Tag Archives: “No good deed goes unpunished.”

August 7, 2019 · 10:06 am

“No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”

Gardeners Path

This quote by Clare Booth Luce is said fairly often around here.  So many things that should be good things seem to backfire or cause us harm.

The latest was yesterday when I was working in our square foot garden.

I’ve been feeling guilty because I haven’t been taking care of things out there as well as I would like to, so I made a special effort to put in some time, pruning dead leaves off our zucchini plants. I lifted one last plant up to get to some dead stuff and was suddenly covered with fire ants.

I rapidly brushed them off my arm, pulling off my weeding gloves and getting away from the source as quickly as possible, but ONE got me.

I rushed inside, took two Benedryl tablets, washed the bite and slathered Benedryl ointment on it. It still swelled up, but not as badly as I have in the past. I DO learn from mistakes….

Priority on today’s list is murdering fire ants. I don’t care if they perform some wonderful service to us. I want them gone. I will mix up some EIGHT spray and hose down the whole garden area, plus any ant hills I find, plus our tomato planters today.  The EIGHT is really good at killing bugs, but is safe to spray on veggies and other plants and won’t harm our pets. I can’t say enough about this product.

 

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May 12, 2019 · 4:11 pm

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished – Or Amber’s Playtime

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I’ve just come in from hour # 2 weeding in my flower beds. I’m going to try to get out there for one more session, but this may be it for the day.

I’m making reasonable progress out there, but the monsoon season has made for monster weeds. I can’t tell what’s in the planters at the moment, so I’m having to go slowly, pruning everything and then figuring out what is good and what to get rid of. Slow going.

Earlier, after my first session, I discovered that Amber had black, yucky STUFF on various parts – mainly her stomach, legs, and hips. I rushed to get her back outside, too tired to do anything more than that. After I rested, I used a couple of micro-cloths to clean her up.  I felt good that she was now presentable enough to join us inside.

My husband came out for the second session to keep me company while I weeded after he sprayed weeds around the yard and cut back the wisteria which had grown like a weed in all directions. As we were talking, we noticed that Amber quietly walked over to one of the collapsed brick planters and plopped down in the middle of the watery stuff. As she stood, we saw THAT was where all the yucky black stuff had come from. She was covered AGAIN and quite delighted with herself!

I was so tired by that time, we took her around to the back and hooked up the hose. She wasn’t cooperative about turning as we needed her to as we sprayed, but she didn’t freak out, either – a really good thing. My husband changed the washer between the hose and the sprayer and changed out the sprayer because we got as wet as Amber did. :0)  I used a dog towel to get her as dry as possible before letting her back in. Since it continues to rain off and on most every day, I’m not sure what we can do about Amber’s love for ANY type of water….

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March 18, 2019 · 10:10 am

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

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We got some Vermiculite for the Mel’s Mix in the garden this morning. I took things inside, and then came out to help my husband with the two large bags that were going out to the garden. My hoodie zipper was messed up, so I was looking down, trying to fix it.

Amber (our 94-pound two-year-old ‘puppy’ hit me at top speed, having run from the shop to where I was, half way between our house and shop. Usually, I turn to the side, move, or brace for impact. This time I was completely vulnerable.

I was knocked backwards onto the gravel and grass-covered ground. I fell flat whapping the back of my head hard and having the wind knocked out of me. My hands got stuck by some small gravel, particularly on one hand, but also on the back of the other. I’ll probably have some great-looking bruises soon. The back of my other hand hit the ground so hard the strap of my watch broke. As I got up, I retrieved my watch and Amber’s collar, which somehow had come off.

I’ve taken some Tylenol now and am having a cup of coffee as I type this. My hands are stinging, but I’ve washed them and put on some antibiotic ointment. My backside is sore on the right side, the side of my left calf, and my right shoulder. (Makes you wonder what in the world I did as I fell!)

Falls are no fun any time, but can be worse as you get older. I lucked out this time, mainly injuring my dignity, and reminding me AGAIN that no matter what is happening with my hoodie (or anything else), I need to pay more attention to my surroundings!

I’m going to rest awhile, and then I’ll go out and empty the bag of Vermiculite into the lidded trash can where it will live.

The rest of this day HAS to be better!

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July 26, 2018 · 5:13 pm

No Good Deed

Goes Unpunished.

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Since it was overcast all of a sudden, I decided to add to my “keep moving” list for the day and went out to do as much weeding as I could in the flower planters.

I saw some ants on the side of the planters (there are three planters – each 8 feet long – in a line separating our front yard from the driveway) I went back in the garage and got the EIGHT bug killer spray and hosed everything down.

I got one side of one planter weeded and pruned. I emptied the basket of weeds and was setting up on the other side of that planter when I felt a really sharp pain on the inner part of my right upper arm. A large red wasp was unhappy with me and was stinging me as if his life depended on it.

Moving quite rapidly for an old broad, I leaped up, yelling and swatting at the wasp. I got him off me, but he was coming in, ready to sting me again. I ran to the house and got an ice pack from the freezer. I held it on my arm until the pain subsided a bit, and then got up and took some Benadryl tablets, since my arm is pink and pretty swollen. I then got a tissue and dipped it in bleach, because I THINK my friend Laufrain said that would take the pain away.

Since I’ve calmed down a bit, I looked at the back of my right hand. When I leaped up, throwing things in all directions, I hit the back of my hand on the palette of bricks we bought a while back to rebuild two of our planters. Apparently I rapped it quite smartly because I have two small bruises plus a pretty big lump.

I guess I should have quit while I was ahead earlier, rather than trying to add one more activity to my day.

Maybe I can enjoy reading my book without hurting myself….

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July 4, 2017 · 10:35 am

“No Good Deed…”

My husband always says, “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.” ~ Clare Booth Luce

Even though Amber was asleep beside my chair, I knew it was time to get her outside. I woke her up, hooked her up to the leash, and we went outside, followed by my husband, and then Molly and at least one cat.

This made Amber unusually hard to handle. I was grousing about that, even after Amber had taken care of business. We had some relative quiet as we did our usual walk around the outside perimeter of my raised bed square foot garden. All of a sudden I had a red wasp trying to sting the back of my arm!

I swatted at it with the handle of the leash. Amber, of course, thought we were playing a really fun game, getting into the spirit of things by trying to run around like a mad thing, jerking me around right at the guy wire for one corner of the garden.  So I had a really happy, lively dog getting tangled in the leash, pulling my head into the guy wire, while the wasp was stinging the back of my arm – a really FUN combination.

I managed to hit the wasp – who was trying to sting me again – twice as I jerked the dog in the direction of the porch. I gave the leaping dog to my husband, who thought the whole thing was quite comical. :0(  Molly was trying her best to keep out of the range of the leash, and the cat was eagerly awaiting the progress of the dog, anticipating getting to swipe the dog in the mouth with a paw.

My husband apologized for laughing after we got Amber back on the porch, Molly inside, and were in the kitchen putting some goo on my sting. His lips were twitching, though he was really trying not to laugh again.

So my antics clearly acted out the truth of the saying. My ‘good deed’ of walking the dog, giving her a chance to do her business outside, while getting some good exercise, clearly backfired. I’ll be more able to see the humor in the situation when my arm quits stinging…

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