Sunday, May 28, 2023

Am I Tough Enough?


The Georgia Thumpers are still in the juvenile phase and they are hungry little fuckers. That one was about three inches long and was chomping on my green bean leaves. I just let him be, mostly because he was on the other side of the wire fencing from me. I'm so fancy I can take a picture BETWEEN the squares of fencing. 
I'm surprised National Geographic hasn't gotten in touch with me yet. 
I found another one smack-snacking on a cucumber leaf and I am not proud to say that I removed my Croc and hit him square on with it. He was partially on a fence post which is why I was able to get him. I know. I know. All living things are as important as all other living things and killing is killing- but shit. An old southern lady gardener can only be pushed so far. And they make themselves so easy to hit! They are so concentrated on their eating that they don't even seem to see us as we swing our shoes at them! 

Speaking of cucumbers- here's one that is finally getting a little girth and heft to it. 


Not much. I just wanted to use the words "girth" and "heft" in describing the most phallic of vegetables. Or one of them, at least. it's still a little boy cucumber. 
"Come on! Be a man!" I told it. 
There are lots of little-bitty cukes coming along and oh, if I get enough to make a decent amount of pickles I will be so happy. 

Looks to be an okay year for peppers. 


Those are almost full-sized. 

And one more garden picture.


Garlic bloom. They are so pretty. 

I did not do any actual gardening today, just picked green beans. My knee is still hot and swollen but as long as I don't bump it on anything or kneel on it, it's not so bad. I feel like such an ass but also, I feel like a human. I remember a long, long time ago when I was probably about nine years old, I fell on the back steps of my best friend, Lucille Ferger's house. Must have been a pretty good fall because I can distinctly remember watching the blood seep in over what I now realize was probably my patella, covering the whiteness with crimson. I was a clumsy child, constantly falling off my bike or on the primitive playground at Sebastian Elementary school, and my knees were always scabbed over. They still bear scars. Another very strong memory I have is the way the brown paper towels in the restroom at school felt and smelled when I wet them under the tap and then pumped some tincture of green soap on them to delicately remove the sand and grit from a freshly skinned knee. And the way my knees would burn after that when I sat in class and tried to concentrate on what my teacher was saying. 
Childhood is rough! At least it was in Roseland. I think the generally accepted medical advice in those days was to "walk it off" and we did, after applications of Merthiolate or (oh god, please no!) Iodine. 
It's a wonder any of us survived. 

And yet we did. 

I am living proof. Humans may fall but we are strong. 

Love...Ms. Moon

34 comments:

  1. 37paddington: did you have mercurochrome for cuts and bruises as a child? That red dye covering your skin? My memories are so similar to yours. Down to the brown paper towels wet with green liquid soap wiping away sand. I was a clumsy child too.

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    1. Yes! I think my mother got both mercurochrome and merthiolate for cuts and scrapes. I looked them up and they are different. Both banned now. After reading all of my comments I realize that the smell of wet brown paper towels is an almost universal memory for those of us of a certain age.
      I don't think children fall down as often as they used to. Safer playing places, probably.

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  2. Don't we all have scars on our knees? One of mine is from hitting the gravel in our driveway, I was coming in too fast on my bike, hit that gravel and the bike went one way and I went another ... tearing the shit out of my right knee! Plus ... I also have a scar from the boil I had on that knee!
    Now ... I have long scars on BOTH knees due to knee replacement surgery!
    Childhood is brutal on way too many kids ... but we don't realize it until we get older and look back on where we came from!! Dysfunctional as fuck!!!

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    1. We should probably have all worn kneepads from birth. Maybe we wouldn't be needing all these knee replacements.

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  3. My sibs used to joke about the row of bruises down each leg like buttons. I varied how I crashed into things.

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    1. I was an easy bruiser as a child. Not anymore. But I do remember having a lot of bruises.

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  4. I even had a couple that involved stitching up in the emergency room. So long ago...

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    1. I never had to get wounds stitched. But I had to visit the ER for a few other things as a child.

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  5. I have no qualms about killing bugs in the garden. I was the official Japanese Beetle killer in my mothers rose garden. I think my method involved a jar of gasoline.

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  6. Oh my knees are aching in sympathy. Sometimes I think we could have been designed a bit better.
    It's a constant battle keeping bugs under control.

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    1. I OFTEN think we should have been designed better. Truthfully, I believe we have not yet gotten to the point of evolution where we truly successfully walk upright.
      That's why I love my winter garden- so many fewer bugs.

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  7. So I was just googling "mercurochrome as Rosemarie mentioned it and I was thinking about the same stuff from childhood and found out that the FDA banned it! Who knew! Yes, It's a wonder we're alive today! All the things we did WRONG! Haha!

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    1. Yes! I knew that fact. That it had been banned. Our parents were unknowingly trying to kill us.

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  8. Mercurochrome contained mercury Ha. I loved mercury. I would break the thermometers to get out the beautiful silver liquid and roll it around on the floor and cover dimes with it. Amazing that I survived my childhood.

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    1. I remember when a thermometer broke, rolling that magical stuff around in balls. Never covered a dime with it though. It's amazing any of us survived our childhoods. Kids are tough.

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  9. The Podiatrist gave me Mercurochrome for after Surgical application, I hadn't used any since I was a Child! I guess the stuff still works and I do recall liking that color it stained you... but Lord you better not get it on anything else or it never comes out! The smell of Brown Paper Towels is distinctive... I remember my Mom's 'cure' for Sunburn was Vinegar on Brown Paper and it does soothe the Burn.

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    1. Are you sure he didn't give you Betadine? That's what they use now. They banned the use of mercurochome due to the mercury in it.
      I have heard about using vinegar for sunburn but the part about the brown paper is new to me.

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    2. It used to be a cure for hitting your head in a fall. I wonder if it avoided swelling? It's mentioned in nursery rhymes.

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  10. I don't remember any childhood falls, I was sure-footed, but I remember getting pushed off the jetty railing while preparing to jump and smacking into the wooden stairs on my way down to the water. That's about it for me. Still have the scar but it's hard to see now, very faded.

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    1. Oh, how nice it must have been not to be a complete klutz!
      God. I bet that fall hurt like hell.

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    2. No, I just bounced off those steps into the water, my elbow was cut to the bone and the salt water stung a bit, but I just kept on swimming since I didn't have any bandaids with me and wasn't running all the way home (five minutes away) just to get one.

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  11. Ha ha, I always had scabby knees too! Didn't kill us did it!

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  12. I've fallen on my ass twice in the last month; and my right knee seems to be my chosen sacrifice in these events. This is relatively new for me and I've concluded I need to look down more to see what the eff is down there hoping to trip me.

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  13. I happily smush stink bugs when I find them on my tomatoes. which reminds me, I haven't been out to check yet this morning. my bell pepper plant has done nothing, not even one single bloom. it did get planted late though. my ankle was feeling a little wonky the other day but finally firmed up before it gave way and down I went.

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    1. Stink bugs do not deserve to live in my opinion. At least not in my garden. Give those peppers more time. They'll probably start producing.
      I'm so sorry about your ankle! Dammit! That's so infuriating.

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  14. I have plenty of childhood experience with methiolate on skinned knees as well. (Or mercurochrome. Was that the same thing?)

    I don't blame you for clobbering that lubber. Kind of like our garden pigeon, the world could use fewer of them anyway.

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    1. There is a difference between merthiolate and mercurochrome. They were both so awesome, weren't they?
      Not.
      Yeah. Those giant grasshoppers in my garden need to die.

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  15. you ARE tough enough...to withstand smashing a Thumper, surviving all the myriad of scrapes, cuts and bruises....and (mostly) the falls too. I liked what Mr P said the other day about his wish for there to be an *olfactory* button on the computer.....because I vividly recall the scent of wet BROWN paper towels, green soap, and mercurachrome (merthiolate) very well from childhood. Don't wish it back.....but it would be fun to smell it again .....even though in my mind, I *can*.....from SO long ago! I also recall playing with mercury from the old thermometers.....until bro and I got *caught* and scolded!
    Susan M

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    1. It's a wonder we didn't all die of mercury poisoning. I guess our exposure wasn't really that bad. Who knows?
      Wet brown paper towels and tincture of green soap. It's like it lives in my nose forever.

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