Weed the GardenI put it off as long as I could. I procrastinated, delayed, ignored, and dragged my feet. I have deferred, looked the other way and postponed it as long as I could but it was time to weed the garden.
About 4 years ago, my neighbor, whom is a Master Gardener/Landscape artist and retired greenhouse manager, convinced to me put in a perennial garden on the front and around the corner of the daycare house. It adds value to the property, inserts aesthetic beauty and harmony, and also brings peace and added oxygen to the neighborhood. I thought, “Great! A few plants, some black plastic and a bunch of rocks and I will be good to go.”
But let me tell you that, as sure as I’m sitting here in my recliner; black plastic and rocks are not a master gardener’s idea of sculpting a garden. The mere idea was quickly and humanely extinguished and replaced with prancing thoughts of various ground covers and, horror of horrors for the procrastinating person that I am, bare ground and mulch. For everyone knows that where there is bare dirt and mulch, that means weeds and that, in turn, means weeding. My back hurts just thinking about it.
Another thing that I did not know is that three appears to be the magic number in planting. The triangle shape is sort of the feng shui of the garden. Three of this kind of hosta, also known in layman’s terms as those green leafy things, three of that variegated plant, three Alma Asters, three different species of evergreen shrubs, three different dogwoods, three of this and three of that. And I do believe that the magic number turned out to be three hundred dollars worth of threes. A true bargain at a mid summer sale.
Back to weeding… I turned the daycare chickens loose from the backyard fence and reinforced the limits of how far they could and could not go on the sidewalk. I armed myself with a Garden Weasel, a plastic bag for the offending greenery, a flat tined dirt fork, a small hand spade and a pair of cotton gloves with colorful flowers and those rubbery dots on them and I went to work at the long overdue task. These wild plants did not grow and cover the ground in an hour so I don’t know what made me think that I could rid myself of them in that amount of time.
It has taken me four sessions of the weeding process but I have completed the assigned and long overdue task. The garden looks amazing and my pride is restored in my abilities to keep stuff under control and handle things once again.
Did the weedy mess bother me? Nope. I can look the other way better than most.
Was I embarrassed by the catastrophic degree of the weeds? Not really. I’m a busy person and anyone that does not understand that I would rather pitch the ball in the backyard to my kids than to grunt green stuffs out of the ground can go fly a kite.
Though the front of my brain was relaxed and in control, the back of my mind tossed and turned like the princess on the proverbial pea. A weedy garden is a broken promise. It is the height of laziness to plant something and not care for it afterward out of sheer sluggishness. It is like breaching an unspoken oath. It is not following through with an agreed upon plan.
Are there weeds in your garden or are there other things or people in your life that you are neglecting as such? Perhaps an unkempt promise? What are you being lazy about? What or who is suffering because of it?
It’s time to bite the bullet and weed the garden and when its finished I’ll close the gate,
It’s never too early to get stuff under control, it is also never too late.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult, I’m Nancy Kraayenhof and I can be reached at Nancy861@msn.com
A Party
Not long ago I had the pleasure of witnessing an exquisite, off the cuff site. I have rarely seen such beauty and, as it was just for my own personal viewing, I can only assume it was a party in my honor. It makes me wonder what I did to deserve it.
More brilliant than words can describe, I will put the alphabet to the test for you. I love to share the delights I discover in this life.
Picture if you will:
A little after six in the AM.
Fresh, white snow is lying undisturbed all over with just a few traces of the existence of small bunnies. Furry feet had danced to a silent tune in the wee morning hours and left a coded message for me to decipher that could only read: “welcome”.
It’s cold and a bit hazy with blowing snow; sleep still in my eyes and the darkness of a fresh morning. The yard light is severe in contrast and I avoid its gaze.
I disturb the sparkling perfection as I drive slowly down the driveway. I stop at the highway entrance and roll down my darkly tinted side window a bit to peek for oncoming traffic. I wait for a semi truck to pass before cautiously pulling out on the slippery road that could prove to be treacherous to the health of both my midget of a car and myself.
I silently wish my puny auto would yawn, stretch and grow into an all wheel drive monster truck with huge snow tires. As long as I was wishing, I added a heated seat wish, too. What could it hurt?
The highway is unplowed. Snow lay flat in some spots and drifted across like the fingers of a bony hand in others.
With the radio off, there was silence in my car except for the hum of the heater fan and the mini-roar of the small engine. My silent desire for a more competent vehicle still hung in the air but eventually escaped through a miniscule leak in the sunroof and I felt secure once more.
Driving probably too fast for the conditions, I catch up to the semi which turns out to be an eighteen-wheeler with no trailer on behind, so I guess you would call it a what? Ten-wheeler? Whatever.
The fresh flurries on the road and a stern lack of rear tire mud flaps on this tractor truck enabled it to launch the most spectacular cascade! Lumps of snow artistically arched, waltzed, flew through the air and landed with tiny splatters on the roadside where they pranced once again, some down into the ditch and others into the next lane to become rolling, careening elf-thrown snow balls aimed at unseen imps.
The flight pattern of the snow chunks was symmetrical and impressive. It reminded me of a water cascade I once admired in Florida. I snickered that a truck tire on a snowy road outperformed a fountain someone had likely paid an architect several grand to design.
I experimented with distance from the phenomenon to see the varied effects my headlights cast upon it. I watched with fascination as the show changed with the addition of fog lights. Don’t tell my husband, but I even went so far as to get real close and switch my lights to just the amber parking ones. The effect of the color change was impressive and I beamed with pleasure at my creativity.
Of course the driver of this stunning sight had no clue what was transpiring behind him and probably thought me a little nuttier than I actually am, but that’s o.k. If he could have seen what was being seen through my eyes, he would have understood, as would you.
Is life throwing a party for you and are you too busy to see?
I constantly scan the landscape searching for a celebration for me
A snowy festival in my honor from an unsuspecting truck
I close the gate and thank the good Lord for my remarkable luck.
For Brian as you Graduate
By Nancy Kraayenhof
Our son, Brian, graduated last week from Southeast Tech as an Automotive Technician. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments that Doug and I haven’t a button left on any of our shirts for the popping thereof.
Brian and his twin brother, Blake, attended Hills Beaver Creek High for their last two years of high school and graduated in 2004. Blake will be a junior at USD this fall.
The high school years are very important in a growing teen’s life. It was the boys’ choice to transfer from Sioux Falls when we bought the farm. They went from being numbers in a city to faces with names in a town. We are extremely pleased at how the boys were received at HBC and how they grew in their years there.
I could go on for pages about our children but this column is for Brian and for every other person taking a step to another level of life.
Today, Brian and others, I would like to share with you some things that I know now but wish I had known sooner. Maybe somebody told me all this and I just did not pay attention at the time, but there is a chance that I might have. So I take this opportunity to pass along the chance in seven mini-sermons.
1. Responsibility and authority are not the same things. Authority usually refers to your power over people. Those who crave authority usually lose it and it is ugly. Responsibility refers to your pledge to people.
Most people hunger after authority and avoid responsibility. I have learned first hand that you can lose total respect for a person who does not take his responsibilities seriously. You have a great sense of accountability and I applaud it. I admire it in you. Don’t ever lose it.
2. There are only two things in life that are free. When you place money into a savings account, you earn interest. Then that interest earns interest, or “compounds”, which makes your money grow just that much faster. Compounding interest is something for nothing.
The populace that are in search of the proverbial ‘free lunch’ should save the price of a large fry every week, put it in an interest bearing account, let it compound and then they could have their something for nothing. Save early and save often. Putting away for the future is not that hard if you make it a priority and a habit. It’s a no brainer.
There is nothing else on this earth that is free except your mother’s love.
3. Don’t smoke. I could have paid for your entire education with what I spent on cigarettes. I smoked when your sister was little and did not quit until she was almost four years old. The dangers of second-hand smoke were not talked about in the mid 80’s. I live with that guilt every day that I may have stupidly planted the tiniest of cancer seed somewhere. You know, I cannot recall if anyone ever told me not to start or to quit smoking. So I’m telling you.
4. Integrity always matters. It matters to God and it should matter to you. Do what you promise you will do. It is a simple as that. It is telling the truth and doing the truth. It is doing something right even if no one would know if you did it wrong. It is accepting the blame if you make a mistake. It is making amends.
5. Until you know how to handle a small amount of cash well, lots of money will only create bigger problems. More money will not fix everything. Remember to never keep it all (give some away) and never spend it all (save some for the future). Then you will never be broke.
6. A sense of humor is a valuable asset. You can’t list it on a job application or use it as collateral on a loan but it will take you farther than you can ever imagine. Laugh at yourself like I do and you will never run out of material.
Some people have trouble seeing the humor in their life situations. Never laugh at someone else’s mistakes unless they are laughing first. Humor sensitivity is an art.
7. Hand out lots of ‘atta boys’. You would be surprised at how a small effort can really hearten another person. It shows that you have care and concern for them.
A little encouragement goes a long way. It can be something that is hard to give away but it will always come back to bless you. Remember that false praise is just that: false. See number 4.
Iris Murdoch, prolific British novelist, quips, “We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.”
You are smart and good, I’m so proud to say. Laugh out loud along your chosen way. Target purpose, set a goal and don’t tempt fate, I will always be here to help you close the gate. Love, Mom