Earth Day?

Earth Day.

This bothers me.

Why?

This is why:

Colossians 3:2

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

The simple fact is...concentrating on the earth is not what we should be doing with our time.

And "things above" doesn't mean the ozone layer.

I'm not saying that I don't focus on things down here. But I try not to obsess.

The main reason why I do certain things that are "environmentally friendly", is because some things actually save us money. And then I can spend that money on good, healthy food that allows me to be healthy enough to live life in accordance to that verse.

Our Yard

Our yard looks as though it has mange. There are patches of grass, but its almost half dirt. It's the only real description I can think of that is accurate.

There are a couple benefits when you have a mange yard. Less mowing and less watering come to mind. When you have two boys who love dirt, it can almost be too easy to ship them out the door, and tell them to go play. They go to the sunny spot, a warm, dark brown mange spot that is dirt. They push it, throw it, kick it, pat it, breathe it, pile it. This picture was taken back in March:



They would do this all day long, if I let them.

Unfortunately, there is supposed to be grass right there. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I have steered them to the back yard where we have a big dirt pile that they can dig in, but the painfully bare spots in my yard are becoming a burden.

Why does our yard look like this?
a. I'm Lazy.
b. We've been in a drought for the last 7 or so years.
c. The dog has, over the last 2-3 years, destroyed our lawn by his constant running.

Here is what that same spot looked like a few days ago:



We have many other parts of our yard that look like this, and I want to solve this problem this year. My two next door neighbors both have beautiful green yards. Flowers and bird baths. Solar Lights and Roses. Ponds and waterfalls. Patios.

Not us.

I really want a nice yard and a green thumb. I do try! I have spent many, many hours outside, but my efforts seem to be in vain. I planted 22 plants in my 2 flower beds last year and all but 5 died. Oops.

I have never been able to successfully plant grass seed in the last three years. In fact, one of the reasons I put in a flower bed on the corner of our yard is because there was no grass there. But the dog made another Mud Hole right next to it, since our grass is so fragile and prone to disintegration:



This year, I plan on being more vigilant than ever, and I will post the progress, if there is any! Please Keep Me Accountable!

So far, I have raked, planted seed, covered the seed with more dirt and watered about 90% of the bare spots.

The weather has been beautiful, yet dry. I need to water the new seed at least 2 times a day, since it seems to take ages for seed to grow, and they need to stay wet.

I am also working on my base tan while doing all of this yard stuff, so I don't have to slather on the sunscreen all summer. Fortunately I am building off a nice burn tan I got last July. Now, if I could only lay out on my back for a few minutes a day without anyone seeing...

So I am off. I am going outside to water my dirt grass seed. I guess I will be taking every shower at the Y to reduce my water bill. Just kidding.

My New Toy.

I was at a "Department Store" today. I was ordering a reel mower, so that I can still hear the boys playing while I mowed the lawn.

I glance over my right shoulder and Oh. My. There it was.

12 amp, 220 mph, 360 cfm worth of Leaf Blower (on sale of course).

Huh? What? I put in some new flower beds last summer. Willard was such a trooper helping out. He hauled many wagon loads of dirt and rocks to help me. He made good money too...enough to buy a half ton of rock at least. Or maybe a haircut or two?



Over the winter, the leaves have made my cute rocky flower beds look terrible. (And so do the tulips that have burst through the layers of newspaper and landscaping fabric. I could have SWORE I took all of the bulbs out, but they are pesky little buggers and they are about to bloom anyhow...can't argue with beautiful Tulies!)

I can't imagine WHAT I was thinking when I put the beds in, though they look nice and help increase the value of our home. When they are in tip-top shape, they look fantastic. But now my yard has MANGE and I hope it is fixable...that is another story, for another time.

Soooooo. I just had to have something to clean the rocks up a bit. Darn impulsive buys. And it has a secret thing it does too...

I take it home, take it out of the box and put the kids in the sand box. I went to the front of the house, put on my safety glasses and proceeded to annoy all my neighbors by my squeals of delight...I mean...the sound of my new leaf blower. Who knew a gal could have sooo much fun blowing leaves all over the place?

But then it gets better. After I blew all the leaves off the rocks, I made a couple of quick adjustments and switched attachments, and OH MY...Then I got to vacuum them up! IT VACUUMS!

While taking a break (actually wiping tears of joy from my eyes), I got a phone call from Randy.

Me: Hi Honey! How are you feeling? (He hasn't been feeling all that good these last few days)
R: Pretty good. Whatcha doin?
Me:Vacuuming the yard.
R: Pause.............You're what-ing the yard?
Me: Vacuuming the yard.
R: Pause.............Why are you vacuuming the yard?
Me: 'Cause it's freaking fun, and I got us a new leaf blower slash (yes, I said the word slash) vacuum today, and it rocks.
R: Ok dear, I'm glad you are happy. (You could hear the odd "I don't understand my wife" tone, and also the "when was the last time she vacuumed the living room tone" as well...It was Monday by the way.)
Me: Ok babe, I am going to go finish, I'll call you when I am done.

I was in the process of vacuuming, and sure enough...something I blew out from the flower bed into the piles of leaves lodged itself squarely into a fin thingy inside my new blower and broke a fin thing off. So now I have to go get it fixed.

My 20 minutes of fun---cut short by a rogue leaf or something. It couldn't have been a rock, since I made sure there were no rocks in the piles of leaves.

But I can't wait to get it fixed and blow the leaves out from every spot in my yard. Then vacuum them up.

Willardism of the Morning

Randy and I were laying on our bed. The bed was already made, but we were just discussing what our plans were for the day. I was still in my pajamas, and Willard came up to us. He climbed up and body slammed us, and while he was getting off, my pajama top snuck up a bit and he could see my tummy.

He started poking it, laying his head on it, just being a kid. He was talking about what he heard. He said, "I hear water in there momma, you must be hungry. I want this to be my new home!" (As he lay his head on it.) "It's soft."

We just laughed and then he said, "It must be milk, cause milk comes from your brefs (as he points to my boobs) and goes down and then down the side."

I told him that I didnt have any more milk.

He says, "OK, OK, I have an idea. We could go to the store and get some soy milk, and pour it in there (points to my belly button) and then you will have milk again!"