Lawns

I said I'd post at least twice a week. I guess I lied. The thing is, when you start a blog, it's easy. You have all these stories inside just ready to tell and you blast them out day after day. And then, nothing. You sit in front of the keyboard and have nothing to say. I'm going to do my best to be slow and steady for a while. To my friends who read this, feel free to remind me if I'm not posting. Please. It will help. Thanks.

I will never have the nicest lawn on the block. Not even close, especially if we stay here and the guy who lives next door doesn't move. I swear, the dude mows his lawn a minimum of twice a week, even if we are in a rainy stretch. I don't understand. When I get home from work, the absolute last thing I want to do is push a mower around the yard. What's so great about having a nice lawn anyway?

Last year was much better. Dawn's son Matt (the one who had the baby almost two months ago) lived with us, had a nice mower, and was eager to help. The lawn looked decent all summer long. He has since moved out. We had no mower as it broke down two summers ago. I mowed the lawn for the first time all year on Saturday. Those of you who live near me know it was a rainy weekend. Saturday morning was nice, so I called Dawn's ex husband to see if I could borrow their mower. This might sound a little weird to those of you who don't know us, but we have a really good relationship with her ex and his wife. So there I was, attempting to push the mower through knee high, somewhat wet grass when the rain started up again. Mower dies, pull the cord, try to go a little slower, rain comes down a little harder, mower dies... you get the picture. The best part was when this grungy guy on a bike (I'm not sure if he's homeless, but he looks like he might be) comes pedaling up and kind of laughs at me and says, "it don't work too well in the wet grass you know." I mumbled that it was my only chance to get it done, but I really wanted to say "No !@# Sherlock."

Anyway, I get the front and the side done, and the back looks WAY too tall. I decided we'd need a weed eater and then hit it with the mower, and I'm not getting it done today. The rain had stopped at this point and the sun was shining, so I wasn't too concerned about getting the mower put away. Big mistake. After sitting in the bedroom playing on the computer for around 1/2 an hour, it started pouring. Not your typical Oregon drizzle, but a good old-fashioned downpour. I run outside and push the mower out of the rain as fast as I can to get it under our little shelter thingie out in the back and ran into a post. They don't make mower's wheels like they used to. The rim on this one was made out of plastic, probably in China or Taiwan. Now, it's bound for the landfill, and I have to get it fixed. So I have decided that it's time to pave the entire yard. I can paint it green. Won't that look nice?

John