The Hunt
Today was the day that I was on the hunt for all that should not be. I spent the majority of the day in the studio as well as all points in the rest of the basement.
It began when Dennis went to Fleet Farm for some flying insect spray. The goal was to spray the doorway chase of the screen door of the east house door. Even with several hard frost mornings, the boxelder bugs come a calling as soon as the sun is out. We check each other over before coming into the house. Invariably, one or more beats us into the house. Dennis and I have commented that had we not had new basement windows put in, it would be a loosing battle. These bugs may be the payback for not having gnats and mosquitoes over the entire summer.
As I began vacuuming the basement carpeted steps and cleaning up dead bugs that had been carried into the house on the bottom of our shoes, it didn’t take me long to decide on doing a clean sweep of vacuuming the entire basement, studio and cistern closets. It was due.
Every wall that had something sitting against it was cleared to where the floor met the wall and it was tidied. My Filter Queen canister vacuum did a great job. I admit that in times past the open floor area got the brunt of cleaning. I was determined to hit all the spots and corners. This should count as fall cleaning and maybe even early 2022 cleaning. I saved the worst for last in the studio. Brother Calvin gave us a hemmed jute carpet. It is not the easiest to vacuum threads off of. As diligent as days can be, there is always a tuft of this and threads like that, that float to the carpet and immediately become intertwined. The trade off is that it does feel good to stand on it when ironing.
There was a short break over noon when Dennis’ niece and her husband from Morris stopped in. They were taking advantage of the nice temps and making a wide swing in the state taking in whatever family they could catch. Sweet.
I have since cooled off from the Filter Queen marathon and had a very successful hunt of all things that should not have been. I need to make a run to the grocery store for milk and bread. Dennis has been blowing and raking leaves out from under the lilacs. He may enjoy some vanilla ice cream this evening. Vanilla is our favorite flavor.
In the scheme of things, where would we be if not for a conscious allowing us to be stewards of all that God has given us.