The Green and the Brown

Last night my wife and I decided we should do the lawnwork that we have been putting off for about a week. The grass had grown to about 4 inches and the trimming was starting to look a little less than well-defined. So we ventured out into the yard to battle the heat, the grass and the bugs.

With it being so dry for so long this summer, yardwork has been relatively easy and sporadic. With just a little rain every couple of weeks, it has actually been a battle to keep the grass alive. I have found myself watering the lawn several times as I have begun to see dead spots appearing in the yard. Now our yard is by no means healthy, weed-free or well groomed, but I like to keep some grass throughout most of the yard, as to avoid the dusty, bare dirt brown spots that have been trying to form.

One of our neighbors, on the other hand, is your typical "lawn guy". He works very hard at trying to keep his lawn lush, green and well-groomed. He is constantly watering, fertilizing, inspecting and manicuring his yard. It looks pretty good, but it is nothing spectacular. He must find a great deal of satisfaction in working on his lawn, because their is nobody else around him who really seems to give a rip. He spends so much time working on his yard that I rarely see him sitting down and enjoying it for what it is. It seems kind of ironic to me to work so hard at something and to never take a few moments to sit back and enjoy the result.

I'm sure that if I were obsessed with having a "perfect" lawn I would find this summer to be totally exhausting, both physically and financially. Thankfully, I just enjoy having a lawn of any sort, and the fact that it is currently mostly covered with grass that is barely staying alive is okay by me. Our lawn may not be the greenest in the subdivision and it may not be the most full, but we are enjoying it as much (if not more) as our neighbors are enjoying theirs.