Lunarly speaking: Strawberry Moon 2009

by Mike Koppa — last modified 2009-07-12 22:50

Every once in while, relatively, I have an idea. For 2009, I will commit to sharing one of them on or around every single full moon. No kidding.

Strawberry Moon
Green tip No. 1. or Overconsumption is dumb.

Let's start with a survey of this bathroom counter, clockwise from top left. How many bottles of bubbles for blowing do you need? We have a lot of them. Halloween snow globes? We have one. We keep it on the bathroom counter so it's there at the end of October. The rest of that stuff is pretty useful, I guess...hand lotion, mouthwash, toothbrushes, hand soap, soap dish, toothpaste...ah! Soft Scrub. We'll get to that in a minute. Finally we see a pile of hair bands. Next to it, out of the picture, is a jar full of hair bands. There's another jarful in downstairs bathroom. Ever think about what a racket that is? Think for a minute about how many hair bands there are in the United States. Think about the inventory held in every Wal-Mart and megastore across the country, just in case somebody needs one. Who in the hell is getting paid to make all these damn things? And WHY? But they keep selling. And when they dig us up a few hundred years from now they'll know we had hair...long hair requiring hair bands.

On to Soft Scrub. When I walk through the supermarket as I pick up another box of wine or package of gizzards for the cat, I can't help but notice the cleaning supplies. And then I aks myself, "Who is buying all this shit?" And then I go,"Oh, my God. All of that is going into the water." Or the ground. Or the dump.. And think of the inventory held in all the stores across the country. As if we need it. And by it's very being there, easily available and affordable, and by the marketing campaigns that promoted it, it's bound to get bought...and used.

Let me tell you something that makes me proud. No, shut up. Seriously. Let me tell you. I know pride is one of the vices, but the hell with that for now. I'm proud of this. See that bottle of Soft Scrub up there? That bottle has been with me for about ten years. And that's as much Soft Scrub as anyone needs, if they need any at all.

See that sink? Forget for a minute how much it looks like a face with a giant white mouth. Or is the drain it's tiny mouth? Either way, forget that. Look at how much Soft Scrub is there. And this happens about four times a year in that sink. Okay, maybe six. Mold does not grow on it, and it doesn't make me sick. It just sits there most of the time, and a couple times a day someone washes their hands or brushes their teeth in it. With soap.

Here's a closer look at the 'Scrub. Forget about how it looks like a little white dog gazing longingly and pointing at an empty food dish. Forget that. That's not that much Scrub. A bottle of this stuff can easily last a decade.

You might've also noticed that the sink is looking pretty nasty. Well I've got news for you, buddy. There's a reason it's so flippin nasty. I just got done using some other nasty chemicals (regretfully) to unclog this very drain. It's all documented in a nice bit of photo-journalism (if I do say so myself) on my Facebook page. If you happen to be a Facebooker, hey...let's be friends. And if you're not, well...screw you. Heh. Just kidding. Good for you. But if you're ever so inclined, look me up on the ol' FB and we can hang out.

Here's a handy link to the documentary. Or click the photo.

The bottom line here is that you can save a couple bucks and do your part in not contributing to the problem. It's easy.

And now a brief update on studio-related activity

All time in May is given to the land. None of it is documented with photo, but I can tell you this: A new perennial flower garden is in place, replacing the front-yard vegetable garden where we grew tomatoes last year. The tomatoes are now grounded in the sunniest section of the yard, which last year failed to produce peppers, perhaps because they were partially shaded by a fence, which I took down with great labor and help from my dad. Across from the tomatoes, there are now 40 crowns of strawberries, creating yet another bed of perennial, low-maintenance landscaping around the house. Four trees were felled because they were old and casting too much shade in a damp yard. They created a hell of a lot of mulch, which was used around the house. The half-ripped-up deck off the back of the house is now completely gone, making the way for a little bit of grass. The weed-infested back edge of the yard along the fence has been cleaned up and ammended, and with the new sunlight, is planted with sunflowers, peas, and zinnias. Lastly, the raspberry patch at Heavy Duty Acres has been slightly re-arranged and tended with two truckloads of mulch from the neighborhood lumberyard in La Farge.

I've been pretty dang busy. And that's why I'm leaving on a Guzzi ride to Cornucopia in a few days. It's a Heavy Duty Letterpress tour! I've got plans to meet with Superior Letterpress in Cornucopia, WI, Kenspeckle Press in Duluth, Midnight Paper Sales in Stockholm, WI, and Suttonhoo Press outside Winona. It's part of getting geared up for setting up the press in the fall, provided the living room gets done by the end of the summer.

Whew! Man...I guess I like doing stuff.

FLOWER MOON 2009 Evolution of an ego.

PINK MOON 2009 Love is in the air.

WORM MOON 2009 Pobody's nerfect.

SNOW MOON 2009 Let's kill two birds with one stone

WOLF MOON 2009 Welcome to the future, Mr Koppa.

COLD MOON 2008 My friend, Steinke, R.I.P.

BEAVER MOON 2008 How do you say love?

HUNTER MOON 2008 What's up and why do you care?

HARVEST MOON 2008 Hopping across Wisconsin

STURGEON MOON 2008 Summer #40: Check!

STRAWBERRY MOON 2008 The Floody Mona Lisa