Today is the first day of summer vacation for me....ahhhhh!
I, too, love teaching, but I think even more, I love summer vacation! My life can become more than just answering to that o-dark-thirty alarm clock for 180 days. I can open myself up to the many, many things in life that I just can't make time for during the school year...and still get a paycheck at the end of every two weeks! Gotta love it!
(lots of exclamation points here!!!!!!)
I started today with counting the days on the calendar and was amazed with the number that I came up with until we return to school at the end of August.
I then proceeded to start a list, as I do every summer, of the all and everythings that I'd like to do/accomplish/start/try/etc. And, as always, oh what a list it is! It goes on and on. I have even come up with some categories - everyday to-do stuff; before June is over stuff; immediate stuff; long range stuff; things I have to do stuff; and things I want to do...now, I gotta say - that one alone, goes on and on!
THE LAWN
One of the things on the on the "immediate" side of the list is our lawn. For those of you who've driven by lately you'll know that it has yet to be mowed this spring. And, for those who haven't seen it, it's gotten to about a foot tall...and the assortment of vegetation ranges from low-lying, but lengthy and sprawling crabgrass, to flowering white clover, to a stringy, tall yellow variety of Indian Paintbrush (I think that's what it is), a beautiful patch of green starry moss, and assorted other grass types that I don't really know by name. Suffice to say, ours is not a well-groomed Kentucky Bluegrass lawn that might grace the cover of "House and Lawn Beautiful!"
Our lawn mower of the past few years finally up and died last September. Well, that's my version. Ace will tell you that I kind of beat it up by running it over roots and rocks and just treating it rather mercilessly. Which is true. For some reason I treat my lawnmowers like workhorses and they better stand up to the work, even if it means being pushed under bushes into unknown territory and then hitting rocks and plowing over stumps! (and, yes, they are my lawnmowers, I've bought them and been the main one to use them over the years!)
A few weeks back I bought a push mower to replace our last model. You know the kind -- no gas engine, just rotary blades spinning around and chopping up the grass as you pass over it.
Oh, if it were so easy!
Ace tried it out and claimed it just wasn't right for our assortment of vegetation, that it just smashed it all down and didn't cut enough to make it worth the effort. He suggested that I return it and was convincing me that we needed to get another gas machine, much to my dismay.
I didn't even have a chance to try out the push mower until today (hereafter known by me as "one of seventy"). I was sort of surprised when, after pushing it around for just fifteen minutes, I did see that I could put a dent in the side yard that's next to the driveway. Well, sort of. There were still several scraggly pieces, but on the whole I felt satisfied with the performance of the push mower. It took me the next four long but overall satisfying hours to complete the task. I spent a physically active but tiring day taking care of the yard with the combination of the new push mower and my old manual, arm-swinging weed-whacker.
It was a long day. But I was in the sun and getting lots of exercise (two of the things on my "Summer To-Do" list!), and the lawn was getting done. Being on the busy corner that we are, it became quite the little "show of the day" for all the Conant/Laws Brook shortcutters. Old people slowed down and lingered to watch and smiled and nodded appreciatively as if remembering the day when they cut their lawns with an old push mower. Landscrapers, who I could hear all around the neighborhood with their power mowers and blowers and weed whackers, smiled but shook their heads as if I was batty and wanted to let me know that they could do our lawn in a half hour (for $50 a week, thank you!). The local Physical Trainer turned our corner heading to the gym for his next one-on-one $100/hour training session and hardly gave me a glance. One guy slowed down while I was swinging my weed whacker and shouted out, "Hey, that's good practice for your golf game!" I pretended that I was teeing off, did a perfect swing and raised my hand as if a visor over my eyes in true golfing fashion to see how the ball was heading. A true golfer, he shouted out with some authority, "Hey, keep your head down!"
The day was not only productive, but entertaining!
While pushing and mowing away, some writing topics crossed my mind. I thought of how the lawn looked like a bad self-inflicted haircut at certain times of the day and that reminded me of a good little story that I want to include in a kids' story that I'm working on. I learned about our lawn in a different way...different vegetation takes different techniques to bring it down to "lawn appropriate levels." I learned how to maximize my efforts with the push mower. I got a physical work out for myself. I even had an entreprenurial thought, "Hey, I'll get some more push mowers and advertise myself as a personal trainer and get my clients to mow my lawn as part of their training...and, better yet, I'll show that personal trainer guy who drives by and get the last laugh...HA!"
And so it was, my first day of summer vacation.
I'm loving it...!
And, now, after a hard days work, gotta deal with these blisters that have appeared on my hands ...
My lawn after today's efforts...hehehe!
: )
Welcome to the time of self-indulgence. You deserve it. Enjoy every task and every unplanned moment.
I like entrepreneurial spirit...you go girl!
Posted by: joey | June 16, 2007 at 07:42 AM
Yay vacation!!!
And this post cracked me up, I can picture you out there with all the drivebys. Maybe next time you can borrow Fitz's sickle... that's a good workout!
When are we getting the kayaks out?
Posted by: Denise | June 16, 2007 at 10:01 AM