On the Chain Gang
Slowly and surely I hope to increase the frequency of my entries. This weekend was a profound experiment in contrasts. On Saturday, elderchang and I started to renovate the facade of his family business. The two tiered entry way consists of an upper planter region of 37 ft by 2.5 ft flanking either side of the entrance. The bottom tier consisted of weed/drought resistant grass for about 370 square feet (again flanking the doorway 37 x 5ft). We decided to take care of the upper planter area. This consisted of a couple cacti knocking on Death's door, two quasi-alive fleshy plants and an over-abundance of wildflowers that spewed seeds everywhere (including on the lawn of weeds). We tried to eradicate the majority of the wildflowers as well as the dead cacti (though we tried to salvage a few young sprouts of these aloe vera looking cacti). We underwent a time warp as we dug up old coke and pepsi cans, as well as styrofoam cups, nails, screws, iron blocks, and the occasional cigarette butt. It is amazing how these things fail to decompose, a key lesson to any child on how and why it is necessary to recycle as much as we can, and use bio-friendly materials that do not taking eons to break down [wow something against my party affiliation lol]. In any case, it was slow, methodical work, he with the shovel, myself with the trowel. Working the soil, I began to realize what it's like digging in the desert, as the soil screams for water. More than once, we coughed at the thrown up dust, as we recalled Mr. Bohannon's lecture on the Dust Bowl in American History. After aerating the soil we give it a very generous amount of water (ie we flooded it). We rinsed and repeated this three times, to the point where the dust actually looked like usable soil again.
After taking small break for lunch, we commenced aerating the soil to the side of the building measuring about 21 x 6 feet. We might as well have been sticking our shovels into the sidewalk, the ground was that hard. After drenching the ground once over, we found the first inch of soil to be hydrated. We repeated this a few more times, to the point where we were digging in mud, sure easier to go in, but slipping and sliding all over the place. Both of us were nearing our saturating point, as we started to work only half-heartedly. After we finished with this section, and the workers in the shop closed down for the day, we decided to check out some prospective new editions to the planter, as well as get some estimates on fresh sod. Elderchang decided to go with the Marathon 3 variety, now we just need to do some price comparisons. On our return, we used gallons of round-up to eradicate the growth on the lower tiers. As of today, elderchang reports about 50% casualty. In the coming days, we will increase the concentration of the herbicide to hopefully eradicate the rest of the growth down there to make our job of tilling the soil easier this coming weekend.
By this time, both of us were dog-tired, which ironically leads into Saturday evening and Sunday. My brother and sister decided to get a small puppy for the house, am eight week old Jack Russel Terrier, no bigger than my foot. Because of its constant craving for attention, I doggy sat all of Sunday, sleeping on the bench outside in the most uncomfortable positions. As elderchang can attest to, I enjoy the status quo, forcibly against change. I like the rut of my life, it comforts me. Albeit this is socially detrimental, I rarely crave social contact, much preferring interaction while playing World of Warcraft on-line. Oh well guess that has to change now..grrrr....more to come....
After taking small break for lunch, we commenced aerating the soil to the side of the building measuring about 21 x 6 feet. We might as well have been sticking our shovels into the sidewalk, the ground was that hard. After drenching the ground once over, we found the first inch of soil to be hydrated. We repeated this a few more times, to the point where we were digging in mud, sure easier to go in, but slipping and sliding all over the place. Both of us were nearing our saturating point, as we started to work only half-heartedly. After we finished with this section, and the workers in the shop closed down for the day, we decided to check out some prospective new editions to the planter, as well as get some estimates on fresh sod. Elderchang decided to go with the Marathon 3 variety, now we just need to do some price comparisons. On our return, we used gallons of round-up to eradicate the growth on the lower tiers. As of today, elderchang reports about 50% casualty. In the coming days, we will increase the concentration of the herbicide to hopefully eradicate the rest of the growth down there to make our job of tilling the soil easier this coming weekend.
By this time, both of us were dog-tired, which ironically leads into Saturday evening and Sunday. My brother and sister decided to get a small puppy for the house, am eight week old Jack Russel Terrier, no bigger than my foot. Because of its constant craving for attention, I doggy sat all of Sunday, sleeping on the bench outside in the most uncomfortable positions. As elderchang can attest to, I enjoy the status quo, forcibly against change. I like the rut of my life, it comforts me. Albeit this is socially detrimental, I rarely crave social contact, much preferring interaction while playing World of Warcraft on-line. Oh well guess that has to change now..grrrr....more to come....