Yardwork is for Landscapers

So as if there is not already enough chores to do, like endless laundry, vacuuming, cooking, washing dishes, etc, then you look outside and think, oh my goodness. We recently moved into our house last winter and, with the cold, we were able to ignore the back yard. Then spring and summer come and you realize you got used to ignoring the yard and its quickly becoming one of the worst looking yards in the hood.

A few weeks ago Blake and I set out to make our yard beautiful. We needed to cut the grass, weed eat some areas, trim the bushes, and kill and pull some weeds. No big deal right? Ha! Of course the moment you are ready to start a project, everything falls apart. We knew our weed eater had been causing problems and probably wasn't going to cut it (or anything really), so we borrowed one of those. We go outside ready to cut grass and when Blake cranks the lawn mower it starts pouring black smoke - something was wrong. Blake could tell you what exactly, I just knew that now the mower wasn't going to work either. So we called the Faunces to borrow their mower and got back on it.

I have never used a weed eater or a lawn mower, but I thought it would be safer for me to volunteer to cut grass while Blake was on the weed eater. I will never volunteer for that job again. It was miserable. Our yard has a very slight incline but it felt like I was pushing a 500 lb machine up a mountain. I was pouring sweat but couldn't wipe my face because my shirt was covered with the same dust I was eating.

When we were about half way done, the lawn mower just cuts off - Now what? It's out of gas. Do we have any gas....no, of course not. So Blake leaves to fill up our gas can. I had to laugh when he came back with not only gas, but a 6 pack and candy. I knew he was trying to get his spirits back up to finish, and the beer was sooo cold and good. He looks really happy, huh?


Then it was on to tackle the bushes that were literally twice the size they should be. We have a good sized yard and as I started to look around, I just got angry; there were so many of them! If you have a blank space in your yard, think of something better than a bush. However, I refused to be beaten and started cutting. There were a few limbs that got the better of me though. After about 5 or so cuts I would tell the limb, "Well done green one, you will live to jut out another day."



The back half of our yard is more "natural." It's covered with pine straw and ivy and is not supposed to look landscaped. But there is a difference between natural and unkempt. There were a few weeds that had grown to the size of small trees and so I named them weed trees. I decided that the weed trees weren't allowed to exist anymore. At this point I started to think of my friend who works for the pharmacy at MCG. She had told me just the day before of the numerous cases of rattlesnake bites they had seen come through the ER lately. Great! I didn't even know we had rattlesnakes in Georgia and now here I am tromping through the thick ivy and pine straw snake haven to chop down stupid weed trees.

We finally finished after creating a mountain of branches. We are still dividing the piles because our trash company will only pick up a trash can full at a time. The last time I was as dirty as I was that day, or have gotten that many bug bites, my age was probably a single digit! I am proud of our progress but I really hope that at some point in the future I can just hire someone to do this, at least in the summer months.