Ahhhh – the American dream.  For most people, it consists of a family of four, two cars, a comfortable house, and a yard.  Three of these things I like and enjoy, while one brings week after week of frustration, dread, and annoyance.

Yes, I’m talking about the yard.

With the unseasonable warm weather over the past weekend, I was reminded that it is once again time to undertake my weekly chore that is lawn care and maintenance.  I got out my pruners and shears, gassed up the mower and trimmer, and waded into the battlefield on Saturday morning for my first skirmish of the season.

I tackled the dead remnants of last year’s bushes and grape vines on my western fence row, removed the dying ground cover from my landscaping beds, and got my first seasonal mowing and trimming of the yard out of the way.

It was a sweaty morning, full of bending over, grunting, and the occasional curse word.  While I made some progress, after a few hours of toil I was hot, tired, and cranky – and it’s only April.  I haven’t even begun weeding and tending of my established plantings (which are in desperate need of a new coating of mulch).  I can hardly wait to take that on.

While I spend only a few hours each week each summer tending to grass length, weed eradication (via physical removal) and sweeping sidewalks, I look at other lawns that I pass in my travels not with envy, but with dread.  While some may see sweeping acreage of finely manicured lawn, perfectly landscaped flower beds, trees, and foundational plantings – I see hours and hours of thankless maintenance, requiring large tractors, lots of weed killer, and truckloads of landscaping gravel or mulch.

Maybe it’s just my age.

I’m the kind of person who cuts whatever plant or weed makes up my lawn, and I view dandelions not only as a gauge for my next mowing, but lazily appreciate the color they add to the yard.  When it gets hot and dry in the summer months, I don’t try to water the property to keep it lush and green.  Heck, I look at a drought and celebrate the fact that I won’t have to mow that week, crunching the dry lawn under my feet as a free ticket to sleep in on Saturday morning.

Ask any retiree about the why they downsize their home and more often than not, one of the reasons they give will be “I don’t have the time or energy to work on that huge yard every week”.  Sure, it’s a symbol of status for young couples, and even after that young couple grows to a larger family through the addition of children, it’s a place to spend time and make memories (after all, once the kids arrive, they can eventually help mow it – isn’t that one of the reasons we had children in the first place?)

Eventually; however, like the coveted backyard swimming pool, once the kids are grown, that beautiful, big, lawn becomes another amenity that has to be taken care of week after week, month after month, and year after year.  It’s one of the many reasons I love fall and winter.  Woo hoo!  No mowing this week – it’s February!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to restring the line on the &#%!@?!”  trimmer in preparation for my next foray into taming Mother Nature.

 

 

Do you love yard work or do you hate it?  Drop me a line in the comment section and let me know.