even through the 1st half and then in the 2nd half the maroon team went on a little run that HP Gold wasn’t able to overcome, finally losing by 4 points.

 

New Puppy

Last August during our vacation to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary I told Kathryn that she could get another dog. Since then she has talked to lots of people and debated the merits of Bernese Mtn Dogs, Retrievers and Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers. A couple weeks ago sister-in-law Linda contacted Kathryn to let her know that she saw an ad for Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever puppies in nearby Newport. Kathryn went to check them out and settled on a male with white paws, stripe and a tiny tip on his tail. She picked him up on Friday.

He remains nameless as we get used to him and learn his personality.

Starting Seeds

My former boss, Nick Bottini, used to advise starting garden plants by St. Joseph Day, March 19. With a target date of trying to get plants in the garden by NLT the 3rd week of May that provides about 10 weeks for the seeds to germinate and sprout.

I started on that path this week. I moved a shelving rack in front of the south facing patio door in the changing room. I bought a couple seed starting kits, peat pots to transfer the plants, potting soil and seeds.

The seed starting kits have a water tray, a porous, permeable mat for transferring the moisture to the soil moisture, small rectangular pots, soil pellets and a cover to hold in the moisture. In the kit below some of the soil pellets have not yet expanded from the water.

The seed starting kits are made from thin plastic and one has a small leak, so I placed them in plastic tubs to prevent leaking and put them in the sun on the lower shelves of the racks.

My seed order is being shipped and contains peas, pole beans, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, pumpkins, acorn squash, and a couple varieties of tomatoes. I am trying lettuce and spinach again this year. Past years it has grown well, but Kathryn hated cleaning leaves for salad. New for me this year is artichokes, cabbage and eggplant.

I am planning on growing the pumpkins under the fruit trees, rather than in the garden because they took up so much space last year.