All Alone...Just me and the critters
Today perfect daughter took the two younger kids to hike up Enchanted Rock. That's here, and while I think hiking up a massive rock that looks like aliens dropped it here in the early 50's (when aliens were doing their thing) is probably "fun", it's not "that fun". So I stayed home.
They took my car. They also took my sweet chihuahua to be spayed. I'm lonely for them and for her. Well, not really lonely. More like, befuddled. I have possibly never been alone in my house without a car or a needy kid or dog in 20 years.
So, first? I ate and ate. Sigh. It was slightly wonderful to fix all sorts of little goodies without someone coming by and asking for some as well. Mothers are supposed to be an example of all that's good and right and they should SHARE, but I have to say....sometimes it gets old. Besides, it's not like I made cookie dough and ate it. We all know that's what we really want to eat when we're completely alone. Or frosting out of the can.
I have (so far) resisted the last of rowdy son's Easter chocolate stash. No promises for later this afternoon.
Then, after pigging out, spending time on the chihuahua site bemoaning my baby's surgery and half-heartedly cleaning the house (a tiny bit), I thought, "It's a great day...I'll go work in the garden".
WHY???? Why would I do that? I've made it quite clear here in my blog, and to my friends, and in life in general...I'm not a country girl. I am afraid of my own yard. I am afraid of every living, breathing, STINGING critter out there. But somewhere in the carb fog that followed three peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwiches-on-squishy-white-bread, I thought it might be fun.
I decided to start with the pool. It looked inviting and I could skim some of the leaves out while working on a tan. I got in. It was all a lie. It wasn't inviting at all...the word "buggy" comes to mind. I wasn't skimming leaves, I was skimming bugs. And not just bugs, but bug parts and living bugs and buzzing bugs and stinging bugs. Isn't this why people have pool service? And why don't WE have that? And besides, I was tired of swimming by myself anyway.
I decided to "weed". I use that term loosely because the whole lawn is basically a variety of weeds. I just decided which ones I really don't like, plopped my little stool down in the middle of them (still working on my tan-- hey, I'm a child of the 70's and have great regard for the melanoma vaccine)...and started to yank.
It's funny, when you look at weeds, they seem so safe and innocuous. They are simply sitting there in the middle of the grass. But when you go to pull them...all sorts of "life" bursts forth. Or um, squishes forth. I had been wondering about the bare patches in the middle of our grass and I think I found (ew) the culprit. GRUBS. Lots of little grubs. Horrid little things. I pulled weeds and the grubs came up with them. I do wonder if anyone heard my first blood-curdling yells. I caused our cat to look up with an extremely annoyed expression...probably thinking that grubs were tasty and next on the menu for him today. (Which is a good thing because I'm sick and tired of picky up lizard heads off the garage floor. I say, if you have GOT to have a lizard, eat the whole thing! This is directed to cats everywhere.)
Grubs are everywhere out here. And in every size. We had a large tree lose a huge limb last spring. It was completely green and we were mystified. Mr. herewegoagain fired up the chainsaw to cut up the wood and we found grubs the size of Rhode Island all inside the hollow limb. They looked possibly "tasty" to the right tribe from New Guinea. And today I found their miniature cousins who are doing the same number on our already-pathetic St. Augustine lawn.
SO, the grubs were gross. I perservered. Then a really scary spider came out. Now, I did NOT expect a spider to be living in the grass. This one for sure and certain looked like a killer. It wasn't as bad as LAST year when I pulled a weed and a scorpion came up out of the dirt, pincers waving. I still have nightmares about that and I don't go to that part of the garden anymore. The weeds can have it all.
The spider almost did me in, but I kept pulling. I was really being brave, but when I stuck my hands in a fire ant nest, hidden in a clump of weeds, that was it.
I thought, "It's time to blog".
They took my car. They also took my sweet chihuahua to be spayed. I'm lonely for them and for her. Well, not really lonely. More like, befuddled. I have possibly never been alone in my house without a car or a needy kid or dog in 20 years.
So, first? I ate and ate. Sigh. It was slightly wonderful to fix all sorts of little goodies without someone coming by and asking for some as well. Mothers are supposed to be an example of all that's good and right and they should SHARE, but I have to say....sometimes it gets old. Besides, it's not like I made cookie dough and ate it. We all know that's what we really want to eat when we're completely alone. Or frosting out of the can.
I have (so far) resisted the last of rowdy son's Easter chocolate stash. No promises for later this afternoon.
Then, after pigging out, spending time on the chihuahua site bemoaning my baby's surgery and half-heartedly cleaning the house (a tiny bit), I thought, "It's a great day...I'll go work in the garden".
WHY???? Why would I do that? I've made it quite clear here in my blog, and to my friends, and in life in general...I'm not a country girl. I am afraid of my own yard. I am afraid of every living, breathing, STINGING critter out there. But somewhere in the carb fog that followed three peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwiches-on-squishy-white-bread, I thought it might be fun.
I decided to start with the pool. It looked inviting and I could skim some of the leaves out while working on a tan. I got in. It was all a lie. It wasn't inviting at all...the word "buggy" comes to mind. I wasn't skimming leaves, I was skimming bugs. And not just bugs, but bug parts and living bugs and buzzing bugs and stinging bugs. Isn't this why people have pool service? And why don't WE have that? And besides, I was tired of swimming by myself anyway.
I decided to "weed". I use that term loosely because the whole lawn is basically a variety of weeds. I just decided which ones I really don't like, plopped my little stool down in the middle of them (still working on my tan-- hey, I'm a child of the 70's and have great regard for the melanoma vaccine)...and started to yank.
It's funny, when you look at weeds, they seem so safe and innocuous. They are simply sitting there in the middle of the grass. But when you go to pull them...all sorts of "life" bursts forth. Or um, squishes forth. I had been wondering about the bare patches in the middle of our grass and I think I found (ew) the culprit. GRUBS. Lots of little grubs. Horrid little things. I pulled weeds and the grubs came up with them. I do wonder if anyone heard my first blood-curdling yells. I caused our cat to look up with an extremely annoyed expression...probably thinking that grubs were tasty and next on the menu for him today. (Which is a good thing because I'm sick and tired of picky up lizard heads off the garage floor. I say, if you have GOT to have a lizard, eat the whole thing! This is directed to cats everywhere.)
Grubs are everywhere out here. And in every size. We had a large tree lose a huge limb last spring. It was completely green and we were mystified. Mr. herewegoagain fired up the chainsaw to cut up the wood and we found grubs the size of Rhode Island all inside the hollow limb. They looked possibly "tasty" to the right tribe from New Guinea. And today I found their miniature cousins who are doing the same number on our already-pathetic St. Augustine lawn.
SO, the grubs were gross. I perservered. Then a really scary spider came out. Now, I did NOT expect a spider to be living in the grass. This one for sure and certain looked like a killer. It wasn't as bad as LAST year when I pulled a weed and a scorpion came up out of the dirt, pincers waving. I still have nightmares about that and I don't go to that part of the garden anymore. The weeds can have it all.
The spider almost did me in, but I kept pulling. I was really being brave, but when I stuck my hands in a fire ant nest, hidden in a clump of weeds, that was it.
I thought, "It's time to blog".
posted by herewegoagain at
2:15 PM
3 Comments:
That's like the camps I went to. I always chose the "intellectual" camps where you sat in on classes, airconditioning, and had some reading to do. Going outside? In the heat? Free labor for them? Sun and Tan?! I don't think so. Give me airconditing any day. I'm an inside girl. I like the sun, just as long as I am lounging and then, only for a little while. Otherwise, you have to worry about fire ants making a nest on you and be wary of mosquitos.
By
Anonymous, at 8:59 PM
Well, I had NO idea you had such an eventful day while we were climbing up the big rock, getting lost, hot, scraped, bruised, and sunburned.
CREEPY CRAWLIES GALORE, eh? I laughed at your lizards...and your grubs...and your spiders...until tears came out of my eyes. That must have been while we were in the caves at Enchanted Rock. On the topic of creepy crawlies...there was one point in the caves when I remember yelling at J and Bri NOT to touch the rock above our heads because it was COVERED in Daddy Longlegs. Of course they bumped it, and the Daddy Longlegs fell all over ME. sigh. Do you ever wonder if sometimes the buggies gang up on us people? I'm pretty sure wasps-at least-fly in formation and intentionally attack!
By
Anonymous, at 11:24 PM
I still need to blog about perfect daughter's wasp experiences. Ah,life in the country....When you are at Harvard Law school, you'll miss it. (or possibly,--not..).
By
herewegoagain, at 12:17 AM
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