The 10 Minute Ramble

This morning I was awakened by the sound of a lawnmower. It was T.J. from next door mowing our lawn. Since it rains everyday, the window of opportunity to get any yard work done is small, so I decided to get up and go outside. First I trimmed and edged, then I worked in the flower bed in the front yard. It was full of grass, I needed to pull it all out. At least it was fairly easy because it has been so wet. It's hard to tell the grass from the iris and the liatris, because the they look like grass too. I try really hard not to pull the wrong thing, but sometimes it just comes up with the pulled grass. That's okay, it will grow back, and be prettier and stronger because the grass isn't growing up around and over it. I like grass, I just don't like it where it doesn't belong, like in the flower beds. My trowel has a broken handle but I would rather not spend money on a new one right now. My hands hurt because I get slivers in them from the bark and pine cones in the flower bed. I could wear gloves but I don't because I actually like to feel the dirt and the plants. Besides, when I have worn gloves mud clings to them and my hands end up feeling like they weigh 5 pounds each, and then I have no dexterity. While I discriminate on what belongs and what doesn't, every time I come across a worm I feel bad if I accidentally chop it in half with my trowel, but if I find a slug I do it deliberately. I don't like slugs, they eat my plants. At least we don't get snails here. In West Valley I had snails in my flower beds and I would throw them into the street for the cars to run over. I don't mind worms. I found a huge one and put it on the sidewalk for the kids to watch. It crawled and squirmed toward the lawn while they squirted it with their squirt guns.