The Universe

I’d like to say that the reason I haven’t been writing the blog lately is that I have taken a lovely vacation away from all things and people that demand my attention. I would like to say that and what the hell, why not. How has your summer been?

I have been busy…ish the last few weeks doing work around the house that has been put off for far too long. I levelled out the sidewalk blocks so that this winter, unlike the previous two or three winters, I won’t be pushing a shovel full of snow and have the shovel catch on a raised block knocking the wind out of me. When it is forty below, I don’t want to be gasping for breath on the ground in a pile of snow. I haven’t quite finished yet, but the problem blocks have been dealt with and now I am fitting the smaller broken pieces into a mosaic pattern. That sounds really nice, but in reality I am just fitting them in any way they will go. I am leaving it up to Fate to make it look nice.

The other big project I have undertaken is to paint the fence and trim around all of the windows and doors. I borrowed a power washer from a neighbour and used that to strip away any paint that had loosened over the years. It works great! Mind you I have very low standards and after all any imperfections will be covered with paint…probably. We bought three gallons of “Heather” for the main fence and a gallon of “Western Sky” for the trim. For the most part, the body of the fence painted remarkably well, for the most part. Some boards were very thirsty for paint. The trim went pretty well, but it was apparent quite early on that “Western Sky” wasn’t the colour we thought it might be. It should have been “Henna” instead.

I kind of like “Western Sky” and there is/was/will be no way that I am going to repaint this year. Probably not next year either or the year after that. How many years are there in “No Fucking Way! I should say that “Western Sky” whatever colour it really is has been dogging Louise and me for over thirty years. When we were getting ready to sell our home in Black Diamond the trim was to be a chocolate bar brown but instead it turned out to be “Western Sky” or whatever it was being called at the time. Over the intervening years we have bought our favourite brown colour and it turned into “Western Sky”. We have taken the paint back only to find that the store didn’t make a mistake mixing; we made a mistake with the paint chip.

I give up! I am embracing “Western Sky” by that or any other name. The universe needs to surround me with “Western Sky” for some bizarre reason and it will keep turning up until I accept the reason. Of course the universe might just be screwing with me…

I just have the house and garage trim left to do and with any luck I will get it done sometime before the snow flies.

I tried to find a photo of the actual colour, but so far, no luck. Next time I am painting a house or a fence I should have no problem finding it.

Drinking the Tea

Last week I was at the dentist for my semi annual check up. They usually fall in and around August and then again just into the New Year. I suspect that the August appointment pays for the summer vacation house on a lake somewhere and the January appointment takes care of Christmas expenses. How much work I need is more than likely directly related to the amount of debt accrued. I am good with that and so it seems is my insurance provider.

 

While the dental hygienist was stabbing my gums with razor sharp tools we were talking about a variety of subjects. Well, she was talking and I was doing the best I could with bleeding gums. I mentioned that our Tiger Lilies had been decimated by the Scarlet lily beetle and according to the City of Calgary website there is little or nothing to be done short of picking the beetles and larva off with my bare hands. That isn’t an option, what if the beetle jumped up my nose or into my ear? I would be dead in three seconds. The hygienist told me that she made a nicotine “tea” and sprayed the plants which seemed to work really well.

 

The recipe is the tobacco from two to four cigarettes, a few drops of oil and a few drops of dish soap.

Of course, I went home and forgot about the conversation until yesterday when I looked at my poor Tiger Lilies. I had found some cigarettes a couple of years ago and kept then in case there is ever a smoker’s emergency in my home. I can’t imagine what the emergency would be, but when I smoked and ran out of cigarettes I wasn’t above ransacking ashtrays for good sized butts. It didn’t have to be my ash tray either, any one would do. I made the tea with the tobacco from four cigarettes and today I strained the mixture and added the other ingredients.

 

Those Scarlet Lily beetles didn’t know what hit them! Dead in fifteen minutes. Well, I suppose that they could be in a nicotine induced coma or maybe it put them to sleep. I don’t even want to consider that it stimulated their sex drive and they are laying on the leaf with a come hither look in their eyes. I am hoping that at the very least they will go thru serious nicotine withdrawal. Let the little bastards suffer.

While I am elated that the “tea” seemed to work really well, I am more than a little worried. You see, I smoked for about thirty years or so and although I have been smoke free for more than a few years, it is a little disconcerting. So far I am still breathing the toxic city air and maybe my tar coated lungs are protecting me from even worse toxins that my pink lunged friends are soon to be suffering from.

 

I should be okay, I don’t remember pouring hot water on my smokes and I have refrained from drinking the tea.