Oh My! What Have I Done

This is a blog I wrote back in April of this year and was too chicken to post. After what I did yesterday this blog pales in comparison and the story needs to be told.

The other day Ronnie was helping a neighbor down the street with his yard. He learned if there are three guys, two wheelbarrows, and one shovel, you don’t want to be the guy left holding the shovel. They were putting rock down in their yard. Ronnie would fill one wheelbarrow and just when he was finished the other wheelbarrow would show up needing to be filled. But I must say, I’m glad he did the shoveling, his ringer tees look like they got a little tighter around the arm area…mighty nice looking. Maybe I just washed them in hot water and they shrank…who knows either way they look good!

Anyway, back to the story I was going to tell you before I got distracted. While he was over at the neighbors he said many times how much he liked grass. It wasn’t just because of the hard work involved with laying down rock. We are just grass people. It’s not the most intelligent choice for a yard when you live in a dessert, I know, but it sure feels good on bare feet in the heat of the summer. It is also a great backdrop for photos. We follow the water restrictions and so forth and we try our hardest to keep our grass looking pretty. Right now our major problem is dandelions. Today we took a stand against the on slot of dandelions attacking our yard. As soon as our neighbor left in his car we spread out in his yard pulling all the dandelions we could find. Some with roots that would rival that of a tree! We only had a small time frame because we didn’t know when he would be back. I kept thinking what if he forgot something and is driving up the street right now. How embarrassing would that be? I could just see the look on his face as he drives up to see his neighbors in his yard pulling weeds. We have crossed a line and I knew it, but why stop now, we when we were almost finished. It was at this point I started to realize that I am quite neurotic about some things, dandelions being one of them. Luckily we finished before he got home and hid the evidence deep inside a trash bag, never to be seen again. Then in a self reflective moment I had to wonder…why I can’t be as neurotic about housework as I am about yard work.

Ok that’s enough self reflecting; let’s just bask in the glory, that for a little while there will be no dandelion seeds floating into my yard. Now I must go outside barefoot and turn a few cartwheels in my yard, why…because I can.

Now on to what I did yesterday...

Now first let me tell you my neighbor is a very nice young man. He is probably in his mid to late twenties and rents the house next door. He is a chef and works two jobs. When he has get togethers with friends we can hardly hear a peep. He has even offered to hook us up on a ski vacation in Cedar City, UT because one of his friends owns a rental condo there. In case you need a visual, he reminds me of the funny Japanese guy from Heroes.

He is just a totally nice guy, but since he rents he has not invested in a lawn mower and I don't blame the guy. There used to be an arrangement where someone would come and mow the lawn and trim the bushes about once or twice a month. I don't know what happened to that, but the lawn hasn’t been mowed for at least two months. This summer his grass was attacked by fungus and it made large brown spots that crept over onto our side of the lawn. So I had to take matters into my own hands. I treated our lawns with some spray on fungicide when he wasn't home. Well that didn't work very well, so then I talked to professionals and they said I should use granules instead of spray on fungicide. Uggh, at least with the spray on stuff I could stand on my own sidewalk and it would look like I was just spraying my lawn. Now with the granule stuff I have to walk over on his side all the while pushing a big green spreader for all too see. Ok, so I did it and I wasn't caught.

Now yesterday I did something totally wrong. Kyle and his friend down the street were helping each other do chores. They were taking turns at each other’s house and when they got to mine they mowed my lawn. Then I went out to see if they could use the spreader to put down some more fungicide and I just started mowing my neighbor's lawn! Since the grass was so tall grass was flying everywhere, so then I had Kyle grab the broom and start sweeping off our neighbor’s sidewalk. I get done mowing and look over to see what the kids are doing and guess what I see...Lana, Kyle, and his friend all over under my neighbor's carport playing around! Not only did I over step my bounds, but I taught the kids that it was ok too! I stopped right then and there and started to clean up and get the kids back onto our side. I was going to mow the other side of his lawn, but didn't. Instead I only mowed half and then I left a note on his door. In the note I totally lied! I said my son needed to do a service in his neighborhood for Boy Scouts so he mowed your lawn, I hope you don't mind. Yes, I know, I'm so WRONG!

Our lawns are cut in half by the driveway, so now my neighbor has one side mowed and the other not. What to do, what to do...to mow or not to mow that is the question. I know what I need to do, but I just don’t wanna! I know I should talk to him and say hey, can we finish the other half of your lawn. I'm sure he would let us. I'm sure he feels bad that his lawn was so bad that his neighbors felt compelled to fix it for him. I'm sure all I had to do was say, hey my son can mow your lawn for five bucks if you like and then I wouldn't have made him feel bad. I'm sure this is one of those should have, would have, could have moments.