You Know You're Getting Old When...

We bought the house we now live in late last year and when I first toured the house with the Realtor (I'm not sure she's an actual REALTOR) one of the first things I did was look at the backyard. After walking out on the deck and peering over its edge onto a backyard that had a severe slope that started right after the deck supports and ended up about 12 feet down the hill, I immediately said, "No way!"

But after looking at a dozen more houses and finding nothing comparable for the price, I did what we all do when we REALLY want something, but when there are valid reasons for not getting it...I rationalized.

I rationalized that I could plant grass and shrubs on it and it would be beautiful. I rationalized that I could build steps down the side leading to the flat area down by the creek. And indeed, all these things have come to pass (well, I wouldn't call it "beautiful" at this point just yet).

However, having had to weed-eat this hill (since it's far too steep for a mower), while trying to keep from sliding down the hill at every step, I finally decided maybe it was time to re-think my idea. And again...I rationalized, except this time I started thinking about this hill and my caring for it when I'm in my 50s. It went something like this:

"Do I really want to be trying to cut this grass without breaking my neck when my body is 15 years older and more beat up than it is now? Will I be able to afford some kid to come do it for me? What if they don't do a good job? What if he hurts himself while trying to cut it and he sues me?

So, I finally decided that, while I could leave the shrubs and small trees, perhaps I should just lay down a thick carpet of pine straw and be done with it. And so, I headed to my local Mega-Home Upkeep Mart and bought 12 bales of pinestraw.

It didn't even cover a 1/3 of it. And have you ever tried to walk on pinestraw? It's very slippery, especially on a 15 degree slope. There's apparently some trick to laying down pinestraw on a hill and as far as I can tell, it's basically that you put the bale on your left, grab some in your hand and throw it on your right. Forget trying to do it uphill/downhill. As I found out, you'll only sliiiide down the hill every time.

So now I'm considering having someone drop me off another 30 bales and finishing the job. They wanted about $5.50 per bale (spread) for someone else to do it and I can buy just the bales for $3.49 at the Mega-Home Upkeep Mart, so that's a good bit o' savings. My only question now is how I'll refresh it every year. I won't be able to climb all over the hill to lay a new layer like I did this time. I might just have to stand at the top and toss it down. I'm sure the coverage would be excellent (NOT!).

Fun with Kids

Starting this Monday, I have a guy ripping out a great deal of my front yard to install a new front yard. Normally, I'd do this sort of work myself but as it will require hauling in mass quantities (Coneheads) of fill dirt, I'm gonna bit the bullet and pay someone to do it. The guy seems to know what he's doing, although I've yet to see a real design picture of one of his projects. He seems good with the general yard duties, and I've seen some nice block-work that he's done (you know, those oft-unsightly huge tan blocks you see at Home Depot). So, I'm kinda taking a chance on the guy, but he seems really nice and I kinda wanna help him out. Yeah, and the price is a lot better than the company that actually did my landscape plan.

I'll post before and after pics and let YOU be the judge. That's pretty much all I have for today, it being Easter and all. Gonna do church with the kids. This'll be the first time for all four of us to go to church together.

Pray for us...