Weird weather of '09!! ... #9

I'll defer to the pros here. Here's my thoughts, though, the first one looks like those nasty buttercups that take over my beds. The second one looks like my lamium aurea. The third one looks like a campanula that took over one of my beds.

Willowwind2, redchic01, gardener105: Thanks! I am looking forward to meeting up with everyone again some time. I have been helping a friend through a horrible divorce and it has taken all of my time and energy. I finally planted a few seeds the other day, so I am waaaaay behind.

Yes, and I can see the spent aster stems, too. I agree.

Welcome back, neofarmer. I'm so sorry it's been hard for you - good that you were there for your friend to help ease her burden, though.

So, I got the results from the MRI today and I have chondromalacia and a Baker’s Cyst.

This is likely the cause of my long term knee issues.

Chondromalacia is due to an irritation of the undersurface of the kneecap. The undersurface of the kneecap, or patella, is covered with a layer of smooth cartilage. This cartilage normally glides effortlessly across the knee during bending of the joint. However, in some individuals, the kneecap tends to rub against one side of the knee joint, and the cartilage surface become irritated, and knee pain is the result.

And this is the cause of the recent pain.

Baker’s Cyst usually occurs due to some other problem in your knee such as arthritis or even a tear of your meniscus. The swelling from this problem causes fluid to build up in your knee. This fluid pushes out the weakest point of your joint capsule surrounding your knee. This is usually to the back portion of your knee capsule, and a cyst forms. The cyst has a valve made out of your joint capsule tissue. This valve can sometimes become clogged and the fluid becomes trapped in the cyst. Thus, even when the injury has resolved, you still have the swelling in the back of your knee. This is associated with pain usually described as dull and aching. The pain is worse with prolonged walking or standing. It is sometimes improved with rest, elevation and taking pain medication.

I’m getting a referral to find out what they’re going to do about it, likely a shot for the baker’s cyst.

The landlord decided to have someone come out and work on the facet in the bathtub, when turned upside down it filled up quickly, so the leak was worst than I thought. They could figure out where the shingles came from, so we’ll keep an eye out and look for problems. He was going to come out later to take a better look at the roof, but for that matter, with as windy as it was, they could have come off someone else’s roof.

Yeowch, Laura. Did he give you anything special for pain relief in the meantime? I sure hope they can fix this soon, so it doesn't cause any additional damage to your knee. You're young and you need those knees to work for as long as possible.

OUCH!! Now, that you have a name for the problem, hopefully a solution won't be far behind.

That's is a tough one Laura! I definitely know that it hurts. That's the same scenario that I had when my doctor decided to leave the cyst while they where there doing surgery for chondromalacia. If they decide that you need artheroscopic for the chondromalacia, tell them that they must go get the cyst too! To leave it behind, they had better have an exceptionally darn good reason!! Yes, after the chondromalasia is removed, it may subside (that was my doc's reason for leaving it behind), but it may not! It could still continue to get worse and then rupture. That hurts much worse!!!
Anyhow.... I've had two surgeries for the grinding, one went great, and my knee didn't grind again for several years. The other surgery had almost no effect. I really think that it was because they left the cyst behind. the pain fom that was causing me to walk uneven on bone that was still a little soft. That uneven distribution of weight caused grinding again within 3 or 4 weeks after the surgery. I guess if I were having to make that choice again (which I am, but can't afford the surgery now) I would still do it because I figure that I have at least a 50/50 chance of have a knee that feels good again. If the surgery doesn't work, at least it's not any worse than it as before.

Laura & Red so sorry you are having those nasty knee problems! That is no fun at all. Something is really wrong when you can't get the health care you need because of money. I watched a Frontline program a few days ago about being sick in America and it was very enlightening. Did anyone else see that program?

Where's Laurie? Maybe she has been too busy following Obama around London.

Just wait, they will probably try to marginalize Michelle by trying to make her another 'Diana' or 'Britney'. They did great on their first trip.

You poor gals and your knees. Ouch. Mine are just old.

LOL Mine are old as well. They make noise but not painful, just stiff.

Ouch!! is right. I've got arthritis in mine and they grind a bit and it's difficult to get back up when I knell down, but not too painful luckily. I think the water exercise I do in the pool helps a lot with that. Did a quick soak in the jacuzzi after exercise this morning, felt thoroughly pampered! LOL

Wow, a jacuzzi sounds so good right now!

good grief, the news said that we'll likely tie or break record low temperatures tonight and tomorrow night. This is crap! I've went years without covering plants! I'm off to cover the plants that I planted today, for the third time this Winter!! They are hardy enough, but I doubt that the blooms are!

One of the perks of living in a park. It's not fancy, but clean and in the covered pool room. They don't keep it as hot as I would like, but it's good for a quick soak. And I take advantage when I can.

I agree, I'm competely disgusted! They keep saying it's going to be warmer, except it's going to freeze tonight. We went in town for dinner tonight and it hailed again on the way home. And they're saying 70 for Sunday? I'll gladly take it, but why the 30 at night?

I know! How crazy to think of a 40deg (or more) difference in temperatures this time of year. I don't think tomorrow night is supposed to be as cold. Just tonight they were saying could be from 26-28deg! 28 ties the record. Ick. Tomorrow night I thought they said right around 33 deg. That's not so bad. But, I do agree, the daytime highs will be much nicer than 46 (that's what it reached at my place). So I guess that it's give and take ...15deg. warmer during the day, and 10 deg. colder at night. Oh well.

That jacuzzi is sounding even better now!

Yeah, I don't think it hit 50 here today either. Last I looked it was 48. Can't get DH to go to the jacazzi because the pool room isn't heated. It's not too bad because the pool is, but sometimes in winter we really 'hurry' from the pool to the jacuzzi. It's just more exercise!!

OMG. He wont go to the Jacuzzi because the pool room isn't heater?!!!! that's just crazy! I would love that place, heated or not! Well, if he stands outside long enough, the unheated pool room would feel warm! lol

He doesn't stand outside either. It's a med. thing and when he gets cold, he shivers so bad!!! Actually one of his 'don't do list' (that came from the doc) don't go out when it's below freezing. He ignores that sometimes.

Hopefully it's better tomorrow. Sorry, I saw somewhere you have to work. Hopefully it gets better soon.



This message was edited Apr 4, 2009 1:57 AM

is the weather getting any better???It's 44 degrees right now but the north wind seems to have died down a little. I hope so, I've got stuff to do and places to go that don't work well with north winds!

Hi Laura, so sorry to hear about your knee problems! I have baker's cysts on the back of both of my knees, so I know what kind of discomfort you are experiencing. It is strange how they change in size and hurt more some days than others. They told me that the only way to get rid of them is to repair the torn menicus, but mine or so thin now that to operate might make the pain worse. So I hobble out to the garden, but I ain't gonna let a little thing like that stop me. ;)

Sally, my son has Reynaud's syndrome and he hates the cold, too. His hands turn blue! So I know what your DH has to deal it, poor guy.

Katie, it is good to be back. It has been good to have someone to focus me outside of myself as I recover from the loss of my DH. Things are looking up, tho, and I even signed up on a dating service. They could only find one match for me! ;) I guess there aren't that many men out there who want to have a sustainable farm with huge gardens, chickens, rabbits, and goats! ;)

Would the cold weather we’ve been having likely damage Crocus blooms? I went to look at my bulbs, hoping something had changed since last time I looked, and unfortunately it had, but for the worse. The Crocus bud I had now looks like it’s bloomed out, but it hadn’t opened yet.

Katie, it actually hasn’t been bothering me since I went to the doctor’s about it. If it pops up again before I get my referral then I’ll know what it is and take anti-inflammatory pills and get off my feet.

Red, that’s pretty much my view on it too. It’s not particularly bother me right now, but have them get in there and fix it while I can have them fix it.

Sally, I’m with you a 50 low 80 high day would be great, but I will accept the warmer day on Sunday, even if we have to put up with the frosty night.

It says it’s 55 here now and it is a nice day out there.

Woooo Hooooooo!!!!! They are saying over 70 degrees here tomorrow!!!!!

Today was absolutely beautiful and everyone in the neighborhood was out in their gardens or in the park. A glorious day!

I stopped by Home Depot and today was the day about lawn care and demossing. That aisle was packed. It was gorgeous outside here today all day, as well after it warmed up a little. I hope tomorrow is just as nice . . .

Yeah, I was actually able to work outside most of the day. Hands were bad in the a.m. but it warmed up fairly quickly and I got a lot done.

neofarmer....I have the Raynauds, DH has problems with the cold because of his meds. What a pair we make!!

Does anyone know what this is? I need a ground cover and this seems to be trying to do that. I need a 'buffer' between the gravel on my bank and the common area behind the house that gets mowed by the caretaker. He can't get close to my gravel, we put that in because it was too hard to mow the bank.

It looks like some sort of geranium? coming up in a patch of oxalis. The oxalis would make a great ground cover. It takes a little care to get established, but then can handle a lot. Oxalis oregona (wood sorrel) is a native. You can see it under the Oplopanax in this picture: http://www.wnps.org/landscaping/landscaping_why.html

The little blue flower is very pretty. I'll be interested in hearing what it is.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 12:32 PM

Even looking up close, I couldn't tell where the flower was coming from, but it's all over. The reason I thought this would work is there are no weeds where this is growing. And it has spread quite far, have no idea where it came from. Except I did try to introduce different ground covers in that area a couple of years ago. Could it have taken that long for it to take hold? Don't remember seeing it before. I could easily just encourage it to keep growing and that is what I'm inclined to do. It would certainly be better than a bare strip, which is hard to keep up. I'll have to go look harder and see if the flower is coming up somewhere else.

Sally, I think that the ground cover looking stuff is clover. as the stuff that occasionally throws out the lucky four leaf clover. Trifolium somethingorother. The flower is coming from a different plant that I can't think of at the moment.
Yes, you and your DH, do make quite the pair. that's for certain.

Laura, I'm definitely curious to know what they say about removing the cyst. Do keep us posted! And hopefully, in the meantime, all is well. If they do decide to do the surgery, but you have to wait a bit to do it, the shot worked really well at making it functional for a month or two at a time. Yes, this weather can damage crocus blooms of some species. Usually it's heavy rain that does it. But some crocus can also have water pool in the flower, if that "pool" of water freezes it will damage it as well.

Neo, it's great to see you back here. I also think that it's absolutely fantastic that you've signed up for a dating service!! I can't think of a more interesting way to get back into things. sorry to hear that your knees are so cruddy as well.

Everyone enjoy the fantastic weather tomorrow!!!

It's hard to tell by the photo of the blue flower, but it does look like something coming up through the clover. Could it be this? Nemopila insignis
http://www.seedman.com/image/tpf004.jpg

For the record, it's 9:43 and it's still 61 degrees outside. We still have a low predicted of 35 degrees. It got to at least 70 degrees today. I hope the plants don't freak out with that kind of a differential. What a beautiful day!

Beautiful here too. My body is sore tonight, think I pushed it too hard this time. LOL

Pix, that sure looks like it. Now I have to figure out how to get clover growing with the little blue flowers. ^_^

lol..... you probably wont want that clover, it can be a bit of a pest. Better to get the Oxalis. As Katie said, it makes a really good woodland type ground cover! The little blue flower would go great ith it.

That's why I asked, it looks like it could take over. It's awfully dry in that area in the summer, I'll have to check what Oxalis needs.

I think I would call that kind of clover tenacious. It doesn't necessarily spread at sprinting speed since it doesn't flower that often, but the roots run, cling well and are hard to pull up without just pulling the tops off. Oxalis is part shade/shade, loose, duffy type soil, consistent moisture. Alongside a creek, under old trees, is where you find them happiest out in the woods.

Nope, won't work. It's dry. mostly sun and clay. I've been working on the soil, but it takes a long time. That was another reason for putting gravel on the slope, not much will grow there except weeds! I can water it to get something established, and it gets a little from the sprinkler system, but mostly dry.

Time for me to go to bed, worked outdoors a lot today........I'm tired, but good tired.LOL

I use Oxalis throughout all of my beds it is a good ground cover and of course a nitrogen fixer so the soil is rich around them. They are beautiful with all of the colors available, yellow, red, white, and green. The leaves are as beautiful as the flower.

THink I am going to have to try out the Oxalis.......might be a good option for Laura in some of her areas also!!

I have oxalis in a bed on the northeast side under a camelia and a hardy fuchsia. It has a white flower.

I looked at my hardy fuchsias today and they have sprouted new growth. I wasn't sure they had made it. A lot of the ends will need to be pruned back as soon as I see how much is growing.

Willow, I have been avoiding looking at my fuchsias this year. My roses were depressing enough...I lost at least two to winter damage (one was probably due to flooding) and the damage I have been cutting out as I am pruning is the worst I have ever seen. I have several fuchsias that I have been using as perennials which are not actually hardy, and they were just glorious last fall (three years old). Am not holding my breath that any of those pulled through, as rough as my truely hardy ones look.

The native oxalis (or wood sorrel) is tough in the PNW if you help it get established. I have some growing under a fir tree over a rock wall. It's very dry in the summer, which is what keeps it somewhat under check.

Oxalis is very pretty, with a beautiful white flower. I have a pot with pink and white oxalis growing together. They die back in the winter, but come back in the summer (or at least I hope so this year).

http://www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/features/indoor-tenderplants/shamrocks/shamrock.htm

I have the 'Atropurpurea'. I bring it in for the winter and put it out on the front porch as soon as it warms up. It's beautiful and easy and takes little care.

I saw this small shrub when I took a walk today - anyone know what it is?
I have oxalis as well and I like it a lot.