Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Watching the Grass Grow

This day clearly sorted itself into a single theme: Waiting for the Grass to Grow.

The Actual Grass
This spring's growing season in Texas has delighted my heart. After nearly two years in our house, we finally got to work landscaping our back yard. It's not much, but the amount of work involved has made me appreciate it very much. Now if only the grass would grow.

St. Augustine grass (known to my dad, who grew up in California, as Devil Grass) is the grass of choice around here in every new subdivision. I fail to grasp why a non-native grass would be better than a native grass such as soft Bermuda grass. I hear it's hardy and has a longer growing season, plus when it's healthy it chokes out every other kind of grass and weed. However, it is susceptible to root rot when it grows too long, or when anything sits on it for more than two days, or when water is allowed to sit on it. And I am terrible at mowing, frequently find that toys and garden tools (and a trampoline) have sat in one place for too long, and I have a yard with drainage issues. Hence, our backyard has large patches of dead St. Augustine grass.

I have now hired a lawn service to spray my yard with fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide in various applications throughout the year. Because I now have money invested in the solution, I am also getting conscientious about mowing regularly and watering the yard according to the directive of the lawn service company. And before the next rainy season (in six months) I also have hopes of installing gutters and a french drain to manage all the water that stands in the yard every time it rains or we run the sprinklers.

Every morning and afternoon I check my yard, hoping to see signs of rebirth. The grass is starting to grow back around the edges, especially in the places I have marked for future patio, garden, or storage shed development. But in the middle of the yard, where I imagine thick, luscious green carpet, I still have big brown patches of death.

Healing from an Injury
As I anxiously worry over my grass, willing it to return healthy and strong, it occurs to me that I have similar situations elsewhere in my life. I've got a chronic injury that I'm finally trying to treat, via chiropractor, therapeutic massage, and/or medical doctor. It started when I tried to help the Captain train for the Warrior Dash. After two months of waiting for it to go away, I am fed up with back pain and went to get an adjustment today. It felt better afterward, but is hurting again tonight. It will be hard to tell if this fixed anything, because there is so much healing that has to occur simply in the muscles surrounding the affected area. I have a doctor appointment soon, plus a follow up chiro visit scheduled in a couple weeks, in hopes that something will make a difference.

Boo's Karate Progress
After a busy day coordinating the chiropractor appointment, preschool, rounding up ingredients for a new cheesecake recipe, and sparing several annoyed thoughts for my dead grass, I took Boo to her karate lesson.

Boo has definitely made progress since January. But on the day to day scale, this was a less than stellar karate day. I got an email from the instructor that if she continues to sit down during class, she will simply be escorted off the mat. Then she forgot her weapon...for the third session IN A ROW. I sat and watched the instructor pull her aside and seriously explain to her that she needs to get her act together. And on the inside I sat and wished I could get Boo's attention and download all of life's lessons into her brain the easy way.

The Common Thread
All of these situations involve problems. In my opinion, they are problems that require my involvement to move toward a conclusion. But as I stewed over my problems today, I had to come to this realization:

Sometimes, fixing a problem is as simple as setting everything back the way it should be.

Sometimes, you can put everything right, but waiting for the problem to resolve is like watching the grass grow: it happens, but it seems to take forever.

I think that old saying, about sitting around and watching the grass grow, is an expression that something is pretty much a waste of time. I have changed my lawn caretaking habits; I've begun to visit the chiropractor; I've continued to challenge Boo and take her to her lessons. To keep worrying about any of it beyond that, will be a waste of my time.

Now it's time to find something more useful to do, like get cracking on the next cheesecake. That has been an adventure in the making, and I can't wait to tell you about it!

1 comment:

  1. Hi!

    Good luck with your grass growing endeavors!!! And that cheesecake! Sounds good!

    It's easy to become a book review blogger! Just go to Thomas Nelson's website and click on the blogger book review button - It will take you to Book Sneeze and you can get started there! Have fun!

    Blessings!

    - Kate :)

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