Friday, May 6, 2011

Worms, useful/beautiful/joyful

Top of the Worm Factory
WORMS! We got worms! They are all happy in their box.

We are so nosy, and have to refrain from opening the box to look at them. They are not pretty. They're all wiggly and red and clumped together - busily making compost from my teabags and his coffee grounds.

Last night, when we were putting the box together and then adding the worms, I admit to a bit of a freak out. I had picked up the bag of worms, which was like a woven paper sack with a draw tie, to dump them into their bedding/food mixture.

I realized there was something cold and slimy on my palm. I lifted the bag up and HORRORS! The little buggers had eaten their way through the bag and were ON MY HAND.
I carefully put them in the box.
Note the nozzle for getting the "juice" out.

I don't believe in throwing innocent animals around just because I have the grue.

So we got them all in the box, and were very pleased with ourselves.

...It doesn't take much.

About an hour later, when my husband went in the kitchen, I heard, "OH MY GOD!" Apparently, when the worms had eaten through the bag, some had also escaped from the box! They were all over the counter! So, he gathered them up and carefully put them in the box.

We are kind to animals.

Useful/beautiful/joyful:  A friend forwarded me a Feel Good Email that was full of cacti & aphorisms or adages. The one that struck me as most useful said to throw out anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or joyful. I'm thinking that would be a good way to clean house - well, except you can't throw away your tax papers.

ANYway, my painting paraphernalia is comprised of joyful things, so I'll keep them.
My books are beautiful things, so I'll keep them.
Useful....hmmm. Does not compute. I'm sure there's something useful. Oh yes, my exercise bike is very useful. I hang things on it. I'll keep it.

A side note: About an hour after he found the worms on the counter, I went into the kitchen and found two dead worms. Then one of the dead worms started moving, so I put it in the box. The other dead worm stayed still, so I threw him down the drain. He wasn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

I think it was a fitting way to live the New Housecleaning Mantra!

mj

ps I asked my friend next door (the one who will freak when she learns we have worms in the house) if she had any spare newspapers. She texted me to say she'd thrown them over the fence, and said, "awwww. Sounds like you got a puppy!"

Boy is she gonna be surprised.


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