Years ago, on a Saturday, my lawn was again in need of liquid sustenance and I was in watering mode, repositioning sprinklers in half-hour increments. During one mid-morning trek, there were two birds on my deck railing. I walked by them slowly...
Years ago, the squirrel population around our home seems to be on the increase. One of their favorite pastimes was gathering nuts from my neighbor’s trees and relocating them to my yard. For years this has been happening with acorns...
I pride myself in having the discernment of knowing when to not take shortcuts, those times when doing so would likely end up costing more work or taking more time. Conversely, I also know which shortcuts are actually worthwhile. This applies to...
A few years ago lightning struck our house. It seems most of the energy was safely dissipated via a ground wire, as intended. Yet some took a variant path, following along the eave trough and blowing the downspout away from the house, before...
Last week I shared my quandary about my lawn (“The Pursuit of the Perfect Lawn”). Although my goal is to find a balance between my lawn’s appearance and the corresponding work required, I yet discover precisely how to achieve that. Part of the...
Over the years my attitude towards lawns has changed. I must have spent too many hours mowing lawn as a teen because when we bought our first house I was ambivalent about the condition and appearance of our grass. As long as it was mowed, I was...
Last night while mowing my lawn, I saw three frogs in my yard. In 24 years of living here and mowing the grass, this was a first. Where did the frogs come from? I know the biological answer and the evolutionary answer and the creation answer, but...
Technically, the first day of spring will not be for a couple more weeks (this year on March 20—unless you live south of the Equator, then you have a much longer wait). However, the seasons seldom line up with the calendar. For me, the best sign...
Leaves Be Gone
This year, I’ve noticed a lot of squirrels in my yard—or at least one squirrel many times over. This is a bit strange, as squirrels like oak trees, walnut trees, hickory trees—seemingly any tree with nuts—and I don’t have nutty trees in my...
