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Health & Fitness > Yardwork and Covid
 

Yardwork and Covid

For my oldest sister’s sake, who had cancer surgery earlier in the year, I have tried to notice what is written about Covid. Apparently we’re a little bit better off than we were awhile ago. There are now a couple of antiviral treatments that are being prescribed. In the NYTimes, a reporter said she’d been treated with one when she got sick. One antiviral is Paxlovid, by Pfizer, and the other is Lagevrio, made by Merck.

HHS.gov/what-are-oral-antivirals

———

My exercise regime consists mostly of Youtube videos, and yard work. Every day I have to jump around to either O-Bla-Di-O-Bla-Da by the CoverTuneGrabBag guys, and a Pharrell video of “Happy.” Then I do some (meager) exercises — and then later I go out to cut down branches of the shrubs.

The shrub assault is no picnic. These things have been left to their own devices for years and are taking more and more of the yard. They hide a couple of the first-floor windows. And all I have are hand tools — a big pruner and various small clippers. My shoulders are getting stronger. I have to ice my arms and neck when I come back inside. I can clip and cut only in short stints, because the pruner is heavy.

The bushes remind me of the science fiction movie Day Of The Triffids. They sneakily get bigger while you’re not looking. Even if there’s a drought and the yard is turning brown, the bushes will continue to grow. Their roots probably go down all the way through the earth and they’re stealing water from Australia.

If I’d only thought about it, I would have made sure these things stayed manageable.

I am not very lucky with my yard; my roses have been entirely devoured, leaf and bloom, by the deer while my next door neighbors’ roses are perfect and untouched. But my roses were too easy to get to, while theirs are guarded by some of the landscaping. I think I will cut them way short and see if they’ll regrow, but I’m going to find some kind of wire cage or at least plastic netting to put over them at night. We’ll see.

posted on July 26, 2022 8:26 AM ()

Comments:

We finally had a nice rain, off and on all day Sunday.
comment by elderjane on Aug 1, 2022 5:27 AM ()
We have a type of bush called Siberian Pea my mother planted 46 years ago to restore the vegetation along the riverbanks after a devastating flood. They grew fast and made a nice privacy hedge along our yard, plus stabilizing the soil. They reproduce via seeds that pop out of pods in August, shooting 3 and 4 feet out from the bush, and they are starting to become a nuisance - a good example of invasive. Like you, we feel like we might have missed the time to get aggressive with them. In the winter, when there's no leaves, I try to cut some of the bushes back because it's just sticks instead of branches with bulky leaves.

Once in awhile we pick a section and cut them back severely, but unless we kill the roots, pruning just encourages them to re-grow even faster. I alternate between fretting about it and thinking that we're old and we won't live long enough to see it get really bad.
comment by traveltales on July 28, 2022 9:14 PM ()
Siberian Pea, I'll have to remember that one and not to ever plant it. Some of these plants are super-strong and immortal. I've worn out 2 pruners, so when I get a little sharpening tool I'll see if it fixes them up.
reply by drmaus on July 29, 2022 12:56 PM ()
I have a magnificent Rose of Sharon that continues to bloom even in drought.
The invasive stuff continues to grow. However I have learned to love the virginia creeper. It does no harm and can't be killed.

comment by elderjane on July 28, 2022 4:20 AM ()
Does your Rose of Sharon attract big fat bumblebees too? They go crazy for mine, the flowers are so big and plentiful.
reply by drmaus on July 29, 2022 12:57 PM ()
Don't fool with Mother Nature--she knows what she is doing and gets even if you mess with her!!!
comment by greatmartin on July 26, 2022 10:01 AM ()
It is imperative to fool with Mother Nature! I think she's been getting even all along. Just like in your state, if we don’t put the brakes on the growing things, and keep them severely trimmed, the land will return to how it was when the pilgrims were here. The rose of sharon bush, for instance, would rise above the roof and my front door would become impassable because of all the bees. Not long ago a single vine growing under/inside that bush found its way through the shrub, and up to my front door in a few weeks, and was reaching for my door handle, like something from a horror movie. Things grow so fast in summer.
reply by drmaus on July 27, 2022 8:59 PM ()

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