With baited breathe

By this time tomorrow we will have seen The Dark Knight. It's been a few years since Christian Bale returned as Batman and I'm really looking forward to catching up with the caped crusader. Of course, there have been nothing but glowing reviews from just about everyone I know who's already seen it and just about every news source. I wonder how much of that is respect for the late Heath Ledger and how much is unbiased, critical analysis of yet another Hollywood attempt at re-molding the powerhouse cinema. I guess I will have to make up my own mind later tonight. I find it hard to believe Jack Nicholson's performance as Joker in Batman will be upstaged by any performance, yet everything I know so far seems to support that thought. We'll see and I'll be sure to share my thoughts in the "Reviews" portion of the website.

In other news, we've been thoroughly enjoying the produce from the garden. Last night I had some diced tomato and tonight I had the red bell peppers. Everything is wonderfully fresh and really a nice reward for the labor. Conversely, I'm a little saddened by the ease that my "lawn care specialist" had in eliminating 90% of my troubling dalisgrass (what I thought was crabgrass). After literally over a year of toiling on my own and buying every possible weed killer (including a too-effective stint with "Round-up") I get nowhere. After one treatment, my lawn is almost void of weeds and the grass is thicker than ever. Oh well. Some men were born great. Some do great things. And some give up and call Alabama Lawns to take care of it. I'm thinking about asking them to fix the CVs on my Jeep also.

God bless ya'll!

Ho hum . . .

Well, I have to confess - I've given in. Last Monday I entertained a guest I was hoping to avoid. We had a nice chat and shook hands and even brought up some Alaska talk. Still, I had hoped to never meet the man. But I did, and I'm a little ashamed.

So, starting sometime in the next two weeks, my lawn will be treated by "Alabama Lawns".

I guess you could say I threw in the towel, but in the end all I really care about is a lawn without weeds. We'll see how it goes, but I feel like I've hired the help of an organization to fight something that I created to start with (due to my negligence/ignorance/whatever). It's kind of like Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. (Maybe some of you will understand that).

That is neither here nor there right now as I am waiting in the Fairbanks Military Lounge for my friend to pick me up. I've made it back to Interior Alaska searching for the infamous red salmon. Then it's on to Valdez for a date with some halibut. yeah yeah, I know - I'm doing it just for the 'halibut'. If I've heard it once I've heard a trillion times. Oh well, It's still kind of funny, I guess. Regardless, the fish is terrific and I'll be happy to post some pics after the trip.

Take care everyone!
In Him,
David

The Garden / ROTW Part III

In case you haven't already done so, I would strongly encourage you to take a look at our Garden page. It's really neat to see how quickly these seeds have developed into sprouts!

As for my weeds - the saga continues. Here is a quick shot of the rebellion that is going on in my front yard.

Today I went to see my friend, Kirk, and alas - he was at lunch (I guess that's OK). So, I spoke with another employee and was advised (after they saw the pictures of my lawn) to use a spray-on weed killer other than the 2,4-D I used at the beginning of April. I should see yellowing in two weeks and then dead weeds in six. Of course, crabgrass may take multiple treatments to be affective. And like all other things for the lawn, there are explicit instructions on what and what not to do. DO NOT mow within 48-hours before or after. DO water within 1-7 days. DO NOT spray when wind is greater than 10 mph. DO wear long sleeves, long pants, socks and shoes to apply. DO NOT apply in colder temperatures. yadda yadda yadda. So, I think I met all requirements and I'll be sure to avoid the pitfalls described. I really don't care what it takes at this point - I just want to lose the weeds!

God Bless us all!

Revenge of the Weeds Part II

The thunder rolled and I could hear the wind howling over the chimney stack. A quick inspection out the patio door answered my question - yes, it was raining, hard. It's just past midnight and I'm comforted again by the ominous forecast from wunderground.com earlier in the day calling for evening thunderstorms and rain through the night. For, it was that forecast which confirmed my mission for the evening - mow the front yard. I chose to accept it, and after a quick dinner I bid adieu to my family to join the rank and file of the grass corps for the next hour.

Could lawn care be any more dramatic? Really? Well, I've made a lot of changes based on my successes (none) and failures (many) of last year. I've learned that my bermuda grass is much happier at a shorter height. The 2-2.5 inches last summer just didn't do what I was hoping, whereas the .5-1 inch turf is already a vast improvement to the yard. It's been very tough getting the lawn work done the last two weeks, between work, family, church and weather I've had few opportunities to take on the many battles of this war - but phase II is complete.

The back yard was the hardest, by far. It took 2.5 hours to mow. The grass catcher would be full after a single swath of 30 feet. I was fighting the night as the final passes were made. When all was said and done, I hauled 14 full 39-gallon lawn and leaf bags to the street for curbside grass clipping pickup. Two days later I was able to put down the weed preventer and get it watered just before leaving for a friend's house to eat pizza and jam.

I should add that a few tools have been extremely helpful this summer. For instance, my in-laws blessed me with a Ryobi gas weedeater with an interchangable shaft. I've already bought the blower attachment and I have my eye on the hedgetrimmer attachment for a May acquisition. I've also gotten some good use out of a cast iron tractor sprinkler that follows the path of the hose until it shuts itself off at the owner-positioned "Stop" marker.

But, once again, if everything goes well - I will have Kirk to thank. Next step, Scotts Turf Builder fertilizer. Kirk swears by it and he and I will both be treating our lawns come May 1. Until then, my children will enjoy running barefoot in the backyard and I'll be keeping a watchful eye on my sworn enemy - the front yard crabgrass.

God bless us all!
David

Revenge of the Weeds

If you recall, I had quite a struggle with my lawn last summer. Crabgrass grew out of control and my feebile attempts to gain control over my property resulted in a backyard that resembled the lunar surface. Well, things haven't changed . . . much.

This spring (our first spring in this home) brought many new and interesting varieties of unfavorable growth in our front and backyard. Yes, the crabgrass is back, but now we have what resembles a small marsh along our low-lying fence, along with three-foot high grass and bugs as well as this purplish flower weed that has popped up all over. Of course there is also clover, wild onions & several other types of weeds that I haven't even begun to figure out. So, I went industrial and industrious.

Enter Kirk.

Kirk is our friendly store-keep at the local green thumbery. First, we picked up some stuff that I was scared to transport in the van due to the mile-long safety label. That ran out, but it was effective. So, today I got some more (a different brand), and Kirk helped me decipher the rest of the year.

Let's see, spot treatment now, then I put down pre-emergent in the first part of April followed by weed-n-feed. . . .and so on and so forth, until we start all over again, next Spring.

It sounded more like a science experiment than taking care of my lawn! Ironically, I'll probably spend just as much money in equipment, time and chemicals to keep my lawn within the neighborhood standards than I would if I'd gotten written up to the point the HOA forces me to pay for the services of a lawn company!

The truth is I want the pride of bringing my lawn back to life. It's going to go through some pain (due to the chemicals) and I'm going to have to put in a lot of sweat equity, but in the end, I am hopeful of Kirk's promise; that all will be well - as long as I'm lining his wallet.

God Bless!

Problems with Autumn

These are just a few of the problems with Autumn for me:

1. I'm still colorblind and the changing of the trees that should resemble fireworks looks more like a bunch of trees dying.

2. Georgia Tech is still not a BCS-worthy team.

3. In Alaska, it's 20-below.

4. In Alabama, it's still 80.

5. Halloween.

6. Planning the logistical gymnastics to share all of the upcoming holidays with friends and family while still trying to maintain our own identity.

7. I should have saved monthly for Christmas yet it's now November, and we haven't saved a dime!

8. All the months end in "-er".

9. We lose 7-8 minutes of sunlight a day during the fall in Alaska!

10. To stay comfortable: Twelve layers worn to breakfast, two layers to lunch and 10 layers to dinner.

Other than that, fall rocks my world!  God Bless.