How Does Your Garden Grow?

OK, so yesterday was the greatest day of the year so far, from a meteorological standpoint. It was sunny, about 75, and not a cloud in the sky. Of course, this being the D, it only lasted til about 5:30, at which time the clouds rolled in and the temps dropped about 27 degrees in about 20 minutes. Mother Nature is a big freakin' tease, but still we had a full 8 hours of uninterrupted outsideness. Even the Banana made a brief appearance, breaking out the tri-fold lounge chair and sunning his big fat ass on his deck, thankfully in tiny running shorts, not the yellow Speedo. Yeah, it was a fabulous day.

It was also a very productive day here at Casa Chica. We rolled into Home-Owner-Hell to purchase various sundries and notions to accomplish our landscaping goals for the day. The ATF and State Department put the kibosh on my Napalm order, so we had to resort back to conventional means--black plastic, weed killer, and lots of cussing and hacking at the underbrush. By the time all was said and done, we had filled 13 of those ubiquitous brown paper bags--I told you my backyard was huge, and now I have visual proof that it had grown totally out of control.

All-together, the Chicas and I spent about 4 hours working on our botanical mess. Well, let me rephrase that, they pitched in for about 38 minutes of that time, while Kelly-Girl toiled her sweet ass off. I realized that while I generally do not enjoy yard work, I do not mind it as much as I used to. When I was a kid growing up in Jersey we lived on about an acre of land, so Saturday-Chore-Day brought fear into our hearts and nightmares to our sleep. I spent every weekend for over 10 years coughing and sneezing and wheezing, all the while being barked at to stop whining and standing around, and get a goddamn tissue--good times, good times. Of course, finding out in my adult life that I have severe allergies (I'm allergic to absolutely everything besides dust and dogs) made those memories all the more enjoyable--a little Benadryl would have made my life so much easier, and put me into a yummy-sleepy place that might have made all the barking less permanently damaging.

I think that the daunting part is that even though I worked that hard, for that long yesterday, and achieved measurable results (can you tell I've been doing year-end employee reviews??) I am far from finished. I made a small dent, cleaning up years of neglect, and overall I am proud of my efforts. I was even able to politely ignore the Hobbitt as he commented, "Nice to finally see ya out here," and resisted the urge to stomp all over his wide swath of newly-sown grass seed that apparently now serves as the DMZ between our property. I know I have much more work ahead of me, but I'm working on my yard, at my pace, on my terms, and it feels pretty damn good.

So yeah, this morning while I look out my kitchen window with my sore and sunburned back, and hear the screeching of the Chicas as they beat each other into submission, I feel differently about the landscape I see before me. I no longer feel completely overwhelmed, just slightly, and I think perhaps I might have a plan. I have all the time in the world, and daresay a little motivation to keep moving forward. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel very positive today, like I've finally turned some corner, maybe even grown up a little bit. And if the Hobbitt and the Banana and the rest of the folks surrounding Casa Chica have a problem with what I've done, they can suck it and suck it hard. Yeah, I have wicked grown, fo' sho'.