Retreat, Retreat ... regroup.

Who would have known that when I was in the 7th grade I would already know what the biggest thorn in my adult side was going to be.  I have been waging war on dust for six years now.  Before that I would pass the cloth and get the collection which was good  for a week or so; then I moved to a house with a paved road and granite back yard. 

In the 7th grade, I had to pick a poem, memorize it and regurgitate it to the teacher.  I chose a poem with few lines and even fewer individual words.

Dust

by Sydney King Russell

Agatha Morley

All her life

Grumbled at dust

Like a good housewife.

Dust on the table,

Dust on the chair,

Dust on the mantle

She couldn't bear.

She forgave faults

In man and child

But a dusty shelf

Would set her wild.

She bore with sin

Without protest,

But dust thoughts preyed

Upon her rest

Agatha Morley

Is sleeping sound

Six feet under

The moldy ground.

Six feet under

The earth she lies

With dust at her feet

And dust in her eyes.

.

I grew up on acreage complete with animals that slept and rolled in the dirt. I was surrounded by the neighbor's acreage, some which was landscaped and others that weren't.  We used a dirt alley to get to the barn.  I don't ever remember having the amount of dust that I have now; then again I was a child and as you might know, children don't really focus on grime. 

As an adult, I lived on a plot of dirt, accessed by a road of powdered earth .  There was some dust, which my kids easily took care of once a week, but I wasn't satisfied, I wanted less.  We put up a hedge along the road, watered down the road daily, landscaped the front yard with gravel and the backyard with grass, but there was still dust.  I wanted to move somewhere with paved streets and limited particles. I was through with dust.

Six years ago my husband and I moved to a start up community.  The builders were raising prices weekly and holding lotteries for the few lots they were selling.  Open dirt lots were being transformed into rows of houses with paved streets and landscaping.  A great place to move to; within a year all the empty lots would be filled and the flying dust would be someone else's problem.  Or so I thought.  The economy failed, fields are still empty, backyards have not been landscaped and I now have three dogs that have pushed aside the back yard rock in their effort to bark at any noise they hear.

I made it my goal to erradicate this vermin that had infiltrated my house, nose and lungs, causing an influx of health problems due to allergies.  I armed myself with a Dyson vacuum, guaranteed to remove everything including dog hair, a feather duster, swifter, dust cloths, air filter and more.   Everyday, I would focus on one room to remove the dust on every surface and between all crevices.  Every day I would vacuum each room and do a cursary passover on the rooms I had just finished.  If I was going to win this engagement I was going to need to stay on top of it.

By the second week I was getting discouraged, not only had the dust come back,  it brought it's friends and they were clever finding hidden spots to rest and multiply. One swipe of the duster only moved the enemy to another location. Determined, I doubled my efforts, within two month I was winning.  Then the weather changed and the wind brought someone else's "problem" to me.

I conceded the major battle but continued the surprise squirmishes to keep up appearances until yesterday; from out of nowhere I was attacked by a layer of dust.  Looking toward the enemy's location, it appeared the site was overpopulated and the excess layers were being encouraged to colonize another area.

I've got the plan in place, the tools to use and the time to advance...

Eat healthy, remove the dust, stay healthy.