Mother Nature Hates me

Life is kind of funny sometimes. When I was a kid we (me and the other kids) used to rag on the nice man across the street because he used to spend a fair amount of time on his lawn (sorry Sarah and Cathy). In fact, we used to refer to him as "Mr. Lawn Care".

As an adult I have come to appreciate a decent lawn. Don't get me wrong here - it isn't like I'm out there picking out the weeds one by one. But I will put on the Scott's lawn chemicals three times a year and this keeps the lawn looking green and (mostly) weed-free.

About three weeks ago I had planned on putting on the next round of chemicals so that it would look good for the rest of the summer. I normally have to do it early in the morning because it is supposed to be applied when the grass has some rain or dew on it. I hate getting up at 5 a.m. to do it it, maybe because on some level I see myself as being Mr. Lawn Care-ish. We had a TON of rain in June so it didn't seem to be a big deal to do it any old time.

Luck seemed to be on my side as there was a brief shower scheduled for one late Sunday afternoon. The weekend was over so it didn't matter if we couldn't use the lawn again for a day or two. So as the rain lessened I went out to the shed to get my trusty spreader. I went to pour the chemicals into the contraption when it hit me - it might be worth a gander to look at the directions (trust me, this isn't something that happens regularly). Bad news - Scott's Summer Guard is supposed to be applied when the lawn is wet and then watered into the ground.

No problem, I said to myself. It will surely rain again very soon.

We then proceeded to go on one of the hottest dry spells that we've seen in many years. It may have rained a couple of times but there wasn't at time that I was sure that it was going to rain. After all, I wouldn't want to have to run sprinklers all over our yard (it is about an acre).

So last monday we were due for some rain so I headed out the door at 5 a.m. and told myself that I wasn't lawncare guy. I poured the contents of the bag into the spreader and set out for the yard.

I got about 10 feet when the wheels fell (rusted) off of the spreader. It was actually cartoonish in the way that it happened - they both just fell off at the exact same instant. I checked the side of the spreader to see if it said "ACME" on it (it did not).

And sure enough, it rained HARD that day. I picked up another spreader from the Depot (I love spending $50 on stuff like that) and waited for rain that hasn't come. Sure enough, last night I put the chemicals on the lawn. And today I'm looking at the weather map hoping that the rain comes (as and aside, am I the only one that puts his finger on the screen and traces where the rain might come?). I imagine I'll be out there with the sprinklers this afternoon.

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In case you missed it, I launched a new website over the weekend. It is called "Praying to Pesci" (if you do not get the reference, check out this link).

Why the new blog? While these blogs are first and foremost a creative outlet for myself, I do feel a sense of responsibility to the reader. Many of your are friends and I also felt awkward sharing how I felt about certain subjects. While it is my blog, I felt a responsibility to not go too far in stating my feelings.

The interesting side effect to this effort is that I think I have been a little better in my writing because I do feel free to just come out and be brutally honest. I initially feared that the blog would be a little too dark but I think that I've really found a comedic voice despite the serious topic.

The links to the articles appear in the left-hand side of this page. Here is a sample of what I'm talking about (the West Side Story blog).


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It is moving to the northeast. I think.