KALEIDOSCOPE

Bugs!  From the tiniest of the crawling critters, the sugar ant, to the creepiest of them, the cicada, bugs seemingly annoy my home.  Thank goodness that I only have to deal with the northern Midwestern size bugs and not those found in the southern states, and the poisonous ones make me grateful that ours just, for the most part, creep me out.

I am not, mind you, one of the women who cannot exterminate their own bugs.  I have not screamed at the sight of a spider; however, when they drop unexpectedly from the ceiling on a long silken thread, I might yelp in shock.  I would rather capture my bugs and set them free, most bugs not harming much of anything and being an important link in the food chain.

As bug control goes, I attack on two levels: Orkin sprays regularly and I have several Osage spheres on plates in my basement.

The Osage-orange, or “hedge apple”, is a curious fruit.  Spherical, when first picked, it resembles a hard green brain.  As the apple ages, it shrivels and turns a deep brown.  The tree itself is named after the Osage Indian tribe that lived near the trees, and for the orange smell the fruit gives off.  Although there is little scientific research to support the idea that the Osage will repel bugs, I still hold by the folklore that says they do.

As I looked around my basement this week, I realized I had packratitis.  I inherited this condition from my parents and grandparents, and I have passed it on to my children.  This condition is characterized by the unnecessary urge to save things.  My basement is the saving archive.

My 80 year old mother has given me the motivation to begin tackling my packkratitis.  She has decided that, rather than leaving her four story disaster to me, we should together clean out every nook and cranny in the house.  Since she can’t part with things, I have to be the one to determine what needs to be saved, sold, or trashed.

Let’s begin in her basement.  My father died nearly 20 years ago, but she still has his shop hardware cabinets full of the hardware he collected: screws, washers, nuts, and bolts.  She wants my hubby and me to go through this and see if there is anything we want.  If not, she is going to give the “stuff” to a neighbor.  I pity that poor person because much of the “stuff” belongs in the trash.  In another area of the basement, she still has all her teaching supplies; she has been retired for better than 20 years.  She is shipping that stuff to a cousin who she says is “thrilled” to get it.  Don’t get me wrong; her house is neat, and the collections of “stuff” would not be noticed by any random guest.  It’s just that she has saved numerous things with the idea that they will become valuable or collector’s items one day.  I have yet to find anything that is of true value, and I have taken numerous trips to Borders book store to peruse the collector and antique volumes only to find that the “thing” might be worth $2.00.

It has gotten me thinking, though, about the “stuff” my children and I have saved in hopes that it too would command a high price.  Never fear, none of the items has even gotten as far as the original price we paid for it.

As for the rest of the stuff, I am throwing out pictures drawn by the 2 - 4 year old child, the penmanship poems from school, the math papers and spelling papers, but I am saving the pictures and the “I’m proud of that” original projects that each of my adult children remember.

Unlike the last few years, the weeds are not overtaking my garden this year, and the vegetable plants are growing “like weeds.”  Pardon the pun.  This year, when the gardening season drew close, my hubby and I decided that this garden would grow vegetables and not weeds.

The land on which my house sits used to be, as many of our yards were, farm land.  It is a hard, clay based soil that held onto the weeds like cement.  If I wished to conquer the weeds, I needed to water the garden, and then proceed to work in the mud.  The excessive watering also formed a breeding ground for mosquitos.

This year, however, I was determined to be a successful gardener.  Two years ago, we created raised garden beds approximately 8 feet by 16 feet (I think.) and filled them with top soil.  This was a frustrating mistake.  I finally convinced my hubby that we needed to add something to the gardens: To each garden we added 4 bags of hummus compost and 4 bags of mushroom compost (Gotta love that smell.) and a large bag of peat.  This combination we mixed in the wheelbarrow and then tilled into the garden.  After planting, I covered the beds with cocoa hulls and lightly watered.  After the initial watering, the resin in cocoa hulls is supposed to  form a weed barrier.

It worked.  Granted, I have my share of weeds to pull that the birds have transfered with their feet and beaks, but it is no where near what it used to be, and to top that off, the weeds are easy to pull.  I have already harvested enough green beans for two dinners and at least 16 zucchini squash.  The watermelons are the size of large marbles already, and I think I will have more than enough tomatoes, beets, lettuce, and peas.

I’m finally a happy and successful gardener.  Eat your heart out, Dad.

Summer.  As a teacher, I usually look forward to this season.  Ten or eleven weeks to get everything done in the house and the yard that I have been too busy to get to.  True to form, life’s speed bumps have once again slowed my progress.

Although the season is only half over, I can already sense the things that will not get done OR things that got done that could probably have been postponed.

1.  The airconditioner that was electrified in a lightening has been replaced, but the temperature has yet to warrant it turned on.  However, I did turn it on to dry the floors and carpets.  Watch out, though.  When the start of the school year creeps closer, the temperatures will finally rise and I will have to turn the air on; unfortuantely, there is no air at work.

2. The vegetable garden got planted, but at this time I have harvested 18 of the long green vegetables and made 4 recipes of zucchini bread.  My kitchen is home to so many of the green squash that my son called me at work and wanted to know what was up with the stuff in the kitchen.

3. My almost 80 year old mother is working to “simplify” her life and we have already run two garage sale weekends.

4. Did I mention that I had the brainy idea that I should teach summer school to cover some of the extraneous bills we have?  I didn’t.  No sleeping in until 7:00, I’m up at 5:20 to leave by 6:20 and school starts at 7:30.  Two sessions that last two hours and thirty minutes for six weeks.

As summer is half over, I don’t think I have accomplished much.

Melding two households and two home décor tastes can become a formidable task.  In today’s society the task of redecorating is also complicated by time restraints and the price of gas.  With this in mind, I have adapted one of the ideas I used as a theater teacher to the task of redecorating our home.

The concept is simple.  As you page through catalogs, the Sunday paper advertisements, and magazines, clip pictures of items that spark your interests and pictures of rooms that look appealing.  Using a three ring notebook and a set or two of dividers, paste your clippings on pages under your chosen categories.  For example, the category of living room might begin with pictures of various room arrangements followed by pages devoted to drapes and drapery hardware, sectional furniture, couches, chairs, tables, and lamps.

Before you venture out to shop for items for your room, take out the book and discuss your options with your partner.  Your personalized redecorating notebook can then be carried with you when you shop online or at local businesses.

If you have the technology, you can even create a notebook with your computer’s picture manager or on power point.  Since this would be difficult to take with you, you could print out pictures of what you are looking for.

When you go to local businesses knowing what you want, it is much more difficult to be swayed into purchasing something you don’t want or need.