Inadvertant Mud Slinging

As we hop our "Grasshopper" mowers between the raindrops these past few weeks, we share in your frustration - cutting the extremely long grass, while NOT striping the lawn with a thin strip of mud that draws up the wheels with each pass, is a nearly impossible feat. 

Some lawns are just too wet to cut - mowers and feet both sink into the ground. Soon, we will fondly remember all the water, as we enter the hot dry season coming up here.

Till then, anyone invented the hovercraft mower yet?

Are You A Dead-Header?

Summer's here, and with it comes a rainbow of color in flowers. Beds filled with purple and fuschia petunias, yellow and orange marigolds, zinnias in sizzlin' hot summer shades and hanging baskets filled with multi-colored annuals - and all of them require dead-heading to keep their blooms coming. The more old blooms you can take off, the more consistent color you'll see. 

Don't forget to fertilize, using your choice of a vast array of fertilizers out there. But that's another blog for another day.

And keep watering regularly, after we stop getting deluged here in the Northeast, of course. Later in the summer, especially, guard against the soil becoming too dry and you'll enjoy your flowers well into the Fall. 

The Long War on Weather

It seems that the only "down time" I get to write is on snowy days, when my landscaper husband is out saving the world from the possible mishap of slipping on ice or plunging themselves into a snowdrift. Sometimes I wish people would just stay home so I could have my wonderful partner here with me. But then, as I drive to my son to his doctor appointment, I realize that we all have important commitments that we are trying to keep.

I remember the first blizzard we lived through, in 1993. Our older son was only 5 months old, and I was stuck in the house with him. That year the State did NOT call a state of emergency until too late, and people were trying desperately to get to work. There were news stories of people who were fired for not making it to work! My heart ached for our customers as they cried "They might fire me if I don't get there!" My DH plowed for 4 days straight, without sleep - and he still wasn't anywhere near done plowing out people in need. When he left me, his beard was all black. When he came back 4 days later, he had big white streaks on either side of his beard - and it wasn't snow. Living on too much coffee and too little water and sleep had all contributed to his instant greying. That's when it really hit me just how dedicated my husband was to our family's welfare, as well as how concerned he was for his customers. He fought with all his might, came home after 4 days and slept for 8 hours, then went back for 3 more days to dig out more driveways.

16 years later, and I know I won't be seeing him tonight. He left early this morning, kissing me goodbye on my cheek as I lay sleeping. People are depending on him to get his work done, so that they can get to theirs. His work is invisible to most people, unless - God forbid - the weather decides to turn fierce again, pelting us with sheets of ice that cover every surface with a thick glaze, or blanketing the whole East coast with a blizzard of snow. I fear that forecast.

I'm thankful for my husband's dedication to our family, and his commitment to his customers and the people they serve, in turn. I'll always worry about him - that's my job. It'll always be my job, I guess.

So when you see my husband out on the road in his plow truck, could you maybe wave and say a little prayer of thanks and safekeeping for him? I'd appreciate it. Maybe a drink of water...