I'm not the kind of guy who embraces
yard work. In fact, I avoid it at all costs. It takes no more than a
glance at the moonscape that is my front yard to appreciate just how
little effort I put into its maintenance and the total lack of pride
I take in its appearance.
My front yard won't look any better than this as summer wears on. |
Its utter ugliness, though, is as much
a product of my shortage of discretionary cash as it is my lack of
motivation. If I had the two or three grand to bring my grounds up to
snuff, I'd be doing other things with it like remodeling the upstairs
bathroom. The few dollars I have to invest in my property is better
spent doing other things.
Wheeling out my mower every 10 days or
so during warmer months is the one thing I just can't seem to escape.
I really don't mind the 90 minutes or so I must waste each week
beating back the few weeds able to survive in the dust bowl
surrounding my house. But I'd just as soon hire someone else to do
it. But, we're back to that discretionary-cash thing.
It has become a regular feature of
Clanging Bell to announce to readers the actual start of spring
signaled by the ceremonial First Mowing of My Dirt! Yes that mushroom
cloud of red dust filling Greenville's southern sky on Thursday was
caused by my first 2014 mowing.
I spent about an hour on Wednesday
putting a new blade on the mower, as well as changing the oil and
swapping out the old air filter with a new one. After filling the
tank with gas, I was shocked and pleased that the silly thing fired
up with the initial pull of the starter rope.
Mentally and emotionally exhausted by
my mower-maintenance episode, I pushed the contraption back into my
shed, putting off the actual mowing for another day. That “another
day” was Thursday.
I only had to perform a partial mowing.
The weediest areas received the bulk of my attention. Then, of
course, there is the unmowable area where the remains of a tree I
paid to have cut down last fall litter the landscape as a painful
reminder of why one should never pay a drive-by tree service before
the job is 100% completed.
Evidence you should never pay a drive-by tree service before they have completed the job. |
On my list of things to do as the
weather warms up is to rent a chainsaw and cut up these remaining
logs into small enough pieces that the county will cart them away on
bulk-trash-pick-up day. That, however, is fodder for a future blog
posting.
In any event, you may celebrate the
actual beginning of spring. The mowing has begun.
Love your banner so much. I too adore making banners. Smart idea to spray the leaves. I sure do agree with you about $tree. I could go crazy in that place.
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