Our town is looking a little worse for wear now that all the snow has melted. The streets are coated with sand from the sand trucks. Litter is flying around catching in the shrubs that haven’t yet set leaves. I see lots af dog owners cleaning up you know what in their back yards. Husband cleaned off his grills and grilling area, trimmed the False Indigo, and bagged up leaves and raspberry canes that we intended to bag up last fall but didn’t get to it until it was covered with snow.
I had what my children would call a Dutch fit on Saturday. Friends of ours were due to stop in for a visit in the afternoon on their way back from Pine Ridge. They had gone there to start the cleaning and set up at the Sun Dance grounds. The Sun Dance isn’t until July, but I guess there is rather a lot of things to do to have all the sweat lodges cleaned and the food and dancing and camping areas ready in time. Spring cleaning happens on Pine Ridge, too.
I realized that our home wasn’t fit for company after a long winter with a busy dog. We started cleaning as soon as we got up Saturday morning. We dusted, washed floors and a few windows, cleaned bathrooms, and vacuumed. I also made two pies, a peach and sour cherry pie and a French Canadian pork pie to serve our guests. Husband was somewhat disgruntled and said that this was one of those occasions where could hurt himself trying to keep up with me. The dog was very excited by the activity level and ran around us as we cleaned. When our friends arrived the kitchen was spotless, all the dishes were put away, and there was no dust anywhere, not even between the slats on the Stickley dining room chairs. Husband worked hard on those. We had a lovely visit.
Not long after our friends left, the cold I had been fighting all week hit me hard, and I spent all day Sunday inert on the sofa. At least the house is clean.
What do you do for spring cleaning? How is your community looking like after this tough winter. What are your favorite spring flowers?
and sand
Trail Baboon 
No spring cleaning!
Lots of debris. A new school is being built close to downtown. Extra people are traffic.
Dandelion. “A weed is but a plant whose virtues remain undiscovered.” R.W.Emerson.
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We have crocus and scilla blooming. Out here there are lovely wild crocus called Pasque flowers that bloom in the grasslands. Soon the species tulips will bloom in the back yard. Our tulip beds need to be rejuvenated. I am such a sucker for bulbs.
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I have pasque flower – though not the wild variety – in my garden. Though it looks very fragile, it’s a pretty hardy little plant, and it’s getting ready to bloom. I have crocus, winter aconite, snow drops, and a couple of daffodils in bloom, and the early tulips are getting ready as well. Rhubarb is up, and the magnolia tree’s buds are swelled and ready to pop.
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
Spring Cleaning? I hire my cleaning lady to come longer. She gets a special day just for washing windows. That is it.
My town is displaying downed branches and trees that were buried underneath the feet of snow. And now geese, turkeys and ducks are around town looking for nesting sites. I hope to hear a loon flying over soon. Yesterday I went to Iowa to visit my mother and saw a flock of swans hanging out on a protected inlet of Albert Lea Lake. This morning a male and female mallard landed in my front yard and waddled around seeking a nesting site. Mating rituals abound.
Favorite spring flower: At this point I will take any flower and be happy for it. We have tulips, daffodils, peonies, rhubarb, and bleeding hearts peaking out. I welcome them all.
Meanwhile, we go get our puppy on Saturday so we are preparing the house for the onslaught. Renee has recently done this so I asked her for a list of needed items for a puppy. Our aging Corgi, Bootsy, is going to be bewildered by the onslaught of energy.
PS, because we are senior puppy-owners we were able to arrange with the breeder to re-place our dog should we meet our ends sooner than expected. That was my main worry about this.
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It will be fun to hear how Bootsy reacts… I remember when we brought in the kitten Charlie, and Slush the Elder was at first appalled, and then decided he’d be the “mom”.
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On Earth Day volunteers picked up trash around the neighborhood. Earlier in the week, the street sweepers had been out. So, things are looking a little better in South Minneapolis than they did.
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About 30 years ago im the fall I had planted some new tulips. The end of April that year they were ready to bloom, and were going to be spectacular when, on April 29, we had 18 inches of snow. I could see the frozen buds just above the snow line. I had to wait another year for them to bloom.
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My friend in Howard Lake sees swans quite often circling above her condo. Every time she tells me about them I have to listen to Sibelius.
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The swans here do not circle, but they do fly over, so I see one or two Vs of them each spring. They have a lower honk than the geese, plus those long necks are so identifiable.
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She lives next to the lake and they are looking for places to nest.
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The dog is being spring cleaned this morning at the groomer.
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I give my deck a good cleaning every spring because I feed birds out there all winter and they leave a lot behind. I don’t really feel comfortable out there until I have scrubbed with bleach. I did it a few weeks ago but I think I will do it again.
There is no safe way to clean the upstairs windows here. They’re really dirty on the outside. I haven’t ever had anyone here to clean them. I’m not sure about the association policy on it. I’m tempted to climb out there and try it but common sense prevails.
This year my whole condo got a thorough cleaning. I had to move all the furniture on the main level into the middle of the living room and cover it with plastic and tarps due to the painting project that was completed last week. Everything on display got washed or dusted and I have been busy getting rid of stuff. I discovered I have several first edition books that I would like to find a fair book buyer to sell to. Some of them might not be worth too much but there are a couple that might bring me some cash. Also there’s a hospital auxiliary book sale this week in Northfield. It’s a big sale, and annual event. I have donated my college texts from St. Olaf. Things are put back together and everything has been washed, dusted and cleaned, except for my ugly old carpet.
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Does anyone know of a reputable buyer for antique books?
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Bill will be the man to answer that.
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Used bookstores in Northfield have come and gone and I don’t know whether there is one currently.
The issue is not whether a bookseller/book buyer is reputable. The buyer is going to make a calculation on what he or she can ask for the book and how long it might take to find a buyer and then offer to buy your books at a margin that will allow himself or herself to stay in business.
First editions are not automatically valuable. What makes them valuable is scarcity and demand. That happens when a particular title is issued in a limited quantity and turns out to be one that is popular and highly regarded. Most often that is the case with authors who, at the time, are unknown or under appreciated and later on become part of the literary canon.
The demand by collectors for those scarce copies of the first edition, first printing is what makes them valuable. Some books are also printed several times without being revised, so there may be multiple printings of the first edition.
You can get an idea what your books may be worth by going to abe.com, which is an online aggregation of booksellers, and searching for comparable copies of your books. Keep in mind that the books and prices listed there haven’t attracted buyers.
Another site where you can research prices is addall.com, which is an aggregation of aggregations of booksellers, including abe.
You’ll never get the maximum price for your books from a book buyer for the reasons I mentioned above but it’s the simplest way to unload some books. I definitely wouldn’t take them to Half Price books unless you just want to get rid of them.
Selling them yourself on ebay would let you sell directly to the end customer but that would involve all the hassle that goes with that.
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Thanks, Bill. That’s helpful.
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That’s the good thing about a big project like painting – after moving everything from its usual place, you only put back what you really like…
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Oh! We had new roofing last fall and over the winter we had a huge siding project. The work crews began removing siding and pulling off the Tyvek house wrap that was underneath the siding in mid-December. They would pull off huge lengths of it. It blew all over, as far as two blocks away. I walk in our neighborhood daily and I dragged home all kinds of construction debris with every walk. I threw it away in my own trash instead of their huge dumpsters. The dumpsters were open on top and stuff just blew out all over. It was the biggest construction mess I have ever seen. There were nails everywhere. I have been picking up debris since it started in December. I can see sheets of Tyvek and other debris in nearby wetlands. There are signs posted warning that wading and swimming aren’t allowed but I might just pull on my rubber boots and wear gloves and use a rake to pull some of it out. I’ve picked up two buckets of nails, lots of cut pieces of siding, styrofoam, neighborhood trash (there is an ongoing debate about the local Shopper which is thrown on our driveways ever Saturday and no one wants, so I pick those up too.) I truly have never seen such a mess. The president of the association did compliment me on picking up trash and debris. I know people have watched me do it but no one else seems to want to pick up. So I’ll just keep cleaning up what I can. Also, lots of dog poop…. Why do people pick up their dogs’ waste in a bag, then lay it back down on the ground three feet from a city park trash can? I just don’t get it!
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The cat just got furminated and nails trimmed. I am home from work today with a bad cold, so we can get things like this done. The birds should make good use of her fur for nests.
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She is very upset and called us every name in the book!
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The indignity!
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Yes, we violated two important kitty rules: “Don’t pick me up!” and “Don’t touch my paws!”
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There was a Sally Forth comic strip about cleaning the bathtub, where she went in with a gas mask and heavy artillery… and I remember a chapter in the Little House books about how spring and fall, Ma would pull all the furnishings away from the walls and deep clean. It sounds like a good idea, but this does not happen here.
However, I did have some luck last week with the new Shop Vac (now that I’ve taken off the unnecessary parts) in the back entry, and I’ve mopped the bedroom floors recently and cleaned the bathroom. I really should get up and do high places like top of refrig, The basement will have to wait till summer.
I take a trash bag with me when we do our neighborhood walks…
I think my favorite flower might be the bloodroot, or maybe lilacs, which I hope we get on my transplanted one this year. No wait, maybe peonies… The yellow tulips are up on the north side, and I’ve seen hosta’s peeking up…
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My mother used to wash all the interior walls.
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It also seems that Fox News is doing some spring cleaning today, or at least trying to look like it is.
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Trying to look like it, yeah.
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Is someone fired for being an idiot?
🙄
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Tucker Carlson
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Not him! He hates XXXpresident Donny! But loves him for the sake of ratings.
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From what I read, it wasn’t his views on DT that got him in trouble. Rather it was his disdain for the Management of Fox. Have no fear, though, I’m sure he’ll be snatched up by another network now that we all know that his voice and respectable image can be bought by the highest bidder.
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Afternoon-
Kelly spends some time every day after work picking up sticks and branches, and raking gravel out of the grass and replacing divots of dirt that one of us ripped out when moving snow.
I’ve been just general cleaning; putting stuff away that got ‘dumped’ in the shop or basement or garage. It feels good to put things away.
Just found out I may be getting some of the concrete sooner than later so I’ll be cleaning out part of the shed. Not exactly the way I had it planned but you know how life happens.
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Yes I have debris in our yard ..so many leaves and twigs weeds . But I clean up my yard. I love this amazing flower. Anita
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I’m not sure which amazing flower you love? Please clarify.
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Tulip maybe? From the photo?
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Oh, could be. I understood it as a flower in 100 Country Trek’s yard, but certainly could be wrong. Do we know where 100 Country Trek is located?
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Yes these Tulips are so amazing..but they aren’t blooming later in few weeks
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I am located in Nova Scotia.
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Ooh! I did my graduate work in Winnipeg. We have Maritime friends and love Nova Scotia!
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😊😊😍
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When there’s more daylight and more sunshine, I have more energy so I do tend to do some spring cleaning. YA is out of town this week which means the house will get picked up a little more and get a little cleaner until she gets back. I am, however, struggling because I haven’t gotten my yard straightened up yet. but it’s just too flippin’ cold. Maybe in the next few days I can get out for a little bit. I do have tulips starting to come up. I have daffodils in bloom. Some very dwarf iris that I planted last fall have bloomed, and my earliest lilies have started to come up. Obviously not bloomed yet, but the greenery.
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