Heavy garden stuff

See...you do know Oz is in Kansas! LOL! Hope you get there one day. I hear there there are no POP's in Oz! A quick visit to the Wizard and you're good as new...happily following the yellow brick road home!

Ahh...if only!

Regards,

Mae

Well, I do it very carefully and do not hurry. While I am doing it I think about how much I would have to pay somebody else to do it. It was quite fun really, tossing each brick into the water with a satisfying "Per-lopp!", and listening to the water babbling over the bricks. Very soothing. Mind you, when all this building is over I will probably have saved enough money to buy a bobcat for next time! There will also be a new red frock, and probably some sparkly red shoes so I can get to Kansas!

Cheers

Louise

Louise, you are an amazing woman! I can't believe the things you do! I get tired out just thinking about doing all that..LOL!

Regards,

Mae

Hi S&G

Far out! What a brilliant idea. I would add to that. Fasten the rope double so you can walk between the two halves with the loop crossing your body at pelvis level, so you split the load between the two halves of your body and stay in posture. You will be using your leg muscles and taking the strain off your back. Good for strengthening the legs too.

While I am posting, I amazed myself and my builder yesterday by unloading over a ton of brick rubble manually off our trailer onto a causeway over our creek, and came up smiling. DB (darling builder) had just demolished seven brick pillars and loaded the rubble into our trailer for me to dispose of them. "I'm impressed," he said. No problems with POP's today. I did it all slowly and purposefully, aware of posture at all times.

I am becoming like an ant. Give a colony of several thousand ants unlimited time and they can build a nest several feet high. I did it one brick at a time, with a lot of leg work, and eventually I had an empty trailer on my hands. We can learn a lot from ants.

Cheers

Louise

I love to garden and have had to really pare it down over the last few years due to advanced arthritis and some nerve damage in my neck and shoulder---but also have to take care not to do any more damage pop-wise.

For weeding I use a boat cushion to kneel on and it's wide enough that I can actually kneel/sit on my butt and pull weeds. Then when I've gotten all the ones I can get by hand (best to get as many as you can all the way to the root!) I use a newly sharpened garden hoe to get the rest (standing, of course!) Keeping it sharp really makes a difference.

Instead of carrying the many loads of pulled weeds, dead-headed flowers, broken branches etc. to the compost heap (or the burning pile, depending on the contents) I have an old broken up plastic laundry basket (a new one is needed very soon!) with rope threaded throughout and a long enough end so that I can pull the very full/heavy basket from behind or walk backwards and pull it along. Very little strain on my shoulders if I keep my arms low enough---and no strain at all on the tummy. I use this method to move many things around the yard. Sometimes I have to resort to the wheel-barrow, but that doesn't give me as much 'freedom' in how I hold it, etc.

We're getting 'fall' type weather here already. Sigh...

Peace,
S&G

Hey Gmom, so glad you have a little garden. I agree with you. Why make room for weeds?

The laundry trolley and basket works well for bringing in shopping from the car too. I just wish they would make them a little more sturdy, eg wider tyres, so they were more like an all purpose domestic trolley. I think it is called a pram <:-S

I can see a little Granolababy with a little red wagon. Such useful toys!

Cheers

Louise

Hi Granolamom,

I love your toddler pushing groceries technique! Very clever! It's a win win!

Warm regards,

Mae

Hi Judy

When you bend from the hips and your elbows nearly touch the ground, are your knees bent? I think if your knees are straight it could be a good hammy stretch, but I think there might be better ways to stretch hammies. The risk, if you keep your knees straight is that the stretch on the hammies will tilt the pelvis back, which would not be good. I agree with you about the 'back like a table'. It indicates to me that there is lumbar curve happening.

What are your favourite hammy exercises? I assume you mean stretching?

You said I hate squats? Only full squats with the knees together. I find that keeping my knees well apart and my feet flat, my belly has room to expand. Yes, it is a good way to get close to ground level, though it doesn't agree with my ankles for too long. I prefer to kneel forwards. I also have an ancient sturdy plastic toddler chair that has weathered three children and is still in use. That is also handy to squat upon when working low to the ground. I guess it really depends on the task at hand. Either way you need to wear clothing that allows belly expansion and a little modesty when in the presence of people who may be offended/challenged by my rather unconventionally unfeminine posture. ;-)

I do hope I can still squat into my old age. I am certainly planning on it! :-)

Cheers

Louise

disclaimer: I am a newbie-gardener and have a pretty small garden. that said, I (well, dh really) built a raised, square foot garden. so we don't have to weed at all! how cool is that???

and I will admit that we hire someone to mow the lawn. but I have dreams of doing away with the grass one day anyway. but that's for another (off topic) conversation...

here's my non-gardening POP friendly technique for the day..

when I go grocery shopping I leave a laundry basket just inside the front door. when I get home, all the bags get deposited in said basket and then I get on my knees and push it to the kitchen. or even better....I can get my toddler to push it! harness their energy, I say!

Louise,

Bending from the hip and not the waist helps to keep the pressure off the abdomen. To do this you have to have a straight back. When you begin to round the shoulders or the upper back, you're bending at the waist and not the hips. You should be able to bend all the way forward with your back straight and your bottom out as if your back is a dinner table.

By bending at the hips, I find that I can bend over far enough to nearly get my elbows on the ground, but it takes practice and hamstring development. This position allows me to do any kind of thing "down on the ground" for as long as I need to be there - tying a shoe, weeding, sweeping up with a hand broom. It allows my prolapse to relax and the exercise feels good.

In the kitchen, I have a stool that takes the pressure off my legs and my prolapse. This is for long jobs like cutting fruits and vegetables for 35 kids.

I find as often as I can I squat...I know, I know you hate squats. But squats can come in any form - feet like a duck, feet apart, feet walking, on toes, one leg extended back, etc, and you can do a big kagel while you squat. It's good for the legs and general flexibility.

Did yoga today for the first time since my mother died, and it felt really really good.

Judy