At this time of the year in the far distant past of my upbringing, there always seemed to be one of those days when it seemed that fall had most certainly arrived with definitely colder days.

Our home was a very small one with two very small bedrooms. My sister, being six years older than me, rated enough to have one of the two bedrooms to herself. The second bedroom went to my parents, of course. My brother and I were relegated to an unfinished, unheated attic where the only place where you could stand up straight was in the middle, otherwise you hit your head on the rafters.

I don’t mean for this to sound as though I was deprived in any way as I never felt that way. We always had three nutritious meals a day and clothes on our backs. The conditions, however, were such that it meant there was needed planning for storage due to the lack of closet space and we three kids each different sizes needed three places for storing our clothes. One of the parts of the solution was that we had definite clothes that were for winter and those that were for simmer.

So what I can remember in my mind from some of the early cold days of fall, is the opening of storage boxes of the winter clothes. Some of the boxes were stored under beds and others here and there where space allowed. Now some of our winter clothes were real wool versus the many synthetic fibers we have these days, so it was necessary to keep out the moths. Even today, in my mind I can smell the moth ball fragrance as those storage boxes were opened.

The protocol for those items that had been stored with moth balls was either to launder them before use or at least to get them thoroughly aired out. Our back yard always had laundry lines strung between our house and our garage. One of those lines was a permanent, thick-wire line that in the summer invariably had bathing suits and towels out to dry. That line was supplemented by stringing rope lines that allowed for the hanging of all the wash — we had no dryer at the time nor even a washer with rinse cycles and such.

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WARNING! There is good reason why maybe you haven’t seen or heard much about moth balls in a good many years. Naphthalene mothballs can cause acute anemia. The European Union banned their use back in 2008. Research has shown a probable carcinogenic affect of mothballs as well as some air fresheners. Naphthalene vapor exposure is also a cause of cataracts and a possible cause of cancer.

However, being curious, I decided to check one of the area “big box” stores. I asked at the entrance if they sold mothballs. The clerk asked another nearby clerk and they thought maybe on a huge wall of cleaning products to which they pointed.

Not finding any there, I did find a clerk doing some stocking of the shelves. He led me two-thirds of the way through the building to a far corner and sure enough there were some Moth Ball Packets for sale — good for taking care of moths and carpet beetles. There were multiple warnings on the box about health risks. I didn’t buy any.

Just next to the mothballs there were some safer alternatives, namely, various fancy cuttings of cedar wood: Little round balls and some cuttings that resembled small flowers. That reminded me that I do have a small box for storage that is made totally of cedar. That aromatic wood also seems to take care of many insect-type pests. I will settle for that and for other cleaning-type of solutions.

jtr

There are several products now available that are advertised saying that you might want to use them in your washing machine. Generally, the products do not claim to make the clothes or laundry any cleaner. The products seem to be designed merely to provide a pleasant perfume effect after the laundry process.

So off to my local grocery and the area there of the various cleaning products. Again there were plenty of warnings for such products. Keep out of reach of children, for example, as the little beads that are added could seem like candy.

There was also a warning about not putting the beads into any liquid dispenser. Do not ingest. If swallowed, drink a good amount of water. If some gets in contact with your eyes, flush with water immediately.

The amount of beads to use is some percentage of a capfull. If you get to be too liberal with that amount, you will find that the cost of a load of laundry goes up about a dollar.

While I am on the subject, I also checked on the latest dish spray — you know — the kind that you just spray on and then wipe. It also is perfumed for different scents. I don’t know what platinum has to do with it, but a sub-label for some is, “platinum powerwash.” You can get a fresh apple citrus scent or a pear scent. Happy shopping.

Until next time: Oh, Fiddlesticks!