Slugs and Sundries

It's my favourite day of the month! It's Total Up the Expenses and the Savings Day! I cheated and did it before the end of the working day, leaving just the Groceries tally blank. I'm not expecting us to spend money on anything except groceries. 

I enjoy tending the accounts even more than tending the garden because there are no slugs in the accounts. The horrible slugs and wicked snails have been feasting on our blackcurrant bushes and the rhubarb I lovingly grew from seed, and I'm not having it. 

There is a can of slug poison in the shed, but I did not buy it and I won't use it. The various gardening chemicals in the shed were there before we got here, and I suspect they are the reason the soil in the original raised bed is so rubbish. 

I am a 100% organic gardening true believer, and I'm becoming a permaculturist into the bargain. This is great news for B.A. for I want to sow wildflowers on our lawn, which will turn it into a wildflower meadow he will not even be allowed to mow. When the neighbours say something, we will say we are trying to attract the birds, the bees and the butterflies. Saving the birds, the bees and the butterflies is very PC, so I think we'll get away with it. 

But what to do about the slugs and snails? Tomorrow I will order a packet of slug-killing parasites and scatter them on the raised bed. These parasites hurt only molluscs, so my mind is at rest. It would be nice if birds came by day--and hedgehogs came by night--to eat the slugs and snails, but they don't. Thus it will be up to the tiny wormies, who will cost about £15, and I will record the cost under "Sundries." 

The soul of minimalism is not buying objects that you don't eat, read or really do need for your capsule wardrobe. Therefore, I don't have a lot down under "Sundries." This month's Sundries are as follows:

1. Family membership in Una Voce Scotland

2. Bicycle pump

3. Moth-stop hangers

4. Metal cannoli moulds

While that list may look a bit random, they contain worlds--or maybe just a blogpost each. But as I don't have time, I will just write short summaries.

#1 was on account of being radicalised by Traditionis Custodes. Surely someone must have warned Pope Francis about this. 

"Oh no, Holy Father! If you do this, the Trads will pray more! They'll go to Mass more often! They'll send more money to traditionalist orders! They might even take out memberships in Una Voce and subscribe to Mass of Ages!"

However, I am told that the Italian bishops were hellbent on stopping out our little base communities (base as in Liberation Theology, not as in low-minded), and PF acquiesced. Alas, cui caput dolet, omnia membra languent.

#2 was in celebration of Canada being in the Green Zone, so B.A. and I may see our Canadian parents sooner rather than later. We hope. At any rate, Aged P keeps a bicycle, a pair of hiking boots and a blue cardigan here. This morning I took the recently pumped-up bike for a spin along the river, and the ride was quite exhilarating. I haven't bicycled in years. 

#3 represents domestic life in this part of Scotland. Alas. Fortunately the moths have so far not shown any interest in my wedding dress (silk) or in our tweed suits (wool) but only in my secondhand green wool sweater, which is now living in the freezer. 

#4 is utterly frivolous, of course. But we do like cannoli and if we can't eat them in the Eternal City, we might as well eat them at home. Probably on the Feast of St. Pius X according to the Old Calendar, which is clearly more radicalisation. Take that, Enemies of Tradition!