I have big plans for my yard. Last week, I planted a bunch of wildflower seeds in the front, and when I checked them yesterday, some had sprouted!
Yesterday was a very busy day – we got up, fed The Jillian, and made coffee while we decided which lawnmower to buy. I was minding my own business with my coffee when The Jillian came up with a tennis ball in her hand.
“Ball!” she said.
“That’s right, that’s a ball.” I always try to reinforce what she’s saying. Except for those times when she says “Shit!” This happens more often than it should, really, but I’m hoping that by not making a big deal out of it, she will never figure out that SHIT is fun to say!
So, like I said, I’m minding my own business with my coffee and then it happens. The chubby hand curved around the fuzzy chartreuse orb moves with steady purpose toward the end table. Before I can even react, PLOP! Tennis ball in the coffee.
Sigh.
I survived. We went to the big hardware store and bought a lawn mower, a weed wacker, and some gardening stuff. Freddie surprised us all by getting the lawn mower assembled without me having to go out and read the instructions to him all sarcastically. He mowed the front yard while I dealt with a nutso baby person who wasn’t interested in lunch and preferred a nap instead.
I am never one to argue with unexpected naptime, so I dumped her in the crib and headed outside to start my tomato seeds and think really hard about what else should go in the open space of my front garden.
Plus, I mowed the back yard. Keep in mind that it hadn’t been mowed since last… November? Maybe? So the grass was a leeeeeetle big higher than it otherwise might have been. Plus, the landscapers put down some topsoil/fertilizer/grass seed mixture on the [many] bare patches out there so it was sort of like mowing the surface of the moon.
Because Freddie is an odd human being, we have a lawn mower with a bag attachment. Because the grass was SO high, I had to stop and empty the bag SEVEN TIMES. How irritating this is, I cannot tell you. I would just be getting into a mowing groove when I’d have to stop and take off the bag, get grass all over myself, and start again.
Good times.
Eventually, the entire backyard was mowed (mown? Did I just make that up?), the grass was bagged, and then Freddie went to work with the weed wacker. As much as I love power tools and construction equipment and stuff that makes REALLY LOUD NOISE, I have a phobia of the weed wacker – I’m pretty sure it wants to chop my feet off.
Once the greenery was taken care of, we pushed some sand around on the patio and Freddie hung the birdhouse that my dad made for me. On Wednesday, the patio furniture is being delivered and we’ll be able to actually spend time outside in our yard without rolling our eyes and heaving great big sighs over the pitiful state of the grass.
It’s a good thing, too – we’re poor again and cannot afford to go out so we’d better enjoy our Very Expensive Yard to the utmost!!