Shoe Silliness

$90 for Gardening Boots??? Do they weed the garden for you?

Fairy Lawn Mother

It's no secret I've been a bit challenged by my new yard. I did, however, have a plan. A shiny new lawn mower and an appointment with a lawn service to give the yard a good once over before I attempt it myself.

But, then I came home tonight to this:

At some point today my fairy lawn mother showed up and mowed the lawn, and mowed the ditch where the grass was over two feet long (is it still grass when it's that long or has it become hay?) and trimmed around the house, the fence and the three crepe myrtles. They also uncovered quite a bit of sidewalk. I wish I had taken a picture of the disaster to show how much they did.

I was pretty confused until I realized my neighbor's lawn was also newly manicured, although his always looks good. Here's the really cool part. Over the last two weeks a group of people has been working on my neighbor's house. (He's been in a wheelchair for over 20 years and recently had his second leg amputation earlier this year.) They scraped the peeling paint, replaced all the deteriorating wood, completely rebuilt the wheelchair ramp AND painted the whole house. They were back tonight finishing up and after all that, they decided to ask the lawn service who looks after his yard to mow mine for "inconveniencing me" by using some of my driveway. Seriously? They donated their time to do a ton of work and then took care of my lawn.

Sometimes people don't suck.

Things I Learned Today

Even industrial strength "Backwoods Off" does not deter fire ants. AT ALL.

My weed eater has an edging setting. (Wish I'd realized that at the beginning of the evening's festivities!)

My sidewalk is twice as wide as it originally appeared.

The City of Houston-approved lawn bags SUCK! (Okay, I already knew that, but still....)

The Bane of My Existance

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my Bougainvillea. Most of the time, what's not to hate? Giant thorns, grows like a weed, will not stay confined to its assigned space in the garden; but then one day, I walk outside to see this......



And This



And This



and I remember why I haven't brought in a chain saw, yet.

What you can't see is that I've got a rival for Jack's beanstalk across the yard. Even after a serious cutting back post-Ike, I've got a branch that's almost at the roof of my (three-story) townhouse. It's insane.

Seriously, anybody got a chainsaw I can borrow? And, can you send along someone how knows how to use it? Thanks!