Hoarders

I have GOT to stop watching Hoarders on A&E.

It's like some terrible car accident and I can't stop rubbernecking as I drive past it. I am amazed that people can ignore such a mess for so long.

I think most of us have issues with keeping clutter under control and are guilty of piling up some place with junk, and then, instead of dealing with sorting through all that stuff, we just move on to some other place and start piling it up there.

A good example for me is the mail. I will let it pile up in the Mail basket, then do a meager sort into a rough grouping of to-be-filed piles, which will then sit in a heap on my desk for 3-6 months before I file it in the cabinet. My excuse for not filing is laziness; I just don't want to deal with it everyday-or every week-or every month. Then the pile becomes this huge chore that will take HOURS. I can't just file the first 10 items, as that seems like a waste of time. No, I say, it makes much better sense to just leave it until I have the time to file all the pile. However, at some point, I can't take it! I will spend the whole day sifting, sorting, filing,culling.

So, I get it. The only thing that separates me from these clinically diagnosed hoarders is my ability to NOT be able to ignore it as long as they can, and that's a very thin distinction.

I save things for three primary reasons:

1. fear of loss of information
2. crafts (Hey, I can use this [insert item name] to make something, one day!)
3. thrift (Wow, I should keep this to save money!)

Hoarding for fear of loss of information really took a backseat once I understood the value of the Internet. I figured out it was way easier to look it up on the web than sort through that mess of articles/newspapers, etc. My other reason for letting go of print media was that most of my stuff was out of date. Why in the world would I waste time brushing up on a topic only to be 5, 10, 20+ years out of the loop?

Reasons two and three are tougher for me to resolve. My parents were babes of the depression, and their generation (and those before them) did not grow up in a disposable, "Made in China" culture. They practiced reuse, recycle because they HAD to. So, the very thing that keeps me from ringing up my charge cards is also the reason for a bit of hoarding tendency.

I have started to cull a lot of the junk I had saved to 'do something with later'. The time frame varies, but after a while it gets on my nerves and I own up to myself that I am never going to get around to this task anytime soon, so why keep it! I can always start saving it again if I feel the need. It seems easier to part with items that have value only to me, versus parting with stuff that I assume others might covet as well.

I guess that last sentence is the dividing line between me and the true hoarder; I know the difference between trash and treasure.

If I can just keep up with letting go both the trash and the treasures, I will keep off the TV show!

my favorite float of the 2010 rose parade

It's not a very good image, but I loved this float best. It was just pretty to behold

Pasadena was great!

Somehow I managed to get DH to agree to go with me to the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. I think he believes going on this trip will exonerate him for taking as many motorcycle trips in 2010 as he wants. I have to agree. I have gone on three big vacations in 2009, and we still have a cruise to look forward to in May.

The floats were gorgeous and we got to walk up close to them the day after the parade. Even on close scrutiny they still looked artificial due to their perfection. They use a lot of ground up strawflower, statice, onion seeds and rice, I can tell you that much.

It was hard to leave 70 degree weather and come back to the teens and 20's, that's for sure. At least it's better here than in Chicago, where we exited the aircraft onto the tarmac at a very chilly 17 degrees.

They are forecasting snow tomorrow. Not much, only a few inches (supposedly). Amy and Fi have only seen a dusting so far, so it will be interesting to watch their reaction to a blanket of snow. I predict they will have a grand old time in it.

I have been feeding the birds and have quite a few diners in the early morning. Of course, Fiona just HATES squirrels at the feeder, but I won't let her out to chase them until they have had a chance to fill up on seeds and corn. Then, once they have a full belly to keep them warm, I let her out to take a run at them. Poor Fi, she will never figure out that those furry intruders can hear the 'snick' of the door latch and are off and running before she can even clear the dog door.

Grandmummy called today to say that she wants her furry grandchildren back, as she can't get used to the quiet house now that they are back home with us. I told her to lay off taking so much cough medicine. They tore up the usual amount of stuffed animals and tracked in the maximum amount of mud onto the kitchen floor, but the worst stunt they pulled was sneaking a full can of soda from a carton to 'play' with. One of them (I know it was Fiona, she's the only one with enough jaw strength) then proceeded to puncture it and spray sticky cola all over the floor.

Only my mother would miss the chaos that those two 1-year olds' create.

Took a stroll in the garden today while I played ball with the girls and noticed that all the beds are in a deep sleep. Funny, just a week ago, the foliage was still hanging on, obscuring the ground in most places. Now, I can see the contour of the beds and, I hate to admit, all the little winter weeds that germinated since I last weeded in the fall.

Oooh, the best part of January just appeared-say it with me-Seed Catalogs! Now I can curl up on the couch with my books and dream of all the stuff I want, even though I haven't the room to put out 1/3 of what I am salivating over growing.

Guess I should get off here and work on my knitting project for an hour or so, then it's off to bed to dream of onions, and leeks and turnips, Oh My!

Happy 2010, world wide web

Jamaica was great!

Went on holiday to Couple's Negril, Jamaica for a week. Had a beachfront cottage and loved waking up to the sound of the ocean each morning. They had a veggie grill, just steps away from the cottage and so finding something to eat was too easy.

I got a couple very nice images of the beach and will post when I get off my duff and download them from the camera.

Survived Christmas and looking forward to the New Year.

I'm done with December, already

I'm already tired of the cold and I promised myself I would not start whining about it until at least February.

At least it was dry and sunny, so that Fi and Amy and I got to go outside and play around and not come in dripping with mud. Amy did manage to arrive back into the house with a huge swoop of mud on one side of her chest, but otherwise, not too muddy.

Fat Man Who Smells Like Sausage (fmwsls) made a fire yesterday evening and they were in heaven! He pulled both of their beds closer to the fire and they instantly took to them and slept there for a good two hours. Then, Fiona must have gotten too hot, for she yawned and then lumbered over to the tv area to stretch out on the rug in front of us.

I have been collecting all the poly fil that they pull out of every single chew toy they get and finally got enough of it to stuff a good size 'mattress' for them. I just sewed a zipper into a big dog bed cover that I already had and it made a great fluffy pillow that each of them enjoys mushing down and curling up in.

I must say that the curtains between the conservatory and the study are working wonders along with the baseboard heater we purchased. I can keep the rest of the residence fairly chilly and still be quite comfortable sitting still to surf the net or watch some telly.

I promise to get back to a gardening topic in a few days; it's just hard to transition down from balls-to-the-wall horticulture. I have sort of enjoyed hanging out in the house for a bit, so bear with me until I get my priorities straight again.

Mostly I hide from the leaves.

Murder and Mayhem in the Conservatory

If I was playing the board game CLUE, I would say "The gardener, in the conservatory, with a knife".

I have this pretty little Kalanchoe (well, little for most Kalanchoe cultivars) that has been pretty for exactly one week of his miserable little life with me. I have fought every disease and bug for exactly a year and I finally had enough. I re-potted him into better draining soil; he got a clay pot; he got some extended fertilizing; then he got liquid fertilize; then he got cut back of diseased foliage; then he got the best spot on the patio for sun and air; then he got sprayed with non-toxic chemicals; then he got sprayed with systemic chemicals (cut off any attempts to flower so as not to kill any beneficials that might want the nectar); then he was happy the rest of the summer.

Then he came inside and I gave him the best spot in the Conservatory, in spite of the wails and moans of the orchid who got the backseat to the sunniest spot. Did he appreciate all this work? NOOOOOOO. I go in there and between one water and the next, he is COVERED in mildew!

I mean on the stems, on 90% of the leaves, it's like, everywhere! I look around, maybe somebody gave him the downy flu? Nope, everybody else is clean. He is alone of the table, no competition, no touching; nothing.

At first I think I will combat this problem with alcohol; maybe that will kill the mildew. Next, I spray it with a baking soda solution. As I am doing this, it hits me; nothing I can do will fix this little demon plant. I could cut it all back again, but I hate to do that in winter as it's a struggle this time of year to have the energy to flush out a new leaf set.

Then I decide it's survival of the fittest and I place his infested little butt onto the front porch.

I can't help it; It's over between us; he is dead to me. I can't take it anymore.

Barely recovered from the drama of kicking one plant out into the cold, I turn around and my bonsai poinsettia is 'alive'. Stupid whiteflies! Granted, there are only a few on it, but in one more week it will be Louisville International Airport for the little buggers. What really gripes me is I really love this little guy. He is soooo cute in his little pot with his green and white leaves. I was so proud of him.

So, I took him outside and sprayed him thoroughly and left him outside. Since it was going to get cold, but not freezing, I thought that would do the job. Well, it did. He did not appreciate the 37-ish temps and curled a few on-fence-anyway leaves, but came through my intervention. I brought him in tonight and put him in the garden water closet (little heat and less light) to acclimate. I tell him; 'What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, love'.

I then eyeball the lemon verbena in the water closet and decide she is not infected and will be allowed to join her plant brethren in the conservatory [I imagine I hear a tiny sigh of relief].

The rose geranium is looking rather thin, so I will plop her up closer to the window and give her spot the verbena. Both of them have a nasty habit of being lousy with whitefly, so they best be clean the next time I water, or I swear I will make tea and pound cake out of them.

On a more positive front, I am currently winning the battle over the scale on the lime tree. Cinnamon oil seems to work wonders and is non-toxic. Also I have not had any leaf scorch, even in summer. I just keep a bottle of alcohol and some cotton balls and de-louse it every couple of weeks.

This plant has me at it's mercy. He KNOWS he will not be given up on and so he torments me, endlessly. He gives me a lime as big as a lemon and then becomes consumed with scale. I clean each leaf, each stem, waiting for a warm day to kick him out and spray him. He bounds back and puts on a heavenly aroma a flowers and the process starts again. I'm an enabler, true, but he gives me citrus in winter and I never have to leave my house for it.

Oh, no, I just realized something.....
I am now my lime trees' garden flunky.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank goodness we are going out to eat today, instead of being chained to the kitchen all day and stuck with leftovers for a month!

Right now, it's a sunny, chilly day. The clouds and rain are supposed to roll in later in the day. Forty percent chance of rain, they say. Amy and Fi are curled up in a sunny spot in front of the south facing window in the bedroom. They have had their morning romp outside and some breakfast and are now content to chill out.

Today they get their first Thanksgiving feast; a can of wet food. It's got venison and potatoes and peas. I will mix it with some wet kibble, to slow down the gobble. They really don't inhale their food, unless it's extra yummy, like today, for example.

No Garden work today. I received some great garden books in the mail and plan to spend the rest of the day vegetating on the couch with some "8x10 colored glossys with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back.."

And, of course, catching 'Alice's Restaurant' on the radio.

Have a great day, Internet surfers!