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| Reeds on Irondequoit Bay |
See the reeds in the picture, to the right? Not only do I like to photograph them; I like to cut them, dry them, and use them for decoration as I do other natural flora and fauna in November.
The first time I decided to try this, I carefully cut an armful of reeds to the desired length, so the reeds would fit nicely into the decorated milk can I use for floral arrangements. Then I hung the reeds upside down, and outside to dry for a week. After they were properly dried, I brought the dehydrated reeds into the house and plunked them into the milk can, where I displayed them in the corner of the living room. They looked really pretty and I was complimented on how something as simple as a local "weed" could add such a nice touch to the decor.
About one month went by and I started to hear rustling noises in the living room. Then it went away. Then it came back. This went on for about three days. I finally figured out where the rustling sound was coming from because after 30 days there was major movement coming from the milk can.
There were millions of bugs nesting in the reeds...I mean millions! The warm temperature in the house re-activated the little buggers. Little did I know that I was supposed to expose my dried hanging arrangement to at least a couple of major frosts in order to kill any dormant critters. Shame on me.
Reeds, milk can, and ribbon went out the back door as fast as you can say "Horse Pucky". It all got tossed in the woods, except the milk can, which got scrubbed. The rest of the house got liberally sprayed with Raid and I spent a lot of time in the barn, which is a polite way of saying I was in the doghouse.
Now I use silk flowers in the milk can. I still spend a lot of time at the barn...but not for the same reason.
8 comments:
Freezing bugs reminds me of a funny story. I'll have to tell you about my kid's first ant farm one day.
Looking forward to your "ant farm story". Reminds me of my ant farm days. Poor Mom.
as a teenager i spent many a hour with some female class mates in the barn.
PAm i not making any assumptions i Just making a comment about barn time.
Lightly: Chronologically, I'm not a teenager anymore. Keeping that in mind, now I do a different kind of horsing around.
ok , the more i read your comment the funnier it gets
Thanks for the inspiration Pam! the ant farm story, titled The Ant Farm Incident has just been posted in Moody's Notebook.
Nice post here.
I have a feeling I'm getting myself into a whole of trouble here, lightly.
Randy, I'm heading over to read the Ant Farm.
Kathy, thanks for commenting. It's great to hear from you and thanks for the kudos. C'mon back.
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