One Weed at a Time

A few weeks ago, I declared war on the vicious crabgrass that has taken over my front lawn.  I have tried everything and lately have resorted to pulling the weeds, one at a time.  I approached it systematically, starting at my driveway and working inward, watering the evil weeds to make them easier to pull or dig up to the root. 

The perimeter was not a problem, since they were mostly scattered, individual weeds that hadn't joined together.  The center was a different story - the roots were all intermingled and there was no trace of grass - only crabgrass and other weeds that seem to have some sort of symbiotic relationship with the crabgrass.  Last week the bugs seemed to be defending the crabgrass too - I had twenty bug bites on each leg.  (I took a day off last week to destroy the bugs before I resumed battle.)

You would think people in the neighborhood would look at me like I'm nuts.  Actually they are grateful and agree that's all you can do - water them until they are happy and the ground relaxes around them, and then attack, one weed at a time. 

Last night I recruited my husband to assist in the battle.  The center of the yard is a mess of weeds.  I assured him sitting in the yard destroying crabgrass on a Sunday is like communing with God.  We didn't go to church, so it was the least we can do.  About an hour into it, we had a lot of bare ground and a bag full of weeds.  My husband's head was soaked - our sons attacked his head with squirt guns the whole time we sat there.  We stopped when they brought out the water balloons.

In the end, we agreed the crabgrass is not one of God's creations.  Clearly, it is rising up from hell to ruin the grass God intended to be in our lawn. 

Weeds - Part 2

I meant to follow up here on my weeds post a week or so ago.  I meant to report what the person from the fancy pants garden store told me about my creeping charlie - she laughed and told me good luck.  Maybe I just need to accept this defect in my yard and spend my efforts working on what I can improve.  The nerd in me makes the analogy to Star Wars.  You shouldn't try to take on Darth Vader before you are capable of taking out a few storm troopers.  It's true.

I am so excited it will finally be warmer today.  My small person is in screaming mode this morning.  I keep whispering at him, but that just makes him angry.  I think the outside air is what he needs.  He needs to run and scream outside.  Me too.  We have been cooped up in this house forever.  I keep checking the outside temperature - it's 44 now, a little too cold for me still. 

This morning we will power clean and then dig up some weeds.  I can't wait to put out the chairs and beach umbrella in the back yard next to my garden.  It is my favorite place to write.  I am very excited about tidying up my garden.  I love it.  We mixed together flowers, vegetables in raised gardens lined with paver stones, and playground.  It's perfect.

Last year we bought a tiny little greenhouse but planted the seeds too late.  Not one sprouted.  I'm not sure if it was the timing, the soil we used, or the thing where we left the little things in full sun in the greenhouse despite the instructions on the package.  OK, I'm sure it was all of those things put together.  This year, I am going to do my very best to follow directions. 

When I cook, I sometimes start with directions but usually wing it in the end.  I am not patient with directions.  They make me nervous, like one wrong move makes you a failure even if it turns out OK.  My husband is a huge fan of my impromptu cooking and often tries to write down the recipe for me.  He often gets out a recipe card and asks me to tell him what I did exactly.  I always reply with imprecise measurements.  Some of this and a little of that.  He looks at me with that look and throws away the recipe card.  It doesn't matter anyway, I don't like following directions, even my own - for cooking at least.

Spring Optimism

Spring is definitely here.  My daffodils have bloomed.  Little purple, delicate blooms appeared yesterday on the ground cover that used to surround the Buddha statue in my garden.  My statue was the thin Buddha in a zazen pose, not a fat Buddha whose belly you would want to rub.  Over the winter, it got covered in snow and ice.  It's head popped off.  I think tomorrow I will go on a quest for a new praying Buddha.  Maybe a stone statue will last longer. 

Yesterday, I was able to clean, do laundry, write a chapter, and take care of removing some of the dead flowers from last year that remained in my garden.  My ten year old advised me I should have taken care of that in the fall.  I told him I thought maybe the sunlight that hit the dead remains would make the plants strong.  He told me that wasn't logical; photosynthesis only occurs in live plants.  Maybe so.  I told him this year he should help me clear the garden as soon as the plants die.  He acted like he didn't hear me, but I know he will help if I ask.  He's a good kid.

My ten year old taught helped his two year old brother drive his "wee-woo" down the street.  My little guy calls anything that makes a siren (wee-woo) sound a wee-woo.  Santa Claus brought him a police wee-woo car that he can ride in and use his feet to power himself down the street Fred Flintstone style.  Until now, it was an inside toy - over the winter, my older son pushed his baby brother around the house in it looking for bad guys.

Yesterday, we put a bike helmet on the little guy and they soared down little hills - nothing scary.  My ten year old asked if they could walk across the street to ride on the private drive that wasn't as bumpy as the sidewalk.  He helped my little guy out of his car and they held hands crossing the street, pushing the car across.  It was priceless - I wish I had taken a picture. 

Today I plan to edit some stories.  A black cloud of doom is lingering over the sky in my back yard.  The sky in the front yard that I can see from my desk is starting to get gray.  So I won't work on gardening today.  Today I will edit.  I will edit as much as I can until my time runs out.  I hope the rain passes by soon.

My writing class resumes tonight after a short break.  I love the class and the connections with other writers, but I'm anxious as usual. 

One Sunny Day

It looks like we will have one dry sunny day this week - it is today.  My garden is calling.  I am torn in different directions this morning with what to do with my remaining 2.5 hours - I want to keep my momentum up with my writing, am overwhelmed by my messy house to the point where I can't take it anymore, and my garden is calling.   

My desk faces a window, not right in front of me, but off to the side.  Somehow the window, which is too high for my baby to touch, has accumulated layers of fingerprints.  Who is touching my window with sticky fingers?  It is possible he could touch the lower window if he stands on his stool, which is his preoccupation lately.  But no way did he touch the upper part of the window without an accomplice. 

The outside world would be more of a distraction this morning if I could see it clearly.  On top of this, I am not sure I can easily make my way through the maze of my garage to find my gardening tools without hurting my foot on the concrete floor.  I like writing outside, but my chairs aren't set up yet and I would be too distracted by my gardening task list today to write outside. 

I will try to wait until this afternoon to garden, to clear the debris from the flower and vegetable beds, to pull the weeds that are already flourishing, and set up the outside chairs.  I have been waiting for this one warm day for so long - it would be silly to pass it up entirely.  So I will make a deal with myself to write one chapter - just one - maybe a quick one, clean that window and whatever else I can finish before my babes comes home from his morning school.  Then we can garden together, which will be super fun.  And if we can't get to the tools, we could at least go for a bike ride or play on our little playground in our backyard garden.