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Mickey and I share a very long room on the second
floor of our home.? We call it our office but it is
mainly a room where I store my crafts, work on my
computer and he works at his desk.? I don??™t allow
anyone to go upstairs to that room.? The room does not
have a divider but each of us has our own spot for our
???junk/treasures???.
One day I was up here working on the computer and
looked to his end of the room.? Something strange
seemed to be coming out of the window air conditioner
unit.? Nosey person that I am, I got up and went to
see what it was.? Imagine my surprise to see that it
was English Ivy growing through the unit from the
outside of the house.? Then I made my first mistake.?
I did not cut it and throw it away.? That evening I
told Mickey, ???you have some of that darned ivy growing
inside on your end of the office.???? I should have cut
the stuff and not said a word but anyone who knows me
will know that I frequently open my mouth and insert
my foot.? Then I said, ???I will cut it tomorrow.???? AND
his reply, ???I like it.? I think I will just leave it
there to grow; it can be my house plant.???? HA!?
Now think about it carefully.? If ivy can grow through
an air conditioner unit, doesn??™t it stand to reason
that bugs, lizards and yes, even a climbing snake
could come through too?? ? ? I knew that I was going to
get rid of that ivy.? I still am going to get rid of
that ivy!?
Then a minor miracle, I remembered that the flowerbed
at the end of the house was full of English Ivy and
also some shrubs that I don??™t like.? I bought Round Up
to use on the ivy and hoped it would kill it.? Then I
thought about this for a long time and decided that
the only way I would ever get rid of that darned ivy
and the shrubs in the bed would be if I cut the shrubs
down and pulled up the ivy.? Now comes work for
Doris.? I got my electric hedge clippers and started
on the shrubs.? They are gone but rain had started so
I had to quit.? The next time I went out to work, I
brought a hand saw for the parts of the shrubs that I
couldn??™t get with the clippers, a nice clipping tool
to clip the ivy and a ladder so I could reach it where
it was growing above me.
I
worked industrially and with a vengeance and have
managed to get all of the ivy clipped and removed
between the ground and the highest spot I could reach.
I
just bet you can??™t guess what I discovered as I
removed the ivy.? It had grown through a vent near the
roof overhang, it had grown through the air
conditioner unit and it had grown through tiny
crevices that nothing should have been able to go
through.? That darned ivy was eating my house!? I now
know that it is not only outside, in the office and
everywhere else imaginable but it is inside my attic.?
Just imagine how much longer it would have taken
before the whole house was devoured (covered)? inside
and out by that ivy.
Mickey did not seem too happy with my miracle work of
killing the monster that was eating the house but I
knew it had to go so I took on the chore of being the
not ???hired killer??? of ivy. ? I did the work for no pay
except for the satisfaction of knowing that I am
winning this battle.? I haven??™t told him yet that the
wooden part of the house where the ivy had been
attached will now have to be repainted.? I think I
will leave him a note when I go out of town at the end
of June and let him know that he should go look at the
wall.? Maybe he will be over his moaning and groaning
about painting by the time I get home.
Now on to my real chore, I have to go out and dig up
all of those roots so I can be sure the house eating
ivy is really gone.? And the good news is the ivy will
be gone and I can plant some pretty flowers in that
bed.? The house will look really nice and the monster
won??™t bother me again.
?©
Doris B. Fandal
May 31, 2005 |
