Anna Monica / L’Observateur / July 19, 2000

They can say what they want to about “the dust bowl” in Nevada, Texas or anywhere else, and they can talk about roaches that have been here and will continue to be here until the end of time. There is no doubt in my mindas to what will last the longest. It’s dust, of course! This stuff, made ofdirt and anything other by-product available in the area, seems to come and go at will and nothing can stop it. I experience that!Now my sister, Cookie, tells me I don’t have that much dust in my house because I have no carpet downstairs (only upstairs). What surprises me isthat Cookie knows anything at all about dust because I know for a fact she never gives it a chance to accumulate in her house. Sister Phyllis is muchthe same way as well is her daughter, my niece, Robbie. For them, I feelcertain dust can only be found as a word in the dictionary. Even Maria pullsout a dust cloth fairly often (she doesn’t want her name mentioned in my column but since she probably doesn’t read it often I can get away with it).

However, when you talk about “the dust settling” you might be thinking about my house because I give it plenty chances. Plus there are plentyplaces and objects for it to settle on. For me, dusting can be an event – notjust because I have plenty of it but because I would rather not do it so often. I’m a firm believer in living with my dust just as I live with mygerms. It helps you to become immune to so many maladies, I believe andif you believe me, we might all be in trouble.

Trouble it certainly was the other day when we moved my old sofa out and the new sofa into my house. My house is old (a good excuse for harvestingmore dust). You might know I was dreading that move, but not just becauseof the difficulty of the movement, but because of the dust I feared to be under the old sofa for all to see.

It was a major event that took a major effort, and as far as I am concerned an event that will never occur again in my lifetime. First,darling nephews Todd and Casey and cousin Brett Guidry had to carry out my old sofa (which is quite pretty and I dreaded giving up but it was time to change). Now, in my house, carrying any large object in or out is noeasy task because of the way the house is built and because of all I have settled into it. Cousin Brett got caught between the sofa and wall and hadto gasp for breath (but not from dust) while the nephews figured out which way to turn the sofa to get it out and to get Brett breathing again.

It was cause for celebration once they got it into Todd’s truck and onto its new location where, I might say, it looks really good (and dust-free).

Let me brag a little because can you just imagine how very pleased (and relieved) I was when the floor under the old sofa, once revealed, was free of dust and quite clean. Stretching the mop under there each time I cleanedhad paid off. I was glad that before the young men came to move the sofa, Ihad given the whole floor an extra good mopping to avoid looking bad.

The next day I dusted a little more, mopped again and watched Todd, cousin Craig Ryan and their friend, George Lowe, sweat to move in the new sofa. Craig had to take the front door off and we had begun to think itcouldn’t be done. Then it was revealed to us why God made young nephews,cousins and friends – they are strong and smart (and don’t care about dust).

The new sofa is in, the front door is back on its hinges and I even dusted the rest of the living room. And, for all the problems we had with thisventure, a comforting, surprise revelation has occurred – the new sofa is so low, you couldn’t dust under it if you wanted to! Ah, relief! Back to Top

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