Over-wrought lawn.
July 5, 2015 7:00 am
Ten inches of rain in June.
More on July 1.
A whole bunch of writing and working on my busy schedule. I could practically hear the grass growing in the backyard of our Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood.
Over-wrought lawn.
Into every life a little rain must fall … yeah, right.
The Lush Life might be OK if you’re sitting around listening to Billy Strayhorn’s jazz classic or even if you’re thinking of the bigger figurative picture, dreaming of having it all, maybe having some grapes fed to you …
But this green gnarly knot of bladed lawn, two weeks in the making, had to finally be dealt with by me and my gas push mower. So slowly I pushed and stopped and unclogged the chute emptied the bag.
All is well.
Not a bad cut. Not bad at all. Certainly more than a little off the sides.
How long have gone between mows? Would you have taken the catcher off and mulched or emptied the bag a bunch? How much rain have you gotten lately where you live?
Posted by markbialczak
Categories: iPhone Photography, Life
Tags: Backyard, Eastwood, Garden, Gardening, Photography, Rainy Days, Syracuse
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It’s been storming here every day. If we don’t mow once a week, it gets so long, the mower stops every few feet. Your yard looks great! 😀
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By rachelcarrera on July 8, 2015 at 10:14 am
Thanks, Rachel. I had to stop every few feet to unclog the chute. ;-(
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By markbialczak on July 8, 2015 at 12:14 pm
You look super adorable. 😘❤
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By Little Rants on July 7, 2015 at 3:00 pm
My lawn thanks you, LR. 😉
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By markbialczak on July 7, 2015 at 3:19 pm
Amazing typo there. Your lawn*
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By Little Rants on July 7, 2015 at 3:20 pm
Hahahahaha. You are so fabulous.
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By markbialczak on July 7, 2015 at 3:29 pm
Erm. Embarrassing!
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By Little Rants on July 7, 2015 at 3:32 pm
No need for that at your DL’s blog, LR.
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By markbialczak on July 7, 2015 at 3:41 pm
Awwwwwwh. Thank God.
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By Little Rants on July 7, 2015 at 3:44 pm
SO much rain here. Colder than usual and rain and rain and rain. Anybody have an easy-to-follow schematic for an ark???
We have a lawn service, which is good because when the grass gets long at all you can see there’s not so much grass as a field of clover and weeds…
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By yogaleigh on July 6, 2015 at 3:04 am
Haven’t been able to mow part of my back yard for weeks do to sogginess. It’s finally drying out a bit, but I may need to rent some farm equipment to tackle it. At least it’s the back yard.
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By snoozing on the sofa on July 5, 2015 at 10:45 pm
Yeah, the neighbors haven’t gotten that petition all the way up and down the block yet, Scott. Farm equipment. You know that from Herkimer. You’ll be OK. Teach the oldest. Wet lawns stink, my friend. Big time.
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By markbialczak on July 6, 2015 at 12:13 am
Yes, the rain is good but I agree! Grass is growing like weeds. Upon our return from The Cape yesterday we were greeted by a tall field! 🙂
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By brickhousechick on July 5, 2015 at 10:43 pm
And I bet Mr. B got right out there and cut it down, too, Mrs. B. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 6, 2015 at 12:12 am
Very nice article Mr. B! Good history reminder and warnings. I love your writing btw. 🙂 We used to let the kids play with sparklers during the 4th but that’s it. We definitely prefer to leave it to the pros.
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By brickhousechick on July 5, 2015 at 10:37 pm
I know, Mrs. B. Let’s keep it safe for ourselves. We can be smart.
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By markbialczak on July 6, 2015 at 12:11 am
I was just reading about a young twenty something kid who was drinking and put a fire cracker on his head and lit it. Died instantly. So sad and something that didn’t have to happen.
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By brickhousechick on July 6, 2015 at 12:12 am
So tragic. Damn silly kid. Oh, Mrs. B. Could have been me in my idiotic youth.
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By markbialczak on July 6, 2015 at 12:15 am
I did most of the watering and mowing of our 50 x 75′ L.A. backyard for the twenty years we had a lawn back there. The proof is that when I became a teacher and no longer had the time, the grass disappeared. 🙂 In F#cking Florida, I did front, back, and sides–pain in the rear around the trees I planted. But I liked knowing I was doing it myself. Now, I have no lawn, or trees, or flowers, or birds, or bunny, or turtles. I have decided I’m going to try to move again and get them all back.
🙂
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By Outlier Babe on July 5, 2015 at 9:13 pm
You can do it, Babe. Proven already! Worth it all, right?
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 11:52 pm
So worth it. The tiniest house with one bedroom and bath in a middle-class neighborhood is worth more than a three-bedroom condo in a ritzy zipcode, if it has no yard.
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By Outlier Babe on July 5, 2015 at 11:57 pm
Yup. That’s the word, Babe.
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By markbialczak on July 6, 2015 at 12:14 am
I don’t do any of the mowing. Under my breath, I just added, “Or it would freakin be mowed…” but that’s beside the point 😉
I don’t know what The Mister does. He sometimes bags and dumps the clumps in beds I want to leave fallow, or if he barely mows much, he’ll leave it lying there. I really don’t care, but I listen to him go on about it like he’s performed brain surgery, as much as he’ll listen to me talk about basil and garlic presses and how the shallots are too sweet — it’s a happy marriage, we’re just grateful the other does these things, you know? LOL
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By joey on July 5, 2015 at 8:31 pm
I do know, Joey. Indeed. Everybody’s OK at the end of the day.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 11:47 pm
No lawn to mow here in inner city Liverpool. The weather broke, momentarily with a storm that failed to clear the air. Still I could always sit inside and listen to Billy Strayhorn. I used to use an ice breaker on training courses to get people to introduce themselves by name and organisation and add who they would most like to spend an evening with, I was always prepared for this – that one person for me is Billy Strayhorn. By all accounts a lovely guy who knew how to party.
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By radicalrambler on July 5, 2015 at 3:41 pm
Hell of a songwriter, too, Roy. Under-recognized by too many for his contribution to Big Band jazz! You have a good ear and taste, sir. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 4:57 pm
On July 4th The Gramophone magazine listed their top ten American composers – Copland, Bernstein, Barber – the usual suspects. I castigated them for not only failing to include Strayhorn/Ellington but not having them at the top of the list.
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By radicalrambler on July 6, 2015 at 12:53 am
Good man, Roy!
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By markbialczak on July 6, 2015 at 8:08 am
Mark it appears that you have had all our wet weather and we have had your sun – it was 34C here last week. No need to cut the grass for nearly three weeks now! thank you for sending summer our way. It’s looking good at the Itty bitty.
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By lundygirl on July 5, 2015 at 3:34 pm
Yes, enjoy our heat wave, Rachel. Maybe were taking it back. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for 89 F. On my golf league night. 😮
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 4:54 pm
Hubby mows our lawn (he insists on it). This year has been a battle because, of course, you can’t mow when it’s raining but the rain makes the grass grow more quickly. At about this time last year, the lawn was pretty well burned out and didn’t need mowing.
I did, however, finally go out and pull those nasty weeds choking the bushes in front, if only because I needed to get away from the construction work for half an hour. Not up to doing flowers this year – maybe next year.
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By cordeliasmom2012 on July 5, 2015 at 1:10 pm
My dear wife Karen is out pulling weeds and trimming right now, CM. She loves to “dig in the dirt,” as she calls it, and I love that about her. Oh, that darn construction at your place!
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 2:43 pm
That is exactly the phrase my middle daughter uses – “dig in the dirt” or “play in the dirt.” She was supposed to come help me (she lives in an apartment and doesn’t have the opportunity), but with the construction, we had to delay things a bit.
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By cordeliasmom2012 on July 5, 2015 at 4:20 pm
I envy the small size of your backyard. That’s probably what I’ll be doing tomorrow morning…. assuming it decides not to rain between now and then.
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By evilsquirrel13 on July 5, 2015 at 11:59 am
I’ve gone from way big to this in the very wise house downsize, Bill, and I consider it a blessing. An hour a week of maintenance, max, is enough for me. And I hope you get enough dry spell to cut your Midwestern jungle.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 2:11 pm
It is called SOD here Mark!
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By Cheryl "Cheffie Cooks" Wiser on July 5, 2015 at 11:41 am
It’s only called sod here, Gatorette, when you buy it pre-grown and they haul it in on a big truck and somebody in overalls and boots lays it down carefully and stomps it in and waters it and you got yourself a pre-grown natural carpet. Those of us who let it grow from the earth where it lies call it grass on the lawn!
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 2:08 pm
But here in Florida we have to have sod! Lovely rolled out grass man thick and coarse! Eck…
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By Cheryl "Cheffie Cooks" Wiser on July 5, 2015 at 2:27 pm
Yeah, if that’s what you gotta do, that’s what you gotta do, Gatorette. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 2:50 pm
Off and on rain for us too in Florida. We have to mow every week or it looks like a wheat field. The HOA frowns upon that. Yuck, on that push mower. You need to get a gas self-propelled. My weak girl arms would die! LOL! 😀
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By Silver Threading on July 5, 2015 at 11:14 am
Ours is a gas push, Colleen. Our little city lot doesn’t need the self-propelled. I can push. Still. Yet. Knock on wood. 😉
Yeah, we have no HOA, so some folks just let it go here. I get antsy when my own gets as long as it was in this before photo. The gnarly ones in the neighborhood twice, three times or even longer … I can’t even hardly look. 😦
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 2:00 pm
That is why I wanted some rules. I hate when other people don’t take care of their property. Believe me, it happens here even with an HOA. It has been so hot this year that the mowing is kicking my butt! Ron and I split it up. Ah, what do you do? Plug along as usual. Our front yard is large. The back not so much. I liked Arizona. We had rocks. 😀
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By Silver Threading on July 5, 2015 at 2:22 pm
Rocks are nice to look at, Colleen, not so good for cooling off the yard like grass and plants and such. Ah, well, the trade-offs we make, right? I’m glad that you and Ron can split the mowing load, my friend. ❤
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 2:47 pm
It’s been raining pretty evenly down here in ‘Bama, Mark. I have to try to mow once a week; even at 10 days’ growth, the lawn turns into a jungle. You have my sympathies doing all that in a push mower.
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By siriusbizinus on July 5, 2015 at 10:59 am
Hey, my friend, I’m glad you’re getting enough precip in ‘Bama land. It’s not so bad with my 22-inch gas push mower, SiriuzBiz. It only takes me a little more than a half-hour, and I don’t rush it. Have a great Sunday.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 1:57 pm
Hi Mark,
Between the boys and I, we usually cut the grass. Your lawn looks lovely. And green (just like me – with envy). Problem with cutting our grass, is there is always a pissing contest about who is going to have the dubious honor of picking up the dog poop – which is quite a sizeable task (think Great Dane). We of course, are on the “Don’t frown on brown” mindset right now – and so the entire city looks awful. People are letting their huge trees die because of it. Starting to look like a bomb zone around here. No rain in sight, although we did have a thunderstorm the other night., We all came out of air-conditioned house to stare up at the sky and ponder why such a thing was happening in July.
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By SD Gates on July 5, 2015 at 10:43 am
I hate to hear of huge trees dying of drought, S.D. Can’t we spare them a cup of water to keep them barely breathing?
Here’s what I do for the Ellie B doody-bombers, of which there are many. I aim them in the middle of the mower path and hope the suction places them in the middle of the grass clippings. Otherwise, my dear wife Karen takes it upon herself to scoop ’em up with a doggie shovel we purchased and place them in a bag inside a metal pail we bought specifically for that purpose as well. You can spot it in the far top rightt of the long-grass photo, as a matter of fact.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 1:55 pm
Unfortunately, because of the height and mass of Mikey’s ‘presents’ in our lawn, I am afraid they cannot be run over, they just end up getting smeared as you walk along. Even bigger messy – I know this because I have tried.
I think as far as the water thing goes, we should all stop eating almonds, the rich almond farmers get the majority of water around here while the rest of us watch our gardens die. Did you know it takes 1 gallon of water to produce 1 almond? It’s crazy!!!!! I guess I shouldn’t complain too much because I have patients whose families live in some of the smaller towns down south and their wells have dried up. So no running water in the house at all. Can’t bathe their children, can’t wash clothes – people donate drinking water – it is really, really awful. Entire towns have simply run out of water.
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By SD Gates on July 5, 2015 at 4:14 pm
You live in a nightmare zone, S.D. We need to find a way to distribute the water from here to there. Or purify the ocean water for needed irrigation use. I can’t believe that hasn’t been solved. Wait. Then we’d be messing with that ecosystem, wouldn’t we? We’re screwed, plain and simple if we can’t figure out how to seed the cloulds and make it rain.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 5:13 pm
Crazy thing is, they have a completely ready-to-go desalination plant I think in Santa Barbara, but the environmentalists are up in arms that we will cause an unbalance in the ocean, and the government doesn’t want to spend the money to start it up (they would rather spend gazillions of dollars on a high-speed rail from San Francisco to LA – that nobody wants). All we can do is pray for a rainy winter (again). I tried a rain dance – didn’t work.
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By SD Gates on July 5, 2015 at 8:27 pm
I hate cutting wet grass! You did a great job Mark!
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By Priceless Joy on July 5, 2015 at 10:13 am
Thank you, PJ. It makes it harder to mow, that wet. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 10:28 am
my garden loves the rain and my lawn as well, so i have to mow when the moment strikes. luckily we’ve had a string of sunny days lately. i usually mow every 10 days or so, depending and just do it without the bag, freestyle )
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By ksbeth on July 5, 2015 at 9:54 am
If I were to do it bagless, Ellie B would forever be tracking clippings throughout the Little Bitty, Beth, so I can’t even consider that. 😦 I like it for your cottage grounds, though. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 10:05 am
One time when we lived in a house, we actually got told off my neighbor for our unkempt lawn. Not entirely our fault, Mark. The lawn was in disrepair when we bought the house and, you know, us with our black thumbs…well. Yes, very little rain here in CA and they are being very strict about when to water and when not to. The little lawn on the front of our building has patches that look like straw. Yours, on the other hand, is very attractive.
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By Marissa Bergen on July 5, 2015 at 9:52 am
You can only do what you can do, Marissa. Straw without water will forever be straw. At least it’s the apartment manager’s woe.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 10:04 am
Yes, one of the perks of living in apartment building!!
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By Marissa Bergen on July 6, 2015 at 1:05 pm
We’ve had to cut our grass twice a week most of this spring/summer because of the rains. Which, also prevents one from always cutting the grass twice a week. 🙂
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By Chatter Master on July 5, 2015 at 9:39 am
I know, right, MBC? What a conundrum!
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 10:02 am
🙂 Sigh. We’ve been gone 4 days. Complete sunshine the entire time. We are literally minutes from home and guess what? Clouds. Clouds. Clouds. And is that….rain I smell in the air? 🙂 Grow grass grow!
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By Chatter Master on July 5, 2015 at 1:07 pm
When we went to the Cape, on the drive home, the clouds gathered as we crossed from Massachusetts to New York, and the rain started when we hit Albany. When we got to Syracuse it was pouring. Sigh.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 2:42 pm
I know, it’s been horrible. Where we were over the weekend, they said the weekend previous they had SIX INCHES of rain in a day. The flood damage was horrible.
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By Chatter Master on July 6, 2015 at 9:15 pm
Let’s all turn toward California and blow at once. We’re pretty windy, right, MBC? And they need our rain. 😦
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By markbialczak on July 7, 2015 at 7:40 am
They do indeed, and I think between our 2 states we have enough ‘wind’ to blow some rain that way.
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By Chatter Master on July 7, 2015 at 9:20 pm
States? I was talking about you and I, MBC. 😉
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By markbialczak on July 7, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Oh I know ….. but I was in denial.
😉
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By Chatter Master on July 8, 2015 at 7:46 am
What a lush and lovely green lawn.
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By Benson on July 5, 2015 at 8:36 am
Thanks, Benson. Green without a drop of fertilizer, too.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 9:23 am
No rain here, lately. Just hot and humid breeze which makes you sweaty and sticky. Ew.
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By shubhada on July 5, 2015 at 8:29 am
Poor Shooby Doo. Keep cool!
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 9:22 am
I don’t have to cut grass, Mark, living in an apartment. We have had some rain, some thunderstorms and yesterday we even had hail. We could use more rain here and in BC as there are a lot of wild fires going on right now.
As per usual, your l’il bitty looks wonderful and I love those red chairs! ❤
Diana xo
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By dianasschwenk on July 5, 2015 at 7:39 am
I hope you Albertians and British Columbians get the saturation you need, Diana. Droughts are dastardly in so many ways.
MDW Karen and I sit in those chairs for our 6 p.m. social every weeknight, one of our favorite summer Little Bitty traditions! ❤
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 8:18 am
I love summer socials Mark, wish I could just drop in on one of yours and surprise you. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t upset your quiet neighbourhood and I’d bring some ‘only in Canada’ treats for you to try! 😀
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By dianasschwenk on July 5, 2015 at 9:31 am
You’re in, Diana. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 10:01 am
looks like a beautiful green carpet- quite inviting. I leave the cutting to the gardener who comes every Monday 🙂
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By DailyMusings on July 5, 2015 at 7:36 am
I’ve never in my whole life had a garden service, Lisa. And I’ve had some big lawns, too. Enjoy it, my friend!
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 8:16 am
When we moved into our house I said to my husband, “who’s cutting the lawn? Not me! He looked at me and said, “well not me either!” so when the neighbor’s lawn guy showed up we told him he had a new client! 🙂 I like to garden, but cutting the grass is a whole ‘nother story!
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By DailyMusings on July 5, 2015 at 8:36 am
Good for you guys. When I was a kid, my father tapped my shoulder and made me the lawn guy. I guess I just kept up the role. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 9:24 am
yeah I was the leaf raker in the fall and hauler of those leaves in a tarp- the way I earned my allowance!
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By DailyMusings on July 5, 2015 at 3:01 pm
I hated raking and leaf hauling, Lisa. We had woods behind our house, so I’d rake them and haul them into the woods, and the wind would blow them back into the backyard. Repeat every time my father told me I had to do it. 😦
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 4:50 pm
I don’t love lawns, Mark, but I do love your photos and that song.
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By Ann Koplow on July 5, 2015 at 7:22 am
Thank you for providing the soundtrack, Ann. Yay! I can get my front mowed to this on a good day.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 8:15 am
Looking good! Our neighbor’s garden service contractor randomly mows our lawn, and I pay him when he knocks on the door. Otherwise it never gets done!
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By passion through poetry on July 5, 2015 at 7:20 am
That’s an interesting arrangement, Vonita. Around here, lawn services make you sign a contract and are very official with their big haulers and equipment. I see them in our neighborhood of tiny lawns and I think it’s overkill on most of them! Is your lawn dry and brown, or green and lush? How often does he have to cut it?
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 8:14 am
I would say the lawns are green but not very lush. We also have a long driveway with trees which are protected in Australia, so er have death by leaves. The contractor does a service approximately every three weeks (as mentioned he does the service when he does it). Gardening is not my hubby’s strong point and neither mine actually either. This is what happens periodically while we sleep:
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By passion through poetry on July 5, 2015 at 4:03 pm
Good deed, Vonita. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 5:01 pm
Very cutting remarks.
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By Carl D'Agostino on July 5, 2015 at 7:20 am
You are so good at this, Carl. Happy Fifth. Drinkers of a certain vintage like this day as much as the Fourth. 🙂
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 8:11 am
A corny pun or cliche makes my day
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By Carl D'Agostino on July 5, 2015 at 8:47 am
Me, too, my friend.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 9:24 am
Oh yeah, I remember times when there was no time our lawn was dry enough for weeks and that seems to be when it grows the thickest and longest. Then when the chance does come to mow, it is so heavy that it continuously clogs the blade deck. With my apartment now, I watch while other struggle with this. 😀
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By Paul on July 5, 2015 at 7:09 am
In your new lower, bigger apartment, you probably have a nicer view of the tussle as well. 🙂 My lawn grows faster and thicker when wet from rain. When it’s dry it merely sits there. But that’s rare around here, drought stretches, as you know. Knock on wood. In this world tizzy, we have the water.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 8:10 am
I actually just checked to see how wet Syracuse was and it is not in the top ten. However, in 2014-2015 it maintained it reputation as the second snowiest in the continental US – second only to Lowell Mass. 😀
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By Paul on July 5, 2015 at 8:23 am
Yeah, we get socked by snow, Paul. That keeps us in the moisture.
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By markbialczak on July 5, 2015 at 9:22 am