Tuesday, April 26, 2011

waxing & ants

Easter is over. We have a ton of leftovers in the fridge (I think we're eating spaghetti squash & ham until the next millenium), I'm catching up on chores (is there such a thing as a laundry fairy?), and I so badly want the weather to clear up so that I can finally get into the garden (it's been frosty every morning for at least a week so my garden is behind, too).

Since I'm stuck inside, I thought I'd do a little waxing - no, not my legs but my new spinning wheel bits.


Unfortunately, I waxed on the dining table so it smells like diesel in there. ICK! I hope it clears up before supper otherwise, we'll be eating elsewhere.

Yesterday, I was out looking for something that I can use to oil the hub on my spinning wheel because I can't reach with my current bottle of oil. One of my stops was Summit Tools and while I was looking around, I spied this really cool LED light.


It straps to my thumb so I can spin in the dark!!!! How cool is that? Sadly, the velcro keeps snagging on my roving so I'll have to replace it with some elastic.

You're probably wondering about the ants... I was sitting in front of my computer when I spied an ant on the edge of the desk. Then I saw a whole pile on the floor and a bunch crawling out of the corner by the door. Eep! I vacuumed them up and grabbed a spoon and the Costco-sized container of ground black pepper. I liberally filled all the cracks with it and waited. I found a few more errant ants within an hour of application but there haven't been any new ones since. Phew! I discovered the ground pepper trick many years ago when there was an ant invasion in the laundry room. I needed something non-toxic and cat resistant and it was either black pepper or cayenne and since I had the black pepper on hand, I used it. Works like a charm!!! And when the ant season is over, you vacuum up the pepper.

I leave you with a picture of tulips cut from my garden - hidden from the kitties so that they don't get nom'd:

2 comments:

Shirley Goodwin said...

An LED light that straps to your thumb! How cool is that? I am a beginning spinner..well, haven't quite begun yet but I did collect a spinning wheel yesterday from the Salvation Army store but it's missing some bits. I tend to use the yarn in its finished state but I'm looking forward to spinning my own wool so that I can knit or felt it.

Shirley
http://shirleygoodwin.blogspot.com
http://creativewomenofacertainage.blogspot.com

PurlingPirate said...

Your tulips are gorgeous!!!

Wonder if the black pepper works for other insects...