The Importance of Observation

The problems of the past few days are both symptomatic of the same disease: inattention. I have been too obsessed with other things, like work and the garden, to pay attention to how long that bowl was in the refrigerator or whether I put the plastic windows back in the bird feeder correctly. They were upside-down. There is a groove cut out of one long side so that the bird seed can flow out. I placed the groove up and flat side down when re-inserting the window, thus cutting off the bird seed supply, though the birds could see the seeds. Oh, the cruelty!

Same with the fridge. Husband says I am more sensitive to The Dreadful Odour than he, having sensed it earlier, and still sensing it now, though at a much lower level and only in the freezer. I bought a bunch of lemon-scented disinfectant wipes and wiped down the freezer as much as possible tonight, disposing of all the ice and beans and washing the rank plastic ice bin for the icemaker. Hope it works.

Smelly Fridge III: Revenge of the Smell

Tonight I reheated some green beans and was greeted by the ghastly smell I thought I had removed with several bottles of expired mustards and marinades, and a bad container of "refried" (not really fried, not really DONE, I am still learning beans from scratch) beans, earlier. Winds up that the LID of the refried bean container (glass container, plastic lid) had absorbed the odor, and the butter with which the beans were cooked had, too. Reheat, and WHAM! Nasty. Both were garbage. So were the beans. I went through the fridge and freezer afterward, sniffing all the grains (contaminated, including whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour for pancakes, yummy no more, brown rice, popcorn frozen to kill any surprise insects, muesli, and 12-grain cereal), and dairy products (butter and cream cheese gone- probably milk, too- I did not sniff it). Even some frozen beans were bad. I chucked an entire black lawn-sized garbage bag full of stuff, because I had just opened a new 5 pound bag of flour, and had a lot of cornmeal awaiting transfer to the freezer in the garage. It went to the garage, alright, different receptacle. Plastic containers were history, too, because once they absorb an odor like that, it can be impossible to get out.

Lessons learned:

1. Chalk board needed for fridge. Throw out leftovers after 5 days and everything else WHEN it expires, not 2 years later. Even if it is in a jar and looks fine. Buy what we can use up.

2. Check fridge regularly (like when putting away groceries weekly) for mystery bits at the back.

3. Really old refrigerators may need a Deep Cleaning (take everything out and scrub, maybe flush the drainage system somehow) once in a while.

Next Day

The glue seems to have worked, but a longer string seems to have discouraged the birds. They barely ate any seeds. Maybe the glue has some kind of smell to them that I cannot detect. Maybe it had a chance to dry fully today, and they'll eat tomorrow. Maybe they've found better digs elsewhere, or decided to migrate because the temperatures are a few degrees below normal, and the rain a few inches above normal. Who knows the mind of a sparrow? God does, and maybe someday he'll explain.

A Bird Feeder Catastrophe Averted

Our birdfeeder is normally suspended with some haying twine from the tree out back. I try to make the haying twine long enough to discourage the squirrels. I did not know they could hang upside-down by their toes and eat. They are talented.

The bird feeder spins on its rope, gradually wearing the rope through, so that periodically the feeder crashes to the ground. This morning, the birds were eating happily on their merry-go-round, though how they manage to land and eat on the feeder when it is spinning is beyond me. This afternoon I found the feeder on the ground, roof broken. Alas! How to fix it?

Husband to the rescue! He has wood glue and lots of clamps. We put it back together and left it to dry. Whew!

Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson

This is a book every new bride should be given (unless she is given a household staff). I got some spaghetti sauce on a white shirt last week. What woman can eat spaghetti in a white shirt without staining it? I'd like to meet her.

Anyway, I went straight to the bathroom and rinsed the area with cold water. Most of the stain came out. Then I hand-washed the garment with a mild detergent. Only a shadow of the stain remained. I hung the shirt to dry, then washed it today with the other laundry, and the stain is completely gone. In the meantime some rust from an aging bathroom fixture had gotten on the shoulder of the shirt as it was hanging to dry in the bathroom. What to do? Consult Home Comforts. Cheryl advised trying white vinegar. I had some from the summer's canning. Using it at full strength, the rust VANISHED! GONE! AMAZING! Not some high-tech stain removal product, but cheap white distilled vinegar. I rinsed the shirt and threw it in the wash. It will be ready for work next week. Woohoo!

Finally, A Useful Post Again

Here's another freebie for the frugal semi-employed among us to keep you in productive reading material as long as you have battery power for your computer. The USDA has put our tax dollars to good use creating the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education section of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. Go to http://www.sare.org/ and click on Publications, then Whole Catalog. It is geared toward farmers wanting to transition to organic or more sustainable methods of farming (like Integrated Pest Management), but it has good stuff for the gardener, too. That includes fact sheets, bulletins, and PDF files of entire books for the cost of your already-paid taxes. Want to grow veggies or do small scale dairy or pasture-raised beef for a profit? They have examples of farmers who do these things, with CONTACT INFORMATION! I'm starting on Building Soils for Better Crops by Fred Magdoff and Harold van Es now. It looks basic and good so far. It is out of print, but the magic of PDF makes it accessible. Cool stuff.

Heat, Rain, and Tiny Slugs

the past few weeks, I've been Slimer Hunting at night for slugs and predatory planarians. Mostly catching really huge ones, including a couple suspended from a string of slime, mating on the front steps a few nights ago (gross, man!).  My first thought was, "get the camera!" to capture their swirling bodies. I decided not to risk their getting away and killed them instead. Last night I saw the first itty, bitty slugs on a plant in some time. The eggs must be hatching. Oy. Hope my fall crops can make it.