Cicadas

When I first moved to Virginia, it was mid-August.  I was young, hadn’t lived anywhere but Massachusetts, and oblivious at how ten hours could make such a difference.  One of the first things I noticed was the constant noise that the cicadas made–it was like grasshoppers on crack.  At first it was maddening–it was like the mountains and forests that surrounded my bucolic college campus never stopped.  But soon it started to blend into the background, and now it’s just another sound of summer that is frankly comforting to this yankee transplant.

I never truly thought about cicadas again until we moved into our home, and even then it was because once or twice a year we’d find a cicada casing, I would freak out that it was a roach, JGL would have to assure me that it was just a casing, it wasn’t alive, and we didn’t have an infestation of something gross, and then we would resume with our daily grind.  This year since putting in the laundry line, though, I’ve found that cicadas like to cling to wood things when they molt, and my laundry line is PERFECT for this.  If I had a nickel for ever cicada casing I’ve come thisclose to touching with clean laundry, or even worse almost stuck my face in trying to get said clean laundry off the line, I’d be a rich woman by now.  They blend in so perfectly in the wood, and they freak me out just as much as the first time when I notice them.

Much to my dismay and horror, there are at least five casing on the line today, today the day that I’m attempting to finish laundry from this week, and from the NH vacation.  And just when I thought it couldn’t get any more creepy, I saw the actual bug emerge from a casing.

 

 

*SHUDDERS*

It’s in these moments I have to remember that I am 29 years old, I am an adult, and I can absolutely, unequivocally, and adultly choose to wait to finish the laundry when JGL, aka my Bug Protector, comes home from work.

God bless the long-ass days of summer!

Laundry Line

With our trees now gone, we also lost our laundry line.  I had been trying to use our small drying rack, but it just wasn’t cutting it.  So let me say it loud and proud, I am so grateful that JGL can build things!  He worked and worked and worked all day long to get this up so that I would have it to work on our laundry that’s been building up over the last week or so.

I know I share this often, but I’m so darn lucky to be married to a man who a) puts up with my crack pot ideas, b) is willing to help me execute my crazy ideas (and execute them beautifully, I might add!), and c) does it with such a loving heart.  Love ya, JGL!

Close to Perfect

Today was as close to perfect as it gets around here.  High sixties, strong winds, infinite blue sky, and two sickies who were still able to knock out a (smallish) to-do list.  Today was the first day that we, in earnest, lined dried clothes, and I think this will mark the start of only using Mother Nature to do that from now until the last warm days of fall.  I also put down the first application of the Mosquito Barrier to help prevent our plants and ourselves from getting eaten alive (and yes, our neighborhood does smell like garlic bread right now).   Negotiations have started with the neighbor regarding the hauling of mulch, as well, so hopefully things will be looking spiffy, neat and tidy soon.

The best part?  I’m here for it all this year!  Ever since we moved into the house I’ve been gone the last two weeks of April when many of these firsts start.  I’m so incredibly grateful to be here to help out, see everything emerge, and to help myself remember how truly beautiful the last few weeks of April can be here in VA.

For now, though, it’s on to make some to-do list for next weekend–here’s to feeling 100% and for sunny skies next Saturday 😉

Airing our dirty laundry

So I know laundry had NOTHING to do with gardening, but with a focus this summer to try to eat local, JGL and I also have been trying to make other small changes to impact either our wallets or the environment.  Or both, for that matter.

It started with a sale and a coupon on Method Laundry detergent, which then lead me to sign up for the Seventh Generation newsletter because we’ve been using their dish detergent for years now, which then lead me to start making the majority of our home cleaners (save the laundry and the dish soap), which then lead me to Project Laundry List’s website.

This got me thinking–why make the effort to use greener cleaners and go these extra miles when I was just throwing everything in the dryer?  And we had  perfectly good dog run that we don’t use that would work just fine.  Right?  Right!  So mid-May I vowed to line dry all summer long.  And we have, faithfully, done so.  We figured out a way to squeak it out there during the rainy weeks, we line dried when we were really not excited about shlepping around laundry, and we even found a way to defeat the birds and the fermented cherries in the trees above the line.

But I have a confession to make–I used the dryer right before we headed to New Hampshire for vacation.  I had one more load that had to be done before we left, and only an hour to get it done.  It way dryer or no t-shirts.

I know, I know, not a big deal, but I kind of feel like I failed just a smidge on this one.  And I could tell which shirts they were when we were away–they just feel different.

But much like our garden, there are always second chances, right?  Right 🙂

So here’s to the line drying fools we’ve become, and to the last few warm months of summer where we can enjoy this luxury!

(That said, anyone out there who line dries inside in the winter?  Any tips/tricks?  Is anyone aside from my mother reading this thing?  No offense, Mom–you know I love ya!)