In the old park, which begins outside the fence of our house, there is a maple alley. Bullfinches visit there every day, they are beckoned by trees, completely strewn with light winged seeds.

Birds sit on maple trees importantly, calmly, slowly pecking golden seeds. And how good! The bullfinch's chest is scarlet. The back is blue, and on the head is a black beret.

"Wah-wah-wah!" - is distributed in frosty silence. Bullfinches sing with the whole flock: both ruddy festive males and modestly dressed females. My grandfather called their singing "the silver harp of winter."

From time to time the birds dive into the snow, bathe in it, draw grooves and traces-crosses.

From the word "snow" the name is given to the bird - "bullfinch". And for good reason: bullfinches are the first heralds of winter.

Once, on New Year's Eve, they gave me a bullfinch. He lived in a spacious wooden cage with a round top. For a long time he whistled a monotonous, simple tune, and then creaked like sleigh runners in the snow, and pounded on the perches with his thick beak, as if he were hammering in nails. For this habit, we called him Grishka the Blacksmith.

As soon as my grandfather or I approached the window sill where the cage stood, the bullfinch lifted his black beret on his head, starting to jump briskly from perch to perch and whistle.

Rowan, crushed pine nuts, pieces of apple he took from his hands. It will approach sideways and sedately take a delicacy directly from the palm of your hand.

On Sundays we let the bullfinch fly around the room, Sometimes he sat on grandfather's shoulder. And in the evening he himself flew into the cage or took a fancy to himself a secluded corner on deer antlers.

In March, when the snow in the yard began to darken, the sky turned blue, and drops rang on the eaves of our house, my grandfather and I removed the cage from the windowsill and headed to the park. We found the treasured bullfinch place in the maple alley and opened the door. At first, Grishka Kuznets glanced around apprehensively, but soon he heard native voices, jumped through the door and took off on a maple tree with a light diving flight. He stroked his feathers, fluffed out his chest and set to work - he began to peel the winged seeds.

Bullfinches friendly accepted him into their flock, which was soon going to leave our lands and migrate to the northern forests ...

In the mornings I often wake up from an early bullfinch wake-up call. It's twilight in the room, it's fresh, and outside the window you can hear the call; "Wa-wah-wah"...

I listen to a mournful song full of sadness and tenderness, and a snow-covered old park, a maple alley, a flock of red-breasted bullfinches rise before my eyes ...

Where are you now, our Grishka Kuznets?!

In autumn, before I seal the windows, I put bunches of red rowan, hawthorn, yellow maple leaves between the frames. When the wind begins to scratch the glass with bare branches, and the rain drums loudly on the roof, the maple leaves at times seem to come to life and tinkle a little audibly.

One Sunday morning I was sitting at the table, reading a book, The revived maple leaves reminded me of the drowsy silence of the forest, decorated with lemon-yellow, brown, cherry colors.

Suddenly there was a light knock on the window. Who could it be? I look ... and this is a bullfinch granted. Red-breasted, important, magnificent, with a black beret on his head. Well, right Grishka Kuznets! He clung to the frame with his paws, as if pressed against the glass, and froze, as if drawn in the picture.

“Knock ... knock ... knock ...” - he squinted his eye - he noticed the mountain ash, but he doesn’t know how to get it.

I got up from the table to throw a bunch of berries to the bird, and the bullfinch was already gone. I started reading the book again.

An hour or two went by unnoticed. It began to get dark quickly.

In the evening I went out into the garden. It was getting cold. Snowflakes slowly swirled in the air, as if the leaf fall continued, however, now not autumn, fair, red, green and yellow, but timid, winter, blue and white.

And it seemed to me that the gloomy, leafless garden was transformed, as if rejuvenated.

Hello winter! - I said. - The bullfinch reported to me about your arrival in the morning!

A snow-white tablecloth is the face of a good housewife, but various stains often remain on a pristine canvas after a noisy feast. Most of the marks are difficult to remove if you do not rush to the laundry immediately. Each housewife should know in advance how to remove stains from the tablecloth, depending on the nature of their appearance. We are talking about this today.

Wine stains

Wine traces are removed by several methods, depending on the time that has passed since the contamination and the material.

• "Ambulance". Speed ​​is the main condition for effective control of red wine residues. As soon as the incident happened, immediately blot the wine, gently wipe the place of contamination with a damp sponge. At the same time, you need to lay several paper napkins under the fabric, and put a heavy object on top. This will allow all the moisture to be absorbed. In order not to scare away the guests, wait for them to leave, and then soak the textiles in warm water with powder. Rinse after 30 minutes, and then wash the machine in the machine.

• A wine stain on a white tablecloth is removed with hydrogen peroxide. Dilute a teaspoon of peroxide in a glass of water, pour the pollution with the resulting solution. Citric acid can be diluted in the same proportions. After this treatment, white matter must be rinsed and washed.
• You can also remove stains in folk ways. Make it easy with raw yolk, mixed in equal proportions with glycerin. Rub the contaminated areas with this composition, after which the matter is rinsed and sent to the washing machine.

Beer residue on matter

If you are a fan of drinking beer, then you need to figure out exactly how to wash the tablecloth from stains of this origin.

• Take ammonia and wipe the contaminated areas.
• The beer residue will bring out the compound from 1 teaspoon of laundry soda per liter of liquid.
• A soap mixture of 5 g of soap + 0.5 tablespoons of soda + a glass of water will correct the situation. Immerse the cover in this mixture, hold for a day, then wash in the usual way.
• If, after cleaning, blue or slightly purple traces still remain, boil the canvas by adding hydrogen peroxide.

Important! The method is applicable only for white linen.

leftover juice

• On colorful and artificial fabrics, a solution of 1 teaspoon of hot water + ½ teaspoon of ammonia + ½ teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide will cope with pollution.
• Rub the area with a gruel of soda, then wash the fabric.

• Soak a linen or cotton tablecloth with juice residue in milk for an hour, then load the machine into the machine.
• If the contamination is fresh, then cut the lemon in half, and rub it on the problem area.

Coffee and tea leftovers

• Heated 2 tablespoons of glycerin, in which a pinch of salt is dissolved, applied to the problem area, will help. The fabric is then washed in the machine.

• Old stains on the tablecloth from tea are cleaned with glycerin and ammonia in proportions of 4/1. Treat the smudge with the solution, hold for 30 minutes, place in the drum for washing.

Grease stains on textiles

• Fat traces from the fabric are removed by gruel, which is made from potato flour. Dry a glass of flour in a pan, mix it with ½ cup of gasoline and treat the dirty area.
• Kerosene will remove yellow stains from oil or grease. However, traces of kerosene itself will need to be washed with soapy water.
• Fresh traces are covered for a couple of minutes with ordinary kitchen salt. Periodically, the crystals are removed, after which a new portion of them is poured. So the operation continues until the pollution becomes completely light.
• Old greasy traces are cleaned with talc or chalk, which is covered with dirt, covered with a blotter and ironed. If you cannot completely remove it, then soak the matter, and leave the talcum powder overnight.
• The remnants of lipstick most often remain on fabric napkins, which are included with the textile coating. Lay the napkin with the lipstick print on the paper towel. On the problem area, walk with a cotton swab dipped in makeup remover.

Wax smudges

After a romantic dinner, wax smudges can ruin your mood for a long time. To prevent this from happening, you need to perform the following "scams".

• Remove wax drops with a knife. Iron the rest with an iron, after laying a few napkins under the fabric and on its surface.
• Removing smudges of a colored candle falls on the shoulders of the stain remover.

Drops of tomato and beets

• The removal procedure is quite simple. Wash off drops with warm soapy water. If the dirt is not completely removed, sprinkle it with citric acid, leave for 5 minutes, rinse.
• Traces of ketchup cannot be immediately rubbed with a napkin, otherwise they can permanently eat into the fibers. Clean off the remaining sauce, turn the material inside out, substituting it under a stream of cold water. At the end, fill a basin with cool water and pour in a little liquid detergent. Wet the dirt with a soft white cloth, then rinse the cloth in the basin. Repeat the procedure until the dirt from the sauce disappears.

White cotton cleaning

Whitening a tablecloth from yellow spots is the most difficult thing. Over time and during operation, the matter turns yellow, which significantly spoils the overall appearance of the table cover. If you use household chemicals, the stains will recede, but the structure of the material will gradually begin to collapse. Proven folk methods can be used to whiten the color and preserve the fibers:

• Warm up a couple of liters of milk so that you can hold your finger in it, put the yellowed thing in a container, and leave it all night. In the morning, take out the textiles, dry in the shade, wash in a delicate mode.
• Place the fabric in a solution of tartaric calcium salt, leave for 9 hours. This will refresh the matter.
• Aspirin will help to remove the matter. Dissolve 3 tablets in a glass of water. Pour the solution into the basin where the table cover is already soaked, leave for an hour and a half, then move the fabric to the washing machine.

How to wash old marks

There are many fairly simple, but very effective methods to remove those contaminants that seemed to be ingrained in the fibers forever.

• Gasoline is a good tool in the fight against old persistent pollution. Soak a piece of tracing paper in gasoline, place it under the contaminated area, and wipe the dirt itself with a cotton pad dipped in gasoline, from the edges to the center. When finished, rinse the fabric in warm water.

• Potato starch slightly moistened with hot water, apply to the dirty surface. Wait until it dries, then clean the machine in the machine.
• Apply laundry soap to the old dirt, soak the fabric in warm water overnight, and launder.

• To remove the dirt on the tablecloth, which is thoroughly ingrained in the fibers, boil 10 liters of water, add a cup of washing powder, 3 tablespoons of bleach and a few drops of vegetable oil. Bring the solution to a boil, soak the laundry and let cool. Rinse with cold water when finished.

Teflon Fabric Care

Anti-stain fabric that prevents liquids from seeping into the fibers. Teflon impregnation is not felt to the touch, it is most convenient to use and prolongs the life of the material. Caring for this expensive material includes the following steps:

• Wipe the cover daily with a damp sponge.
• Washing is required once a month. The maximum temperature is 40 degrees, an important condition is the absence of spin.

As you can see, it is possible to deal with dirt on the tablecloth, and quite successfully. Having taken care of cleaning in time, you will be ready for a worthy meeting of guests at any time.

Video: Removing old stains from a tablecloth

sloppy stains on kitchen towels or on holiday tablecloths able to spoil the mood of the hostess for a long time ... unless she knows simple and effective methods of dealing with them. But there are many of them. Let's list some of them.

How to remove fresh stains on tablecloths?

These stains are the easiest to deal with, but the product used will depend on the type of stain. The most common options:

• Spots from juice easy to put on the tablecloth using a mixture of glycerin and vodka;
• Are there traces of fruits and berries on the tablecloth? A concentrated solution of citric acid can easily cope with them. Better yet, cut a fresh lemon and rub it well on the problem area;
• To remove grease, make a thick slurry of salt and water, apply to the stain and wait about half an hour. There is another way: use any dishwashing detergent;
• Dark stubborn stains from tea, coffee, chocolate will disappear if they are carefully treated with hydrogen peroxide and left for 10-15 minutes, then rinse the contaminated area with water.
• How difficult it is to get rid of traces of paraffin on the tablecloth - well, nothing takes it! And yet, there is a means of struggle - a hot iron. But first, scrape off what you can with a knife. Now cover the stain with a paper towel and iron it. Paraffin will be absorbed into the paper and there will be no trace of the stain;
• The most difficult thing is with wine stains, which terrify housewives. And only a few know a simple way to eliminate them. Let's reveal the secret: just mix the egg yolk and glycerin and wipe the stain with the mixture.

And now, when each of the stains has been processed according to all the rules, it remains only to wash the tablecloth or towel and enjoy its impeccable cleanliness.

Old stains on tablecloths and towels

Stains, which are sometimes several years old, do not always lend themselves to the simple means described above. But do not lose heart: to remove old stains on tablecloths and towels We launch "heavy artillery".

So, boil water (10 liters) in a large pot or bucket. Add two large spoons of bleach powder or stain remover and a glass of any washing powder to it. It is advisable to take one that does not foam too much. And now the most interesting: add two tablespoons of refined vegetable oil to boiling water.

Let the mixture boil, then remove the bucket from the heat and put the tablecloth in it. Everyone, let it cool down. Consider a few nuances:

• This method is applicable only to natural fabrics;
• It is undesirable to soak things of different colors at the same time;
• Without oil, which softens pollution, the method is ineffective.

After the water has cooled, the tablecloth can only be rinsed. Alternatively, you can even do it in the washing machine. This tool helps withdraw even old stains on kitchen towels and tablecloths.

And simple for white towels: add washing powder and a little silicate glue to the water. Boil for half an hour and wash. Your towels will be white.

In conclusion, another method of struggle with old greasy spots: rub the thing soaked in hot water with laundry soap and put it in a plastic bag for several hours, then wash it. The spots will disappear.

We have described just a few ways to remove stains on kitchen towels and tablecloths. We hope that they will help you, and your towels and tablecloths will be immaculately clean from now on!

probably, each of you who had to leave the noisy city in winter, visit suburban summer cottages, admired the beautiful red-breasted bullfinches. In the winter months, bullfinches keep close to human dwellings and roads. In summer, the secretive bullfinch is hard to see. In autumn and winter, bullfinches feed on the seeds of thorny plants growing near garden and garden fences, in deep roadside ditches. Quiet, melodic modest song of a bullfinch. I really love the red-breasted bullfinches, clearly visible on the white tablecloth of winter roadside snows.

I have had to keep bullfinches in cages more than once. They quickly get used to the person, easily endure captivity. It is pleasant to listen to the quiet song of the bullfinch in the room.

I remember that in ancient times a cage with a bullfinch hung in the room of my little daughters: Arinushka and Alyonushka. To the singing of the snowman, they were going to school, fed him hemp seeds and grated carrots. The bullfinch was looked after by my grandmother, my mother, a village woman, for whom caring for the bullfinch replaced the usual peasant work. We loved our bullfinch very much. He freely flew around the room, bathed in a bath placed on the floor, flew himself into the cage, where food was prepared for him; never seemed to get bored.

Good bullfinches in the wild. On a bright winter day, somewhere near a hedge or in dense bushes, on the branches of a wild rose or viburnum, bullfinches sit down with large red beads. They are almost not afraid of a person passing by. The bullfinch is our Russian bird. Bullfinches do not make long journeys to warm countries, they remain to winter in their native places, flying only over short distances.

It is easy for an experienced birder to catch a gullible bullfinch in autumn and winter. If you have a bullfinch living in a cage, be gentle with him, never scare him, and he will get used to you very much, he will rejoice at the arrival of the owner, sit on his shoulder. Bullfinches can live in a cage for many years, apparently not yearning for freedom at all.

In the spring, when the nesting of forest birds begins, the bullfinches, of course, are a little melancholy, sitting dejectedly in the cage. But what can you do? It is risky to release birds that have lived in cages for a long time: they have lost the habit of getting their own food, finding friends and building nests.

In a large cage-aviary, some birds caught in the forest, with appropriate care, make nests and take out their children. Now there are few lovers of indoor birds and bird singing. Small living birds have been replaced by bulky televisions. In the past, there were many lovers of songbirds. Overseas canaries, cheerful siskins and beautiful goldfinches were kept in cages. With skillful care, they feel good in captivity. Perhaps, of all indoor songbirds, I especially loved the modest bullfinches. I also admired how near the winter road in free will, flying from bush to bush, my bullfinch friends whistle. I wanted to greet them, wish them good luck.