If Wishes Were Horses

Today I wish I was motivated enough to blog about my reactions to the movie "Food, Inc." (of which I've only seen the last 30 minutes. Just enough to make me wanna cry.). Or about the impacts of opening our waters closer to shore for drilling, in light of the oil rig blast and current underwater oil leak threatening the Gulf Coast. Or the financial reform bill, or a whole host of other things.

But my mind is completely and utterly consumed with my battle against the foxtail grass taking over my yard. (post 1, post 2). Yes, I know. Weighty matters. Can we just say I'm focused on the little things to avoid going nuts over the big ones?

It's April 26th - APRIL - and I've mowed twice. Seriously. That stuff is growing 3-4 inches a week in the backyard. So. The Battle Begins. First mowing weekend before last got raked up. Mowed this weekend, too lazy to rake it up. Then I sprayed weed killer - the kind that specifically mentions crab grass, foxtail, etc. I decided to be smart and buy the large container instead of the smaller ones I've been using. Turned out to be not so smart. The small ones connect to the hose and you spray them that way. The large container has it's own hand nozzle. So I had to spray the yard by hand. My god that was fun. Not.

But it's done. Supposed to do 2nd spraying in two weeks. Tempted to do it again this weekend but it's supposed to snow. After that I'm putting down grass seed/fertilizer mix. Hopefully this will work. Fingers crossed!

What it takes. (Or, Newton’s Laws Revisited)

Sitrep: 45 minutes pulling weeds (squats galore!!!)

So awhile back I blogged about exercise and Newton’s Laws, etc. Well, I got a prime example of it last week. Yard work for me exists in the realm of exercise. I used to joke with my sister that if I ever bought a house there would be no flower beds. Just lawn straight up to the walls. Because I hate to weed. With a passion. It’s amazing what I can “overlook”. Friday morning I got a panicky call from Mom M. Golden Dog Radar (who’d been off his feed starting Wednesday) definitely had something wrong with him. In her words, he was crawling under the house “to die”. So off to the vet he goes. Turns out he had some Foxtail stuck in his throat/gums. Apparently that stuff is wicked for dogs/cats. Gets in their eyes/ears/paws/hair. And if consumed, the seed pods burrow into their gums/throat. Lovely stuff, Foxtail. (If anyone remembers me posting about the absurdly fast & tall growing grass taking over my lawn, I recently began to believe it was Foxtail. Sprayed for it just before the FL trip; been waiting for dry/less hot weather to do the second spraying. Well, this vet visit confirmed it.) Looks like a $265.00 vet bill (theirs, not mine, but still…) is what it takes for me to get off my butt. In other words, it’s the “unbalanced force” acting upon me (object at rest!) to get me into motion once again. Flower beds are now weeded (to best of my ability), all the tall going to seed Foxtail along the yard fence has been pulled, and the yard and exterior parking in back sprayed again. Apparently this is what it took to get Shanni’s family moving as well. Over the weekend they’ve cleaned up their multiple acres as well. Mowing, pulling weeds, etc. At least I don’t have as much acreage at they do. But oh, how the backs of my legs hurt!!!!

Quack, Quack, Quack

Sitrep: Umm, does using the PS2 controller for hours in a row count as arms??

And no, it's not because we keep getting moisture. Actually, the rain is nice. Rare for here, and very nice. And a pittance compared to what I was used to in "sunny" Florida.

No, it's all about the grass. I have finally come to a grudging acceptance of what the lady at the nursery told me last summer. My beautiful lawn has indeed been taken over by Quack Grass. Similar to Crab Grass, only not as easily dealt with.

From the research I've done, there's really only one way to deal with this little invader: spray liberally with rou.ndup, watch it ALL die, dig it out, till, make sure no roots survived, and reseed or sod.

Naturally that's not an option. Even if I had the money, time and energy to do this, it would be pointless. Both lawns on either side of me are in the same situation. One home is owned by a single mom with a toddler, the other is a rental. So. Odds are pretty low they'll be doing any of this. Appears I just have to bear it.

Can I just say that I really, really, really, hate quack grass? *&^%$ The stuff grows like you would not believe. I mowed on Saturday - even adjusted the blade to cut to the lowest height (1/2 inch) and by Tuesday the lawn was looking scraggly again! Rain, no rain, cold, warm, hot, whatever...this stuff thrives. My favorite description of it comes from this site, http://journeytoforever.org/edu_quackgrass.html, which terms it "garden terr.orism". Heh. About sums it up. Now that I'm cutting it so low, I can see where the nice lawn is dying still. Sigh.

From that website above, and others I found, it seems that it actually has some medicinal value. Which explains why the dog likes it so much. If I'd only known when I first spotted some of it rooting in the gravel drive and along the outer fence. If I'd only known when that weird patch of really tall grass sprang up last spring! I'd've gone out of my way to trim/edge the yard better, and spray the heck outta the stuff with whatever would kill it. I'd even have dug it out! Better that than what I now have: a lawn that requires weekly mowing in SPRING. Who can tell what summer will bring? Twice weekly mowing, I guess. Because if I don't, it gets too tall for my mower to handle. It's grown 2 inches since Saturday. And that's not an exaggeration.

Another unfortunate side effect: I find myself driving around town pointing and exclaiming "Quack grass" whenever I see any. So if in my final days I'm lying in a hospital bed mindlessly saying "quack, quack, quack"...no, I'm not thirsty. And I don't think I'm a duck.

It's Never Easy

Goal (5/4-5/10): 2x Abs, 2x Arms, 30 minutes Miscellaneous
Sitrep: 1x Lawn Mowing - 30 min

Arghh. I've been trying to blog for several days now and never seem to get to the "publish post" part. :) Very busy at work right now, although it's tapering off, thank goodness. I like to be busy, not slammed.

And it's those darn little projects that kill me. What I thought would take just an hour yesterday, ended up requiring the better part of the afternoon, and multiple phone calls for quotes. What is this grand project? Getting us away from an actual fax machine and to Internet Faxing. Turns out if you want incoming faxes actually routed to people, it's more complicated than just signing up. Sigh. But I still think it'll be cheaper than having a fax machine, dedicated phone line, toner, maintenance on the machine and paper. We'll see what the higher ups decide.

I've managed to stir the waters at work...I asked in our staff meeting this morning if everyone can please send a staff email when they plan to take a different lunch than usual. Twice last week when I started to head to lunch I discovered I was the only one here. Delaying lunch isn't that big a deal. Being the only one here to answer calls for an hour is. And one of those days I had an appointment that I - luckily - could reschedule at the last minute. Literally. Good thing I walked to the back to let them know I was leaving for lunch, or I wouldn't have known and just blithely walked out the front door! Of course, now I'm getting snippy comments. Tough shit. There's such a thing as common courtesy.

Anyway. Sorry about the cursing. I'm in a cranky mood, frankly. Probably has something to do with the rainy day oustside. Or the constant headache I've had for days. Now I remember why I like Spring, yet dread it's arrival.

On a positive note

I used my heart rate monitor this weekend while mowing the yard. Turns out that little push reel mower is quite the workout. [g] No wonder I always feel like my head's going to explode when I get done...I'm working too hard...way over my target heart rate zone. So mowing my yard took 30 minutes. Twenty of them in my target heart rate zone. And I burned 465 calories. Nice. I might look at this as a workout instead of a chore from now on! Which is good, because that crazy grass that took over last year seems to thrive no matter the conditions. Hot, dry, cold, wet...it grows. Fast. I've mowed twice already this season, and there was snow on the ground just three weeks ago!

Miscellaneous Meanderings

Debrief: 1x Arms & Abs, Mowed Yard (push reel mower)
Goal (4/28-5/4): 2x Arms, 2x Abs

Well, I'm back home and still super exhausted from the trip out of town. In spite of the migraine, and a fill-in Ed Consultant driving me crazy with his last minute exam changes, I managed to make it to Mich.ael's Cr.afts (someone gave me a lovely 50% off coupon while I was browsing the aisles) and to Barnes & Noble. Twice. Okay, the second time was just for the Cafe Mocha to keep me going on the drive home. And oh, what a lovely drive. The weather had cleared and it was sunny. Beautiful, especially going through the canyons. It's just greening up thanks to the onset of Spring and the amount of snow/moisture we've had this winter. The Summer heat & dryness hasn't set in. Only pang that disturbed the beauty was the thought that if the moisture doesn't keep up through Spring, there's going to be plenty of fuel for the fires this Summer/Fall.

Stopped at Shanni's on the way into town to pick up the mutt. That was funny. I made it all the way into the living room and said her name several times in my normal voice before she heard me. She was sprawled across their couch sleeping the sleep of the just. (Or rather, the sleep of those who've just spent their days tormenting hapless dogs & people, and attempting to cow the cats - and then running for her life!) Once she realized I was there, she did the usual "oh, it's been horrible, I've been so abused since you abandoned me!" routine. Like I fell for that.

Spent the rest of the weekend cleaning house, doing laundry, and mowing the yard. Sigh. I really really want to tear out the lawn and re-sod it. Whatever grass moved in last year is still thriving. It grows so dang fast it's crowding out more and more of the nice grass. The kind that gives you that soft carpet. It's hardly spring-like weather and I've had to mow the backyard twice!!!! It was quite a workout...my arms hurt and I thought I was gonna die. It needed to be mowed last weekend, but since it started snowing that Saturday morning, that was kind of not an option. Yesterday was lawn day in my neighborhood. Every house on my block had someone in the yard fixing sprinklers, trimming, mowing, etc. I've already had the lawn service people out 2x - once for the aeration and last week for the first fertilizer/weed killer treatment of the year. Hopefully this will help the real grass take - and keep - root.

I put myself back on the Clar.itinD again. Hopefully that will help. Although so far I'm only doing so-so. The switch from snow last Friday to sunny & windows ope on Saturday is just killing my body.

Not much more to say. Lounged around yesterday, working in the house, spoiling the dog. I'm almost done with "The Birth Order" book by Kevin Leman. Not bad, although as a middle child I find it somewhat lacking. [g] He has very little to say about middle children. I also picked up the latest by Sandra Schwab. Can you believe our Wa.lMar.t got it before Hast.ings? They still don't even have it listed in their database. Stupid store. I can't wait until we get a Bo.rders or Ba.rnes & N.oble. Anyway. I'm saving that book for a few more days - must get the library books read first. I'm out of renewals. :)

The things I don't know CAN hurt me.

Like how to use a weed eater. Seriously. No wonder those things come with a warning. Although "Wear protective clothing" hardly works. Not when it's 90*F+ outside. Got a nice welt on my leg from a piece of the line when it broke off. And that hit me on the upper leg on my jean shorts! Yikes. :)

As you can probably tell, I decided to do more yard work this weekend. Mowed the lawn again with my old-fashioned push reel mower. (Had a neighbor ask me where I got it, she didn't think they made those any more!) And finally used the weed eater I borrowed months ago from a friend. She doesn't use it anymore since she lives out in the woods.

It was a trial just figuring out what kind of line it uses. There's umpteen million types of line and do you just want the line or the line in a replacement spool. (FYI, get the line that COMES ON THE SPOOL). And of course, my friend has long since lost the manual to the weed eater. So I do some research online, and narrow it down to one I think will work.

Get home and realize I have to manually wind this stuff onto the spool. Lovely. Especially when you factor in my butterfingers. So I finally get the stuff wound, and put back on and out I go. Long orange cord trailing behind me like a line of fire. Turn it on and the thing goes wild. Okay, not wild, it just startled me. Startled the dog too. She ran back inside and spent the rest of the time watching me warily through the doggie door. I could SEE her there, just staring at me. Silly dog.

Then I had to figure out just how to hold the thing. But it stopped cutting after a few seconds. Darn it. Turns out I had the line wound too tightly. Sigh. Fixed that, and put it back together. Turned it on and the whole spool and cap went spinning off across the yard. I kid you not.

So I had to rewind the thing, put it back on, and go at it again. To make a long story short, it took me over an hour to get the back yard done Saturday evening, and then I spent over an hour on Sunday afternoon on the front and side. The stupid cap kept coming off and the spool would go careening all over the place. Lost the stupid ring that locks it on a couple of times...only an idiot would design a lawn implement in GREEN. Darn thing blended into the grass. Turns out the little things the cap and ring hooked onto were worn away. So it didn't have much holding it on. And the line kept sticking every few minutes so I had to keep taking it apart and pulling it loose.

By the time I was done, my legs were green from the knees down. My fault because I let the stuff on one side of the house get over knee high. Turns out it was pretty wet, not that I water that section. Must not get enough sun to dry it up from the rain we had a month ago. Wet ucky mushed up grass is not pretty. It really isn't. I had to rinse off in the sprinklers. That was actually one of the nicest parts of the day. :) That and helping my little sister and her family plant some Chinese Elms on their property. That was fun. Although my legs and arms are achy today. And my butt muscles got a workout from squatting to plant the trees.

So today I'm sore and have bruises all over my lower legs. Guess I got hit with more stuff while using that weed eater than I thought. :) And I dreamt I was chasing that darn spool and cap all night long. But my yard looks great.

Puppy Love

No, this isn't about my little sister and her recent crush on a boy at school and the subsequent let down when he turned out to be not-as-nice-as-she-thought. Although I could write paragraphs on that...

This is about me. And these darn maternal urges I get. Oh, they aren't for babies of my own making, I have no desire for one of those. Rather, I get these occasional urges for a new furbaby. I'm usually stronger than they are, but yesterday was another story.

I almost stole someone's puppy. [hanging head in shame]

I was doing the responsible homeowner thing after work yesterday, trying to salvage my lawn from a combination of extreme heat, lack of moisture and what just might be quackgrass. The yard doesn't appear to be irregular shaped, but I'm having a heck of a time getting a sprinkler that covers the whole front lawn (same prob in the back.) Maybe it's just my OCD coming through. I just stand there forever studying the water pattern and making minute sprinkler placement adjustments. But I digress.

During one of my "inspections" I saw something move out of the corner of my eye at the rental home 2 doors down. A cursory glance made me go "Oh, a Dachsund, and a weird looking one." A few minutes later I saw it approaching my front gate, and lo and behold, it wasn't a Dachsund. It was the cutest puppy I have EVER seen. I'm not kidding. Talk about melting my heart. Of course, I was through the gate in a flash, picking it up and cuddling it. She is a Boxer puppy. Now, I think Boxers are pretty good looking dogs, a bit big for my taste, but nice dogs. But this puppy was just something else! She belongs apparently to the homeowner 2 doors down. The ones renting to the "Punks Not Dead" people. She was cleaning out the house...they've either been evicted or skipped out. Surprise. Hah.

Anyway. They have a grown male Boxer that I've seen before. He was actually tied up since they had the gate open and he kept running off. He kept popping out of the yard as far as he could, whining at me, going back in the yard, whining at the house, coming back out, etc. Not sure if he wanted luvs too or was worried about the puppy. Sat out there for at least 10 minutes before I grudgingly took her home. Mostly because the other dog wouldn't stop whining.

I took her back down there, petted the older dog, and put her in the yard. Halfway back to my house I realized she was following me home...Just as I picked her up a woman came out of the backyard and looked shocked as heck to see me holding her puppy. She almost jumped the fence to get to us. LOL. I started sputtering "She's so cute. She came down to my gate and I couldn't resist she's so adorable. I brought her back but she started to follow me..." That woman almost wrenched the puppy from my arms. [g] Not very sociable at all. Didn't chat or introduce herself or anything. Probably thinks I'm a dognapper...Which I very nearly was.

To make this long post longer, I got to work today still wanting that puppy. So I researched Boxers. They are NOT the breed for me. Smart. Energetic. Stubborn. [My god, I already have one of those!] What I need is a stupid, lazy dog. [g] Boxers apparently require lots of love and attention [not a problem] but also need tons of exercise. That's a big problem, even with me exercising and REVing now. So. Everyone repeat after me:

You do NOT need a puppy.
You do NOT WANT a puppy.
You do NOT WANT A BOXER DOG.