Be Careful What You Wish For - July 9, 2021

 

It must have been on our way home from the 4th of July barbeque - I remember we were in the car together, and we rarely are in the car together - that I said to The Husband that we need a better composting system.  

Years ago, my sister gave me a big barrel-shaped tumbler, which we set up in the edge of the yard.  It's too far from the house to be convenient for kitchen scraps, and it periodically gets wrapped up in English ivy.  Sometimes, wasps build nests in the recesses of the stand.  They've nailed me a time or two.  In short, it's scary to use it.  Plus, it's harder than heck to get the compost out without dumping most of it on the ground.  

For the past couple of years, I've been trying to build a compost pile by the garden shed at Nanny's.  I save my kitchen scraps in a big coffee can and dump them on the pile when the can gets full.  It worries Nanny; she's afraid that the food scraps will draw rats to her yard.  They do draw some kind of critter - one that  doesn't care for raw onions.  It disassembles the pile, digging for the food scraps.   

In the car, I mused (out loud) about ways to hem up the pile.

Yesterday, when I got home from work, there was a big box, addressed to The Husband, on the front porch.  On the outside of the box, in big letters:  "COMPOSTER."

Hot diggety-dog!

The box was about a foot tall, maybe 3" square.  I dragged it into the house and set it in the entry hall. 

I sensed that some assembly would be required.

When The Husband got home, he came out to the porch and plunked the box down beside my chair.  "Happy birthday," he said.  

I looked up at him and said, "Thank you.  I know you're planning to assemble it for me."  

He said certainly he was.

We opened the box.  There were a zillion pieces inside, along with a pair of gardening gloves and, strangely, a pair of thin white gloves, almost like those your grandmother would've worn to church.  

The white gloves totally creeped me out (I threw them in the garbage can at once).  

The gardening gloves are cool, though.  The right hand has claws on it.

When I put them on, I felt like a mole.

Anyway, we got the composter assembled, and set it near the patio, where it will be convenient.  

Once I put food in it, we are going to strap the trail cam to the patio umbrella and set it to video, so we can see how long it takes the raccoons to figure out how to open the doors.