And away we go! I was running the hose to rinse spilled dirt into a drain that was a 5 gallon bottomless bucket filled with riverbed stone when the whole 5 gallons of rock disappeared with an amazing swoosh. When I looked in the hole I discovered a tunnel leading into my greenhouse. The groundhog must have been working a long time. The tunnel was more than a foot in diameter and the walls were smooth and hard packed and only collapsed because the drain bottom was only a couple of inches above it. I ran water into it for hours before it finally filled. No wonder the patio drain worked so well.
I've had the experience of the ground heaving under my hand too. What are the odds of putting a hand down on top of a chipper or mole in their tunnel by accident? Sandy

sandy, i think you win a prize with that one! i would have been calling scully and mulder. so now add attracting groundhogs to you list, aquifers and all. did you lose anything from the greenhouse in the past?

it that silent communication you have going again...

FTM, there is nothing silent about a chipper demanding grapes or a piece of your banana. We used to joke about the one that sat on the boulder in our driveway and yelled at us the whole time we were outside and say he must be brain damaged. I even found that one on the kitchen counter stuffing grapes into his cheeks. The tunnel collapsed slowly enough that there was no serious damage to the greenhouse. The gravel floor did subside several inches but when there is several cubic yards of gravel and the tunnel cut across only one corner of it, no one noticed it but DH and me.
As for things that move when they shouldn't... I stepped over a black hose one day and then thought "I didn't have the black hose there." Then it moved... very quickly. It was a rather large garter type snake that took up residence in the pile of boulders in the driveway. I think it was trying to catch the chipper. It was very strange that summer to see that black head come out of the rocks and follow every move I made. I had a French intensive garden on a steep hillside at a previous house. The garden was kept from sliding into the ravine by a stack of railroad ties. A big black snake with a red racing stripe took up residence there and it was a constant dance to avoid stepping on him when I was working on my veggies. Finally he decided that when I was there he was better off going into the space between the ends of two of the ties. Sandy

Things have been moving lately for me, but it's probably due to the fluid in my inner ear. Dizzy used to be fun, but now...:D

I think I would have had a heart attack if I had any of those things happen to me! I'm always a little on the edge of neuroses anyway. One false move could send me over.

Oh, gophers. They haven't moved under my feet yet, but when they have the audacity to dig right in front of me, I see red. And kitty just looks at the pile. "Get it, kitty!" "Naw, I'll just hang with you, Ma." Hmph. LOL

Brenda

LOL, The kitties seem to think the gophers are just keeping busy until it is time to play tag and wrestling match.
A late friend of mine used to tell me I viewed the world differently than most people. When something happened, even the non odd things, I was too interested to get emotional about it until later. She thought it was a good thing because I reacted well in emergencies. Later I would get the shakes when the adrenaline stopped pumping. On the bad side, I get annoyed when others lose it.
I understand the dizzy. My doctor told me it was an inflamation of the middle ear that they can't see or treat and is fairly common now. You just have to grit your teeth and bear it. That's not good advice when you have just fallen through the glass top of a drawing table. Sandy

I've heard that a lot about the inner/middle ear thing, Sandy! The doc put me on antibiotics (I really hate taking them unless there is NO doubt I need them), and surprise, they didn't work. She also gave me a prescription antihistamine, but I don't think it's working, either. She also said I could get some Afrin. *snort* Another person told me I could use Sudafed (had to show my driver's license to get it). There are good days and bad, but I haven't fallen through a glass-topped table yet! Yikes!

And I'm rambling. I'll just stand up real fast so I can keep on topic. LOL

Brenda

Thanks be, I didn't get a single cut. It just scared me witless. It took a lo-o-o-ong time to get myself up out of the table frame with glass everywhere I needed to put my hand and nowhere to put my knees except on a fluorescent tube. That was last year and while the episodes don't last long and seem to be less often, I am still as cautious as possible. No sudden movements for me, anymore. Benedryl or Sudafed do as well as anything and I find that massaging the lymph glands in my neck and behind the ears helps. If I am going to get dizzy I would rather it be with a nice glass of merlot or even Rhinewine over ice. Sandy

This worked for me once, as it's for swimmer's ear to neutralize and evaporate water:
half vinegar, half rubbing alcohol, put a few drops in the affected ear, leave a few minutes and remove.

I was surprized it worked. :)

That's definitely worked for me, 'Poo, when I had water in my ear canal. But this is actually fluid inside, behind the ear drum. No way for it to drain out or evaporate from this side, unfortunately.

I've been told that my grandma has had it for years, as well, and her dizzy epidsodes are horrific after flying. I never knew that, and I wonder what, if any, effect flying will have with my condition. My doc doesn't seem to think I have a "condition" just yet, but I can be persuasive, at times. :)

Sorry to hijack your thread, FTM!! :D

Brenda

What really helps me when I have fluid in my ears (inside them), and since I can't take sudafed, is to use Mucinex (otc guaifenesin). Drinks lots of water.....and within a day, you can feel the fluid going away. And it doesn't give you the buzz that sudafed does (oh.....maybe you like that buzz??) :)

brenda, hope it gets better. by no means did you hijack the thread. things are moving that shouldn't! you only think it is you :)

you better stay out of planes for awhile. they have a horrible effect even when you don't have a condition!

That's so true, FTM. I think I'll keep both feet on the ground for a while. :)

Thanks for the Mucinex idea, Catherine! I haven't tried the Sudafed yet, and I'd rather not get a buzz from medicine. Now, maybe something along the lines of what Sandy mentioned....LOL

Brenda

:0) :0)

Man, I hope you all feel better real soon, 'cause I KNOW I shouldn't be laughing this much after reading this...sorry...teeheehee...(I really DO feel for you with the inner ear problems).

So was this 15# bag moving or was it a vision? And Sandy, not only do you attract the bizarre, but I want a drain that should work so well! :0) ROTFLOL!

And there's the earth moving, and FTM running around in her undies, while Romeo runs off like a streak... :0)

Later FTM says to Brenda "things are moving that shouldn't! you only think it is you :)" "Oh...maybe you like that buzz?" says Cathy.

(Sorry, but reading it after the fact is too funny!) LOL!

Careful girls, someone may find out about your 'condition'!

REALLY, I am sorry, but I'm still giggling! S

Brenda, my spooky twin sister from Cali - I have the same thing going on!!!!! IT MAKES ME NUTS. I'm going to some mega blah blah blah world reknowned blah blah blah otolaryngologyst in January to see if they can do anything. oh fun!

well, there was this story about mushrooms on a straw bale once.... :)

It's quite all right, Sarah. The group that laughs at themselves together, stays together...laughing. Or something like that. :D

FTM on 'shrooms!? Oh, do tell! LOL

That is freaky Friday, Andrea! It's so frustrating, because you don't realize just how much you look up until you can't do it anymore (without some sort of support, that is). Watching the air show at my folks' house this weekend was...interesting. I had a death grip on the clothes line so I could watch the F-18, the Snowbirds, and other assorted planes flying over. I feel like I'm reverting back to my dizzy childhood.

January! That's so far away from me! Do you have fluid in there, or are they just stumped as to the cause?

Brenda

ha! brenda, you mean you have no recollection of that evening? the shrooms must have been good.