The Beauty Of Hardware Cloth

  Living on the Bayou has its ups and downs.  Some might say there are more troublesome things than positive but it seems that for every woe there is a fix.  Like most homes down here, we have screens covering our windows.  This is meant to keep the hordes of bugs from entering the house.  Sleeping with the windows open is a natural thing as it lets in the cooling night air.  The bad side of this is those mosquitoes (roaches, moths, gnats, midges, etc) which aggravate the stew out of a person trying to sleep.  The window screens work well to guard against the bugs but...what happens when larger critters take a liking to the inside of the house?  We have had times where raccoons, 'possums and even feral cats have tried to rip the screens to get inside.  This is not good so Mark came up with the idea of not only using screening but layering it with hardware cloth.  This has worked fine against the marauding critters!  There have been no more torn screens nor attempted invasions.  While some folks may think it is a tad strange...those same folks don't live amidst the critters.

  It was that hardware cloth that brought a smile this morning.  Our never-ending fog was particularly heavy overnight.  It was so thick, in fact, that it sounded more like rain than fog!  The stuff coated everything including the hardware cloth covering the south-facing windows.  These are the windows that have dozens of crystals that normally catch the morning sunlight and cast rainbows over the entire room.  Since there was no sun, there were no rainbows but that did not stop the beauty.  The fog droplets started running in strings down the wire of the hardware cloth making the entire window appear to be covered with crystals!  Hundreds upon hundreds of the droplets caught any light available to give of the slightest twinkle.  To be honest, it was breath-taking!

  There are those who may think I am a bit daft (and I do not contest this at all) but I figure you should find beauty where you are.  There is absolutely no point in having to search for grand things when they are all around you.  In my case, Mother Nature decided to add her charm to my window crystals by adding a multitude of her own.  It seems the hardware cloth is now a favorite for yet another reason.