Thursday, March 29, 2007
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Thursday, March 29, 2007 |
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Community | Obits | Editorial & Columnists | Society | Sports | Education | Classified Ads | Calendar of Events | Features | Newsbriefs | Legals | Archives | Subscriptions | Photo Gallery |
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Fielder’s
Choice Yard work I mowed grass for the first time of the season last weekend. It’s something I actually look forward to – getting outside in the spring time. But before I did that, I had to go after the wasps. They’re swarming, big-time, and we’ve even found two or three inside the house. And one can of that killer spray doesn’t last long enough. Maybe it’s time for the professional exterminator. Of course, I also washed the pollen off my vehicle before mowing the yard. Pam washed hers Friday night, and by Sunday it was covered again. I’m certain that’s why I heard so many people sneezing over the weekend. And also before I got around to the actual mowing, I had to pick up pine cones and limbs, a pretty constant around the Burleson yard, thanks to all those huge trees. Five-year-old Erin loves helping with that task. I forgot the gas, too. The cans were empty. And I’m not used to paying $12 to fill up a couple of gas cans. It seems just a few years ago, I think, it was $5 or $6. Yard work, like everything else, has really changed over the years. We had a big yard growing up, and there was no riding mower around. I pushed and pushed and pushed some more – the big yard in front, the side, the back. I thought I was in heaven when we bought one of those self-propelled mowers that I just had to walk behind but didn’t have to push. Mowing the yard was often on my chore list, and I usually dreaded it with a passion. But in all honesty it was better than working the garden with the tiller. There was no weed eater either back in my growing-up years. I used sling blades, kaiser blades and hoes for that type of work, and usually did so without gloves. The blisters were there at the start of the weed-eating cutting season, but by the end the skin was so tough, it didn’t matter anymore. Honestly, there’s been a few times when I could not get the weed eater started or I had trouble with the thing eating the string that I wished I was back in the ’70s with the other weed-fighting tools. And I do have some of those on standby, plus a couple of push mowers, too, one of those the self-propelling kind. I had to jump start my riding mower due to the lack of operation during the winter months, and then toward the end of my work over the weekend, I hit a bump and the motor suddenly got louder. Come to find out, I had lost a screw, creating a problem with the muffler. I thought about going for one of the other mowers, but then I felt certain the batteries would be dead on those, too. I didn’t even use those two last spring and summer. So instead I decided to get out the big ladder to replace a bulb or two on the outside of the house and to get on top of the house to rake off some pine straw. The ladder’s still there, awaiting my son Andy. I quit doing heights, you remember, about six years ago. That’s when I reported to you upon moving to Holly Springs that I had fallen from the attic of our house in Laurel onto the carport (concrete). I do like this Daylight Saving Time starting a few weeks earlier than usual. It gives a newspaper man, who doesn’t work the 8 to 5 routine, some extra time to do yard work when he gets home. That way I can split the yard work up – mow the front one day, the back the next and then worry about the weeds later. Wishful thinking – most likely it will continue to fall on the weekends – due to work, ball games and other extracurricular activities with a five-member household. But thank goodness for the riding mower and the gas-operated weed eater – at least when the battery is good, the screws aren’t falling out and the string keeps coming out like it should. Report News:
(662) 252-4261 or south@dixie-net.com
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