Although the original colour would be red, the white version is also very pretty.
Daily Archives: 20/11/2016
Daily Prompt: Scorched earth
I once scorched the earth. It was not anything political, just boiling hot water. One morning in the garden in our perfect green lawn there were two bumps. when I drew closer I notice that the bumps were alive, teeming with ants. This was suspicious and I knew it was an invasion. I was on my own, threatened by thousands of ants with a reproductive queen. Kill the queen and you kill the ants, but usually the queen ant is protected deep down in the earth. Se would defend her army to the bitter end, I was sure. I had no-one to advise me and I had visions of my perfect english lawn being destroyed by an army of ants. My solution was obvious – boiling water, a scorched earth policy. I remember back in my Brit days where every relation had an english lawn, it was the remedy.They always poured boiling water on the ants.
If Mr. Swiss had been at home, I am sure he would have known a better solution, but I was alone with this problem. I had visions of lumps and bumps everywhere in my wonderful flat lawn and so I returned to the drastic solution. I boiled water, not just the hot water from the tap, but the 100° C boiled version. I am sure I heard high pitched screams as the ants were being scorched in the boiling water. What a way to go, but I knew no mercy. It was either the ants or my wonderful perfectly growing lawn. Unfortunately I fogot that grass is not heat resistant, and my application of the scorched earth policy left brown marks in the lawn. Not only had I destroyed my ants nests, but also the lawn above the ants nests.
When Mr. Swiss returned I described my private battle with the ants. To ensure that there would be no return I emptied two bottles of mineral water, with gas, onto the scorched earth. I was once advised that this removes the oxygen from the nest, should there be any survivors. I was convinced there would be none, but I wanted to be on the safe side. It took the best part of summer for the bare patches in my scorched earth policy to regrow and Mr. Swiss and I had a few lively discussions about what to do the next time.
In the meanwhile our gardener paid his regular visit and reassured us that the lawn would grow again, no problem, it would just take time. He remarked that baking powder would have done the trick very well. For some reason baking powder is poison to ants and they die quietly and inconspicuously and there would be no scorched earth left behind.
It is always good to know these solutions afterwards and I now have an emergency supply of baking powder in the cupboard – you never know.
Good Morning
I took this photo this morning of the trees bordering our area and have just noticed a lonely crow sitting in its branches, so we could all play a game “spot the crow” like those silly games on Facebook.
I really find that Facebook is going from bad to worse. Every day I am confronted with good ideas. I now know how to coat my Christmas decorations on the tree with a marble pattern. Quite easy: a bowl of water and some various nail varnish mixed together and then dip your plastic ornament in the liquid, give it a twist, let is dry and you have a wonderful new idea. I prefer to buy mine already coloured, although I just remembered, I do not have a Christmas Tree.
Not celebrating Christmas does have its advantages. I do not have to do any Christmas shopping for presents, as we have also given up on that one. we buy our own. My appartment is not filled with twigs of holly and mistletoe. The only thing we have are a few candles and Mr. Swiss likes a Christmas Wreath. That has four candles and you begin the fourth Sunday before Chrismas to light one candle. A week later there are two candles burning until eventually on the Chrismas week-end all four candles are burning. If Mr. Swiss looks after that side of the Christmas, I do not mind.
I am not a Christmas grinch, celebrate with the others, but I do not need this extra stress. I even read in a few remarks in Facebooks from people that are proud to say they have bought all their presents already in September. They go on to tell me that at the beginning of December, they have at last completed the wrapping of the presents. Ok, I no longer have small children in the famile. Perhaps it would be different if I did.
Some good food does it for me. Thank goodness it is a short holiday this year, just a week from one week-end to the other. What really annoys me is that the whole event now begins in October in the shops. When the New Year is over our shops begin to fill with carnival requisites which will be some time in Febuary. Yes life is one big celebration.
Today is Sunday, one of those days that I used to enjoy when I was a working woman because I did not have to go to work, but just sit at home and relax. Cook Sunday dinner and catch up on the ironing. However, Sunday evening was something different. If it snowed in Winter I was already dreading the drive to work the next morning. Today everything is different. We have the rainy season at the moment, and no snow. Now I would not mind some snow. Not too much, but just enough to make things look pretty. I also notice that the colder weather is more pleasant to live with. I only leave my refuge at 10 in the morning and by then the snow has been cleared away.
I always have a good book to curl up with. At the moment I am reading the latest Harry Bosch book by Michael Connelly, The Wrong Side of Goodbye. Mr. Swiss and I do not often share the same taste in books. He is more into real things and I like a little bit of supernatural mixed in, but we seem to agree with Harry Bosch and have both read all his books. The last one I read, The Burning Room, I did not find so good and a little boring. I am now only into the first couple of chapters of this book, but seems promising. He has even given me his Kindle to read it on as he does not need it at the moment.
And now to heat up the oven to cook my Sunday dinner of roast neck of pork with all the trimmings. It will be accompanied by seared new potatoes (seared is a new word for fried it seems – all the cooking programmes on the TV use it). I like to prepare my meat already and forget it for a couple of hours until lunch time, which means a realaxed Sunday morning. The slow cooking method has its advantages.
Enjoy your Sundays everyone wherever you are.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 