If you don’t collect dolls, you might not know about Stinky Doll Disease that strikes hard plastic dolls from the 1950s. Seemingly pretty little dollies could be pristine and beautiful but stink like an indescribable smell almost like cat spray mixed with cheese or something. This cute but tattered bride doll is a case in point. She doesn’t smell as bad as others I’ve smelled, but she does have an odor if you get close. I think I’ve heard it has to do with the plastic they used to use breaking down. Some people say restringing them helps. I’ve heard of people trying to get rid of the smell by spraying polyurethane inside the dolls. And I’ve heard that some people can’t smell the odor, maybe a genetic thing. Anyway, this doll will be going on ebay soon to find another home. I will mention the odor in the listing….. I’m not that mean!
We spent yesterday ripping 5 big ornamental grasses out of our back yard. They’ve been there for about 7 years, so they are big. I really like the look of big billowy grasses, but they have become too much work. They turn brown in the winter and the wind whips the long dead leaves all over. Come spring, you have to cut them back to about 18 inches tall so that the new growth can get enough light to fill out the grass again. We have different varieties of grasses and they all require different tools to cut them. A couple we have can be cut with an electric hedge trimmer. Others require hand cutting with branch clippers as their canes are thick and tough. We had some beautiful pampas grass in our front yard that used to put out beautiful fronds in late summer. But the leaves are as sharp as razors and leave angry welts on your arms if you try to clip it without protective clothing.
Part of the reason we are taking them out is because of the work, but the other part is because of the new law in our state. Yard waste has be be separated from other trash for collection. We already recycle bottles, cans, cardboard, and newspaper. So recycling and separating is not a problem for us, but Delaware is charging $1.00 per 39 gallon bag for yard waste. Two of the big ornamental grasses in our back yard can make 12 bags of garbage, so that would be $12.00 to just have that picked up…. I can’t imagine how much it would cost to dispose of all the big grasses every spring. There are free drop off spots to get rid of garbage, but we don’t have a pickup and I can’t imagine throwing bags of grass in my minivan. And we’ve tried composting stuff (we already use all of our grass clippings instead of mulch in our back gardens), but I think we live in “snake alley” and the snakes seem very attracted to compost piles. I don’t like snakes, they are too snakey and sneaky. They aren’t bad when you know they are there, but when you are trying to walk down your front steps and mister 5 foot long black snake slithers across your path, they are just not fun.
So we are looking to plant more native plants that use less water and don’t need cut to save some money.
