Cappy's Corner

HOLY MOLE

Written by Captain Mary on Saturday, February 16, 2013

Today, I spent much of the day doing yard work, looking around to remodel some of my landscaping. Working at a slow pace, but still having a little problem with snags. Snags??? Yep! I am talking about this annoying and hideous mole that I have on my leg. It is so large it sticks through my fish net stockings, and can't be hidden with just one band aide. I have had it with this thing. It has been snagged so often it is just hanging there, so every time I touch it I am in pain.

Couldn't help thinking about this thing. So, I finally decided that I was going to remove it myself. Yes!!! Self-Surgery. First, I gathered my supplies, Betadine solution, scissors, eye glasses (so I can see), face cloths, cotton balls and spray on anesthetic. Preparing the mole for removal and my tools for surgery, I began. There was just one problem, it is creepy cutting yourself. I started by just snipping a little bit at a time, cringing at the thought of hurting myself. I am not fond of pain! After a few minutes it was time to make the final snip.

I looked at this hideous ball of flesh, and wondered why it took me so long to cut it off. Again, disinfecting my little wound and bandaging it, I sighed in relief and look forward to wearing fish net stockings again. I continued my yard work without a snag or even thinking about the mole that ended up in my trash. I thought about keeping it, but pushed that thought right out of my head. I thought I would share this little tidbit with my readers, something a little gross and perhaps a bit crazy. I just wonder how much it would have cost to have the mole excised at a doctors office!

I PLANTED A SEED

Written by Captain Mary on Sunday, September 02, 2012

Less then two years ago, I ate a delicious avocado. I think one of the best, the qualities of texture, nutty flavor and it was big and beautiful. I decided to grow a tree from the seed. Sticking tooth-picks along the side and put it into a glass of water. As the days went by I would watch it on the window sill and anticipated the growth.

I had an avocado tree once that bore two kinds of avocados on one tree, it was an amazing and a great producer of fruit. Hurricane Katrina knocked it over, but with much effort and help with hydraulic jacks, we somehow got her back on her feet. Then along came Hurricane Wilma  and down she came again. It was too much of a shock for the tree and she was cut up and discarded. I missed having avocados and now it was an opportunity to try again.

As the weeks past the seed sprouted in the little glass on the window sill, leaves appeared and it was finally time to pick a location in the yard to plant the seedling. It was too big for the window, yet not big enough to stand alone in the yard. Planted my new seedling in a pot with my composed soil and waited.

You may ask why I get so excited about planting seedlings, well my yard is a jungle with a canopy that rises above the power line, perhaps 40 feet in the sky. When I moved in my house there was only a few plants, very few. Almost everything I planted as young plants or cuttings and now it is a jungle with vines, orchids, bromeliads and staghorn ferns among the now large foliage. If you look up my house on google earth you will see a jungle in the mist of an ordinary neighborhood. I began this jungle in 1998. It seems like a long time, but the joy is watching things growing into a vision I had in my head. Now my vision, even though, seemingly complete is a never ending challenge to make more dense.

Now that the little avocado seedling has reached a size that is ready to stand in its place in the jungle. It began to grow, in less than a year and a half it had reached a size of 15 feet. The blooms began and I was thrilled, but didn't think for a minute that this very young tree could produce fruit. Much to my surprise as the blooms fell to the ground, I noticed a single avocado. Very tiny and my thoughts were that it could not survive the wind and rain of the summer. I was wrong, the little avocado grew and grew, and only when the threat of thunder storm Isaac's did I pluck it from the tree. Not long after,I got to taste the most wonderful flavor of my new edible plant. My avocado stands among the other edible plants in my jungle. I have a Sicilian white fig, bananas, ginger, chives, monstero deliciousa, coconuts, and palm fruits.