June 11, 2023 Disaster Zone!

I loved watching 1960s WWII movies when I was in high school. The scenes depicting the aftermath of urban battles always showed clouds of dust, and all sorts of thing littering the landscape. When I gaze at the interior of my house, I am reminded of those movies.

I had to turn off my ceiling fans in the living room months ago because I suddenly realized that the room was filled with smog which had been kept airborne. The primary particulates of my personal brand of smog are the same as in those pictures and in LA: dust. Dust everywhere, even on the floors and walls.

Back in April, I spent an hour and a half vacuuming and dusting just the living room, but still had a lot of dust there. You might remember that meme on FB: “Why dust? It’ll just come back tomorrow.” But do you know what happens when you don’t vacuum or dust for over six months (now nine)? Permanent lung damage in the alveoli, of which I was told I have back in March. The 300 to 500 million alveoli in the lungs are tiny branches of air tubes which exchange oxygen for carbon monoxide and – oops! – mine are all plugged up. Even though everyone would blame this damage solely on my smoking, it was really caused by all this homemade smog.

Of course, I fanatically researched dust, accumulating dozens of sites in my bookmarks. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of dust is not made up of dead skin cells. It also has animal detritus, fibers from textiles and papers, food particles, and in my case, consolidated cigarette smoke. Soil, pollen and vehicular matter contribute from outside. Most disturbingly, items in the home such as TVs, flooring, furniture, cleaning products (Ha! No chance of that!) and anything made of plastic, shed chemicals which then become dust as well. Some of these chemicals are quite noxious.

A way to avoid creating dust in the first place is to remove the rugs (which won’t happen), reduce clutter (really must do this), contain your pets (that won’t happen either) and limit those items that shed chemicals. And stop smoking, of course!

Nearly every mention of dust also mentions dust mites. I am exceptionally allergic to mites, so much so that when I was bitten by one in the 90s, I had to take a shower in pesticides. Everything about mites, and dust mites as well, makes my skin crawl and my research indicated that 84% of US households have these tiny creatures, which feed off pet and human dander.

Naturally, when researching dust mites, you get countless ads for mattress covers and so you start shopping. I did, and as the articles also mention that sheets made from tightly woven fabric can keep these guys away from you, I bought a fitted sheet made with that kind of fabric. A mattress cover seemed too difficult.

Just a new fitted sheet won’t cut it for an internet shopping excursion, though. While pondering my bed, I decided that a new quilt would be just the thing. The dogs have ruined my current bed coverings, consisting in the colder months of three thin blankets and one now-shredded quilt that I never should have used. None of these remotely fit my king size bed, and when looking for a new quilt, prices are fine until you click on that size. I eventually bought a European Linen quilt in a queen size so that it wouldn’t hit the dust-covered floor. It is not ordinary linen; it’s made from European flax, according to research the highest quality of flax. The one I purchased is prewashed for softness and is an “heirloom quality linen.” As if that matters; my kids won’t want it.

But I digress.

Along with all the dust, there are things of every sort on literally every horizontal space, including the floor. And dishes! At times, nearly every dish and piece of silverware is on the counter, waiting desperately to be loaded into the dishwasher. Rarely glasses, though, as I use exactly one drinking container: a heavy glass mug. After knocking over countless glasses in the living room while watching 원숭인의 텔레비전 *, my solution was to use this mug, which is shorter and heavier therefore less prone to dumping on the rug.

One rule of mine that I never follow is “Don’t put it down, put it away.” My constant violations result in about one wasted hour every day searching for eyeglasses, keys, the cell phone, bills and notices that came in the mail, those cookies I swear I had, various cleaning utensils and accoutrements (on occasion), houseplant accessories, scissors, packing tape, all sorts of things. Both yesterday and today, I have been really disturbed by having to look for my beloved watch (see The Watch, The Robe and the Ring posted January 7, 2022.)

At times, I think I either have a poltergeist or I am losing my mind. I will look and look for something and, in the end, it turns up exactly where I had already looked. That’s just not right.

There are a few books that I like to read frequently. One is The Razor’s Edge by W. Sommerset Maugham. After a couple of weeks, I still could not find the one I had studied and bookmarked. It finally turned up on the bookshelves where I had looked for it several times, along with two other copies I didn’t realize I’d had. The book I’ve been searching for most recently, and daily, is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway. This bugs me so much I almost bought a new one on Amazon.

Because I live in what one may describe as “the sticks,” I buy nearly everything but groceries and gas on the internet. My accumulation of boxes is truly astounding. I already have dozens of them to be flattened and recycled and more on the way as I just purchased nine books, including one set of the Bronte sister’s works and two world atlases. The sisters wrote seven books altogether. I already have three, but one of them is in tatters and another just starting to fall apart.

My Geographic Atlas of the World is from 1975 and was used extensively by me and the Ex in our favorite pastime of old: discussing and exploring every topic of interest that came our way. I bought the latest Nat Geo edition from 2019, which was way too expensive. Because the latest edition of the Oxford Atlas of the World was published in 2022 and was less pricey, I bought that one, too. When they come, I’ll decide which to keep.

But I digress yet again, so back to the Disaster Zone.

I always have projects waiting for me, which means even more objects not “put away.” There are two trellises and one grow light to mount, those aforementioned boxes to deal with, a mountain of blankets and pillows to dump or put away, tube televisions and useless furniture to dispose of, plants that need repotting, artwork to frame and hang, the library to reorganize, books to donate which have been boxed up for months, clutter to clear off the dining room table where Lucy has her bowl, and clutter everywhere else as well. Whew! Even this partial list is overwhelming.

I want to go watch Netflix.

*Korean TV