Hey D -- yes, I'm pleased with the piercing. The guy in the tattoo parlor did it by hand because there's not a lot of skin to grab with a clamp around my navel, so it looks a little crooked to me, but crooked suits. I'm gradually telling the story of the adventure with some tangents on the Writing Sober thread, if you want to know more
Re dead wood. Gardeners do something with bulb flowers called "deadheading", which is cutting off the blooms before they start to fade to prepare for more growth and flowering next year.