Well...okay...but we can still worry about you!

I got an e-mail the other night that I needed to meet the Fern Team Saturday morning to help clean the fern beds at the botanical garden. I had just started Prednisone , had no sleep, coughing, hyper, not in any mood to go dig another bed......but still holding on to my sarcastic sense of humor. So I can blame this on the meds when I replied:

Hey Christie, I wrote this day before yesterday in the wee hours, but hadn’t felt like sending it. I think I’m better now (my sense of humor is returning), but not sure if I’ll feel like digging and getting sweaty Saturday.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED
___________________________________________________________

I’ve read your e-mail
And I'm growing pale
I know you'll think I'm lying
But over two weeks I’ve been crying.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Grandson's guitar teacher needed direction
His flower beds needed some correction
He said “Plants,... he had not any”
Daughter said her mom had way too many

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

And so off we two went to plant
Time during half hour lesson...was scant
So we stayed and we played
Oh the price that we paid

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Such a good thing we thought we had done
Till instructor... we see in a run
What he said filled us with dread
We were digging the wrong bed

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

We were queasy and feeling sick
Told him bye, we had to leave quick
You see, to plant all the things that we took
Poison ivy we did overlook

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

In 5 o'clock traffic...no tarry
The itching was making us wary
A pharmacist said, “Don't you worry,
Big bucks will fix you in a hurry”

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

So away with our magic elixir
He swore to daughter would fix her
We scrubbed and we washed
Shoes, gloves, and jeans we just tossed

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

We dodged a bullet so to speak
Checked arms and ankles a week
But next week my forehead was bubbles
Red and itchy for all of my troubles

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Thank heaven, nothing on daughter
Now my lids are puffy with water
Guess brushed PI on face with glove
And now I'm not feeling the love

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Off quickly to “Doc in a Box”
Head looks like chicken pox
Get Z-Pac, codeine, cortisone cream
Can't I get out of this %&*$#% dream...?

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Doc finds I also have chest infection
And says with mustered affection,
“In a few days you'll be fine!”
I hear, “You need glass of wine.”

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

How I've learned to hate “leaves of three”
Yesterday, Poison Ivy’s all over me
Around my trunk, behind my knees,
Under arms, ankles, calves, Oh pleez!

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Back to doc for her 'big gun” med
I first refused, side effects I dread
Prednisone ordered to make me well
Will also keep me awake...Oh Hell!

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

But wait, she adds inhaler for post nasal drip
“Hey, I don't think I have that.” I quip
“It'll help with your cough, and make you sleepy.”
My dream, my nightmare is getting creepy

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Today's first day for steroid med
I'm hyper, wild, can't go to bed
PI is still here, but hey I don't care
I think my palms are now growing hair

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

Sandi

Great prose, Sandi! Get well soon! Sounds like a nightmare, all right!

Thanks Linda, I really am better now. I've really been cutting back my garden this past week. canadanna was here last weekend and it was so nice to finally meet her. She's as nice in person as on Cubits! I tried to force her to stuff her car with more plants, but she had a limit. I had two garden clubbers come earlier this week...one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. And then repeated that yesterday. We cleared a lot of plants out and took cuttings of most of the rest! I felt good giving them away to "good homes!" I was tired last night. Usually an early, early riser..but I woke up at nearly 10 AM. Guess I'm still on the mend....or getting old!

Very good verses. It was definitively a nightmare. I forgot it started as a good deed......You might get itchy everytime you see that house!
I have potted up the plants and am making markers for them. When I look up the plants you gave me to get more info, they get rave reviews. I didn't realize what gems you gave me.Thank you so much!!!!

Sandi, I thought of you today when my leg started itching a while ago! Not from PI...hadn't been near any lately. But I do grow Stinging Nettle in the yard, and must have gotten careless while planting seeds today. Not that it's such a big deal...no rash, just itching for a while. I grow it well out of the way of where I usually go in the yard and mark it clearly. The plant makes such a great herbal for tea and a friend of mine got me started growing it. It really does seem to do me some good when I'm feeling a bit poorly and tastes great in tea.

Anna...glad you liked them. I planted my kerria out front so it'll get some sunshine. Hope the deer don't eat it. Thanks again.

Linda, I got into those one Easter when we were taking pics of the bluebonnets. My ankles were on fire and my family thought I was crazy, as there were no marks...other than my scratchings. Finally had someone ID it. I don't think any tea would be good enough for me to keep that around for long!
I had someone here the other day that was from Viet Nam. She flipped over the Jewels of Opar. Said they use it as a vegetable. I have so much to learn and not enough time, I'm afraid. DH said not to fix him any....

Ha! There IS a native Texas stinging nettle that is more dangerous than the herbal Urtica dioica. I was stung by that one once...yes, it's pretty bad! I wouldn't grow it in my yard either. Urtica dioica is at least milder if you do touch it and it really is good for you. Of course, you can buy it in dried form packaged in tea bags and not ever risk the itching, also.

Never got stung by on but when my in-laws had property in East Texas I would dig the Bull nettles for them. Then roots on those things are huge, I had some hole over six feet deep.

What kind of seeds were you planting, Linda? I still have seeds from last year I didn't get planted this past spring. And I bought lots of veggie seeds that are still sitting on the window sill. Too much going on, I guess..and too many bugs that ate everything this summer.
I bought a lot of lily bulbs to plant this fall. I think I'm going to try low maintenance side yard next spring. The bulbs are supposed to come up in summer, I have Oriental lilies there already that'll come up in spring. Just need something for late summer when there's shade from the trees along that side.
Jay, I think a little organic orange oil in that hole would have saved your back!

I was planting poppies. A friend of mine always plants them in fall and some of hers have already come up.

Good to know. I rec'd some purple peony poppy seeds and I'm not sure they'll come up if I put them on the ground. Lots of sow bugs. Could I cast them in a pot around something else, do you think?

Very interesting on the edible plants..Jewel of Opar? What is Urtica dioica used for? I was watching on TV that when DNA testing is done on store prepared herbal pills or teas there is often little to none in. Definitely better to grow your own if you can.

Well, if you don't trust the local producers (that would be the little neighborhood Botanica stores I assume), definitely go to the larger stores that sell the nationally known and well-established brand name stuff. I usually go to Sun Harvest Farms in San Antonio myself, although there's other stores in the area. Yes, I do like knowing for sure that it's organic and pure by growing my own plants when possible. I've never heard of using Jewel of Opar for that, but will look it up. I always do my research before using any plants for such purposes. An article about stinging nettle use. Once either dried or added to hot liquids it no longer has its stinging properties.
http://www.herballegacy.com/Va...

Fascinating article...one more thing I'd have never known without my internet buddies. I'd still be a bit dubious about "collecting" the nettles. Ouch!

That is interesting. I just might grow some. Thanks for the information.

Just don't put it out in the sun. Needs a fairly shady place and regular watering.

We'll be returning to the scene of the (PI) crime Saturday evening for the kids' concert...

edited....I had linked to the photos of "Guitarland," where Van Wilks has his studio...but my Facebook info was posted also! Not too smart. I'm sure I'll get lots of pics tonight. And I'll steer clear of those garden beds!!!!

The concert was great! Great food , great music, and great fun! The first guitarist on the stage was chosen because he was the only one with an early bedtime. None of us thought he'd play in front of a crowd...but he did!
The flower beds looked great....didn't see any poison ivy, but wasn't looking closely either!
First piece....Happy Birthday

Then second and third pieces...with Van Wilks, his teacher. Best renditions of Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle, Twinkle I ever heard!

This little girl was 11 and she was awesome. Her instructor was playing"back-up....''


We didn't get to stay for the rest of the jammin'....someone's bedtime....but looking forward to the spring concert....