I’ve never owned or used a Weed Whacker. I’m an Iowa girl who pulls weeds by hand so they don’t come back. But this year is the exception. With record rainfall, the weeds are on steroids this spring. See photo.
I ordered an electric weed whacker from my local hardware store since I didn’t want it to be heavy and hurt my back. I didn’t care if it needed an extension cord. My lot is small enough for that. The order came in and I didn’t know when I’d get down there to get it.
But then two things happened. PG&E decided to shut off my neighborhood’s power today for 8 hours. The temp was predicted to be 90 degrees today. When my contractor started talking about Monday to begin the bathroom instead of today, I said, “Okay! I’m going to Monterey!”
I picked up the weed whacker today and got some black mulch as well. The dandelions in my flower bed were two feet tall.
It hardly weighs anything. I borrowed a long cord from Trish next door and got busy whacking the foxtails in the backyard (see photo). Dogs and foxtails don’t mix. Foxtails have caused dogs to go blind if they get one lodged in their eye. If one goes up their nose, it’s a trip to the vet.
Today’s foxtails are green and juicy. The weed whacker cut through them like butter. I was whacking away when Ed, my neighbor, showed up. He went home and got his, and we had a weed-whacking party. The backyard is now usable again. Then he raked up the wet weeds, and I loaded up the plastic tub in my red wagon and shuttled it back and forth from Ed to the green can out on the driveway.
Who says old ladies can’t do their own gardening? Especially when they have a helpful neighbor? Trish loaned me one of her green cans in exchange for the use of my recycle can. It was a regular neighborhood garden party except there was no food or drink, just gardening and chatting after we turned off the whackers.
Tomorrow morning, we’ll do the front yard, which faces the ocean and gets way too windy in the afternoon. Besides pollen flying, there’s the old Monterey pine tree to worry about. Ed might even be able to help me lift those heavy bags of black mulch.
The right side of my neck has some tweaks and twitches going on. Maybe I’m too old to weed-whack after all.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 