Being Crafty

Years ago I published a monthly newsletter. While it was a lot of work, I enjoyed putting it together and including various writing tidbits, crafts and recipes. Like everything else in life, it ran its course and I let it go. Being a sort of digital hoarder, I kept all the editions. 

This time of year each evening we're spending time on the patio. With the bugs. The kind of bugs that suck your blood. We don't like the bugs. And because we don't like the bugs, we burn a lot of incense, which the bugs don't like. IMHO, keeping them at bay is better than killing them after they've taken a chunk out of one's ankle. 

Back in July 2008, I included an article in my newsletter, Forrest Whispers, on how to make an incense burner out of a wine bottle. Mine is a simple affair, for a simple country girl, but crafty people can get all sorts of ideas on Pinterest on how to create something fancier. 

Here's the entire article from the old newsletter.

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BEING CRAFTY

My honey and I enjoy early summer mornings and lazy summer evenings on our patio. One thing we’ve discovered is that mosquitoes do not like the smoke from incense. Our incense burner is a wine bottle, which looks very cool as it “smokes”. Here’s what you do.

Take an empty, clean wine bottle. How you get the bottle empty is entirely up to you. I know how I do it.

Using a special drill bit for glass, drill a small hole about an inch or so up from the bottom. Ask someone to do this for you if you don’t have the tools. Then find an old metal key ring larger than the opening in the top of the wine bottle to anchor the incense stick.

Slip the base end of the incense stick through sleeve of the key ring, light the incense and drop it into the bottle. The key ring will stand on end and hold the stick in place as it burns.

Wondering how to store the incense sticks close at hand and yet keep them from drawing moisture? Take a clear wine bottle (washed and dried inside, of course), drop in the incense sticks and cork it. Get several fragrances of incense and your storage bottle will be quite a colorful addition to your patio space.

Drill a few bottles and mate with storage bottles for gifts for your friends to take home to their patios.  

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So there you have it. Some fragrant bug control for backyard living. 

Rayne
www.rayneforrest.com