Wednesday, May 11, 2005, 18:47
Catalog Bonanza
All right, so who told the company that sold its mailing list with my name on it that it could sell the mailing list? Talk about junk mail. It's getting so that I am afraid to check the mailbox because I know I will find a brand new stack of catalogs.
Many of the catalogs come from companies I have never heard of: Home Trends, Home Trends Sleep Solutions, Make Life Easier, Old Pueblo Traders, Lane Bryant (although to be fair, I have heard of Lane Bryant before), The Reader's Catalog, as well as office supply catalogs, including the ones that sell promotional give-away items (mirrors, calculators, refrigerator magnets and flashlights -- and all with your company logo!) And then there are the other catalogs I have tossed without paying much attention to them, just enough to see they sell clothing that is way out of my price range (this beautiful blouse can be yours for only $279!) or gadgets of all varieties, except that "gadgets" isn't quite the right words because what it mostly looks like is "junk."
And then, too, I receive catalogs from which I have ordered something in the past: Lands' End (the best place to find trousers to fit my 6'2" 165-pound husband), Title 9 Sports (I ordered one thing from this catalog about four years ago and sent it back because it didn't fit right; they are still sending me catalogs), Foster's and Smith (a pet-supply, veterinary supply catalog), Blair (I have ordered a couple of blouses), Holmes (because I bought a room air-filter once), National Allergy (a spray that is supposed to make allergens in your carpeting harmless), not to mention Gurneys (sometimes I order garden seeds) and Jungs (a Wisconsin garden company from which I have also ordered garden seeds).
I would hate to see the pile of catalogs that would accumulate if I saved them for an entire year.
And I wonder, too, if the amount of money the companies spend on producing catalogs and sending them out pays off. I can understand the strategy of those companies from which I have ordered something in the past. If I ordered once -- I might order again. The other companies are taking a much greater risk, and I have noticed that for some of them, at least, I only receive one catalog and then they don't send me anything else.
When I was a kid growing up on our dairy farm, the only catalogs we received were from Sears and Montgomery Ward. Both of those catalogs were many hundreds of pages each, but still, the pile made by a Sears catalog and a Montgomery Ward catalog stacked together would be nothing compared to the number of catalogs I receive today.
BUY MORE NOW! is the slogan of our American consumerism-based society. Perhaps these companies could learn a lesson from Sears and Montgomery Ward: send out two catalogs each year, spring/summer, fall/winter -- and leave it at that.
Too bad I don't have the time to use the catalogs for something crafty, making beads, for instance, from which I could then make jewelry. Although, I suppose if I did that, eventually I would be making my own catalogs and buying my own mailing lists. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
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Tuesday, May 10, 2005, 16:11
Against All Odds
Although it seems impossible, my gladiolus are coming up. I didn't plant them this year, though. And I didn't plant them last year. They are "volunteers" so to speak, some 8 or 10 of them (so far?). . .
It all started a number of years back when the outlet pipe froze on the septic tank. The next year we decided to cover the septic with a layer of hay in the fall to prevent the pipe from freezing again. And of course, by the next spring, the grass had been killed out where it was covered with hay, which meant I now had a brand new spot to plant flowers.
I love gladiolus because they make wonderful cut flowers to have in the house in late summer and early fall. So, I planted gladiolus over the septic tank. But then a strange thing happened. I developed an allergy to mold, and I realized that digging the gladiolus bulbs, spreading them out in the basement to dry and then putting them away exposed me to a fair number of mold spores. That's when I decided not to dig the gladiolus, to cover the septic tank with hay and to wait and see what happened.
Last year, about 20 of the glads came back on their own. I could hardly believe my eyes. Who ever heard of gladiolus coming back on their own? Conventional wisdom states that they must be planted in the spring, dug up in the fall, and then planted again the following spring. But sprout on their own they did -- and they sprouted early. Very early. Much earlier than the glads I had planted in tubs in the backyard. And they bloomed much earlier. At least a month earlier.
Out of respect for the mold spores and my mold allergy, I did not dig the glads from the tubs last year. But I did cover the other bed. And now some of the glads have started sprouting again. I don't know how many years this will work. But I'm hoping it will work long enough for me to stumble upon the right antihistamine. So far, nothing does more than a mediocre job at fighting the allergy. Lucky for me that my gladiolus are better at fighting the elements.
LeAnn R. Ralph
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