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About the January drive for fresh, new, spring, clean

You know what I do when I need to clean up?
I buy flowers!
And what’s better than one hyacinth? Two! 😀
At the moment they are gracing both sides of the kitchen sink, but they might want to move to follow me around the house.

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So I swept the floors and got to the dining room floor and suddenly the cat hair and dust stuck to the hardwood. I thought, “what the heck?” I thought it’s my miracle orchid. It tends to drop sap drops from its blooming spikes. So I washed the wood underneath it and kept going.

Imagine my surprise and then imagine my horror when I discovered sap under my saved palm! “Oh, oh”, I thought, and had a good look and my worst suspicions were confirmed. The dreaded scale!

plants

Oh boy! I’ve thrown plants out for less. But this palm is already four feet tall and luxurious and I actually love it. But scale is so hard to control…and there was a huge infection! Right here is the reason I don’t really do house plants! So what to do? Save or compost?

Oh alright then…Save!

I got a large (2′ x 3′) plastic tub and filled it with warm, soapy water, stuffed newsprint into the pot to stop the soil from falling out, and tipped it sideways into the soapy suds and grabbed an old toothbrush and scrubbed the living daylights out of each and every piece of that palm for over an hour!

After the palm, I really wanted to put away the few Christmas decorations which got missed…

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…but ended up playing with Morgan instead. She commandeered the box anyway.

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Last night C took down my spotlight and vintage tripod to take some photos for her work.

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She finished her photography and said, “Mom, I think your spotlight might have an electrical fault because it really smells like it’s burning.”

Oh no! Not another thing wrong round here! 😀

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Then we investigated and guess what we found!!!
A wasp nest? What? A little wasp nest was burning under that super strong light bulb.

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Well, that makes sense. I haven’t actually touched this spotlight since since last May or so. (Counting back, May and June were fine for light, summer I was in E, and since Sept there has been that other bit of nonsense happening…so that makes sense)

I should really get back to work, but today is cold and rainy, and so we all feel like Morgan looking out into the drippy world. Well, maybe I’ll put the rest of those decorations away since Morgan is out of the box. 😀 At least I will have accomplished something today.

Boy, I really have to get back into my strong work ethic.

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Comments: 15

  • catherine

    January 23, 2015
    reply

    I love this – life just bumbling along and things happening – so real and natural – and with cats 🙂 x

  • January 23, 2015
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    Scale!!! Hard stuff to get rid of, but you tackled it the right way. I don’t think you have to worry about your work ethic…taking on scale proves you are a hard worker!

    Linda ???
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

  • January 23, 2015
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    Your spring blooms are beautiful and I really like that photo of the tree with the raindrops on it. A wasp nest? Really? How strange. What a job to clean up your plant. Enjoy the weekend!

  • Jo

    January 23, 2015
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    It certainly is a rainy blustery day – a good day to stay indoors and get something done – or a good day to stay indoors and completely let everything go and have a cup a tea and then a snooze.

  • January 23, 2015
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    Oh those eyes! I can smell the hyacinths from here V! My favorite flower.

  • January 23, 2015
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    I love the last photo of your cat! Beautiful and regal. Great post.

  • Pondside

    January 23, 2015
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    I admire your perseverance with the plant. I’m afraid I’d have relegated it to the back deck.
    When I want to clean I do the same as you – buy flowers. Two hyacinths and a bouquet of tulips for the weekend – the house smells and looks like spring!

  • January 23, 2015
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    such a strange place to build a nest, i saw these nests attached to paper, cardboard and wood but metal!?
    Morgan is a beauty.
    Enjoy the flowers and the weekend.
    Renilde

  • January 24, 2015
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    Morgan is such a beautiful cat! My cat, Her Royal Highness, was a tuxedo cat too. Now I want to get a hyacinth too, for the exquisite scent.

  • daryledelstein

    January 24, 2015
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    Harry and Toonman play a game .. Toonman tosses a piece of kibble, Harry chases it … eats it .. looks for more .. today somehow the kibble ended up near my desk where i just happened to be sitting .. Harry couldn’t find the kibble so i helped .. and then i noticed the enormous amount of dust elephants (yes, bigger than bunnies) so i got out the new vacuum and cleaned the apartment and the furniture and the shutters (we have shutters on the windows inside vs having curtains or drapes) and radiator covers and the louvers on the closets … exhausting work but now its done .. Toonman asked if i liked the new vacuum i said yes but thought to myself i will like it even more when you are cleaning house ..

  • April 13, 2019
    reply

    Love your blog! Thanks for sharing these precious photos 😉

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