This is my post for #freewriters 2635 prompt *a strange commission * hosted by
Some of my desert rose plants are being covered by lichens. Lichens are not supposed to harm them but I do not like the way they look.
A couple of years ago the cheap store had hand sanitizer for sale. A case of 8 one gallon jugs was 99 cents so we bought one case. At another time they had 16oz bottles of it and wanted 99 cents for a case so we bought them. I found a use for it, alcohol is supposed to kill lichens. I have been painting the hand sanitizer on the lichen that is growing on my desert rose plants.
As I was painting it on the plant, I thought about the lecture the eye doctor gave me about wearing glasses to protect my good eye. Not long after I had that thought, a glob of hand sanitizer flew from the paintbrush into my bad eye. It has been a long time since I got something in my bad eye; it is usually closed. It stung a lot, but I could see to make it to the water hose and get it rinsed out. The things I go through caring for these plants you would think I get some form of a strange commission, but nope all I get is a backache. Sometimes I wonder about my sanity.
Now with glasses on, I can see black spots on some of the plants. I think it is some kind of fungus. I painted it, too. Maybe it will kill the fungus.
I have never seen a winter like this one. We have not had much rain but the air has stayed wet. It is strange. All of the cabbage trees have drooping fronds. Driving around and seeing them I thought it was from not having much rain but this one gets water every day and its fronds are drooping like all of the others.
photos are mine