‘JUNES
A HANDFUL OF RUSTY NAILS AND TWO
RUBBER BANDS STUCK TOGETHER
"Organize your living space and discard
what you don't use," was Martha Stewart's advice in
her January newspaper column.
With her advice in mind, I decided to clean
out my garden shed which I hadn't paid much
attention to other than occasionally checking the
potted geraniums I store in the shed through the
winter.
The paneled door of the shed had swollen
from winter dampness. It took force and a couple
of kicks to finally open it. When the door burst
open, some baskets, a watering can and a rake fell
from a rack I thought I'd secured. A handle on one
of the baskets broke in the fall which I knew I could
fix with wire. Searching through an old two-pound
coffee can I found some wire and discovered that
some nails I'd also saved in the can had rusted. I
dumped the can out on some newspaper to separate
the rusty nails from usable ones and found a few
things I'd forgotten about: a button that had come
off my favorite garden jacket I'd been keeping
closed with a safety pin, some drapery hooks I'd
saved in case I made new drapes for the house,
some fishing lures, hooks and weights my grandson
had looked for last fall, a nail punch I thought I had
lost, a package of staples that goes with a staple gun
that's broken, rubber bands, push pins, safety pins,
paper clips, wire hooks, a broken pencil, and a bag
of legume inoculant I'd bought last year and had
meant to use when I planted my peas last spring.
The legume inoculant is nitrogen-fixing bacteria. If
you dust the peas or other legumes you plant, you'll
have a more productive crop.
I set aside a handful of rusty nails and two
rubber bands that were stuck together and the bag
of inoculant.
While cleaning off a shelf and restacking all
the plastic pots I've saved, I found the box of plant
labels and empty flower packets I keep to remind
myself what I planted last year. In the same box I
found several half-filled envelopes of vegetable
seeds: beans, spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots,
beets and peas. When I plant vegetables in my
small garden I don't have room for planting the
whole packet. The problem was that I hadn't dated
any of the envelopes to know how old the seeds
were, but I decided to save them to plant this
spring.
It was cold in the shed, time for a cup of
coffee. In the warmth of the kitchen while enjoying
the hot coffee I read the instructions on the package
of inoculant I'd brought in with the half-envelope of
sugar peas. The instructions said soak the peas
overnight, the next day dust the damp peas with the
powdered inoculant before planting. The weather
forecasters said a week of rain. Knowing the
ground was too wet to prepare for planting, I set the
peas and package of inoculant aside. I poured
another cup of coffee and spread out a bag of
knotted plastic garden tape and string to unknot and
rewind, and the phone rang.
A friend called to say she had just seen
whales south of Haystack Rock. When the great
gray whales migrate south in the winter and the
ocean is rather calm, at times you can see their huge
bodies surface or a cloud of mist as the whale
exhales a burst of vapor and water. I grabbed my
binoculars, and with my dog Barker at my heels we
headed for the beach. After an hour or so passed
scanning the horizon, all I could see were white
caps. Maybe some were bursts of vapor and water
when the whales exhaled. Barker enjoyed himself,
along with his friend a neighboring black lab,
chasing the seagulls and crows and sniffing a few
logs that had roiled in with the tide.
Walking back from the beach, I noticed I
hadn't cleaned up a flower bed along the fence.
Another hour or two passed as I filled up the
wheelbarrow with dead stalks of Shasta daisies and
nasturtium vines that had turned to mush. It was
time for lunch.
Lunch is always accompanied with reading a
few chapters of whatever book I choose to read.
Another hour or so passed. I was feeling
guilty and put the book down to go back to
organizing the shed. I thought I could at least
sweep the floor of caked dried mud and pellets of
fertilizers that had spilled from a damp twenty-
pound bag of fertilizer. Taking out the broom to
sweep the floor, I noticed the pots of geraniums
needed attention. 1 put the broom aside. Spending
time picking off all the dead leaves and watering
them, adding Oxygen Plus, a Safer product that
chemically releases oxygen to the soil and is also a
liquid fertilizer, I rearranged the plants along with
other treasures that were on the shelves.
My cottage was built in the early 1900's and
people buried their garbage before Cannon Beach
had sanitary service. Through the years when I've
dug new flower beds I've unearthed many treasures:
shards of broken dishes, some patterned, various
sized bottles that may have contained cosmetics,
liniment or spirits, some bottles that had turned
purple, and pieces of iron that may have been part
of a stove. Also on the shelves are seashells,
interesting-shaped driftwood, heart-shaped, oval
and round black rocks, a few agates, colored glass
tumbled and smoothed by the surf, all collected
during the years on my daily walk along the beach.
I use the old canning jars I found to fill with dried
flowers, pods of poppies, branched silver disks of
lunaria, pink and purple status and other interesting
dried weeds. Someday I'll use the shards and
colored glass to mosaic a table top or the seashells
and heart-shaped rocks with tile to glue onto a
large clay pot. The other rocks could line a path,
and I've meant to bury the iron pieces at the roots of
hydrangea plants. Someone told me that the iron
helps the blooms of hydrangeas to turn a deeper
blue.
While 1 was engrossed in arranging my
treasures, Barker nudged me and gave me his look.
It was time for his daily walk.
I gathered the handful of rusty nails and the
two rubber bands that were stuck together to throw
away, and with force slammed the swollen door
shut. Something fell, but there's always tomorrow.
Barker carrying his ball in his mouth, me a
plastic sack in case I found another treasure, we
headed for the beach.
A few rays of setting sun had turned the
clouds pink. Soon it would be dusk.
Geppcllo’s
Shoppe
200 N. Hemlock
Cannon Beach, OR
436-2467
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PHONE OR FACSIMILE
THE
M c B e e
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503 368 7518
Modest Rates
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Cannon Baach, OR
97110
(BO3) 4 3 6-3000
Pax (803) 436-0746
"This book fills a much-needed gap. "
- Moses Hadas (1900-1966) in a review
BUSINESS CARDS
SIGNS & BANNERS
LAMINATING/ FLYERS
BROCHURES/ FORMS
OFFICE SUPPLIES
PAST U P S SERVICE
COMPUTER SUPPORT
INTERNET ACCESS
NOTARY SERVICE
C lifton A. B atchelder REAL ESTATE
Cole Horsley - Sale* Associate
Residence 503 436-2845
J
Post Office Box 386
1235 S Hemlock Street
Cannon Beach. OR 9 7 t 10
Phone 503 436-9670
Fax 503 436 9666
1 800 436 9670
upper . left edge F ebruary 2000
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