Doing Some Grass

I did not grow up in admiration of lush green lawns.

Growing up we had precious little grass. Our back yard featured a patch worn bare by our bottoms in a “green version” of the slip and slide (a hose, ground, and a slight slope and I don’t think we even had a slope). The back yard also included a copse of trees that laid barren a fortunate part of the yard. The front yard had two swamp maples surrounded by pachysandra that we all wished would grow and replace the remaining grass. The only brilliant green spots in the lawn of my youth were the direct result of our four legged friend and were best avoided. Yet we still bitched every time it was our turn to mow.

Our first house was in the midst of the dandelion belt. The entire neighborhood appeared to cultivate the weed. One neighbor rid themselves of the weed by killing their grass – it was brown for years. In comparison, our lawn looked great. However the yard was heavily wooded reducing the need to mow (monthly in the back yard). I spent a lot more time trimming bushes and removing deadfalls than on the lawn and I still felt too much time was spent maintaining grass.

Now, I live on a cul-de-sac of perfect lawns. If a dandelion is seen outside of the feral center circle it is eradicated with prejudice. A friend from within town was visiting and I apologized about the appearance of the lawn – it needed mowing. She commiserated and stated that her husband planned the first of their mowings that weekend. I did not tell her that my next mowing would be my fifth or sixth.

But a moment came this weekend when I realized that I had traveled over the lawn care edge.

First let me tell you that after a week of heat the lawn sprouted and I had but a narrow opportunity to mow the lawn before the rain. I used the fastest mowing pattern, circling the house in an ever widening path. I did not have a chance to let the dew evaporate. As a result, the wet crass clumped leaving huge cow patty like droppings around the lawn. At the first opportunity I broke out the backpack mower and started to collect and pick up the clumps.

Here is where I crossed the line. The side yard is narrower and the constant passing of the mower had beaten the grass down. Having cleaned the side yards of the cow patty like clumps I then used the blower to fluff the grass by blowing in the reverse direction that I had driven the mower. This eliminated the pattern left by the mower but raised up a couple of tall tufts that had been pushed down by the clumps. So I got a pair of scissors and trimmed the tufts.

I had combed and hand trimmed the lawn.

I need a job.