Tag Archives: winter

Cranky Man’s Lawn Epistles ’12: tick tock … tick tock … tick tock …

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It’s almost Winter … yippee …

Soon the frost will be on the pumpkin; the snow will be on the roof; the chestnuts will be roasting; and I’ll be moaning and groaning.  I like this time of year; I hate this time of year.

Yes, I’m certain that makes sense.

In any case, here be your last Lawn Epistle for 2012!

If you have been a loyal reader and pay attention to my long-winded rants on lawn care, you are more than familiar with my oft cranky, frantic pleadings of  … Fertilize! Fertilize! For the love of God … Fertilize!

I do get a bit exuberant about it.

Another season is coming to a close.  But as with many aspects of Life on this Big Blue Marble upon which we live, the end of one cycle signals the beginning of another.  And as any true Lawn Junkie will tell you, the Seeds of Success for the coming Spring – no matter how miserable I might be while waiting out Winter - are sown in the barren chill of transitional Fall.

My point??  Fertilize … Fertilize … Ferti …

Sorry.

The point is you – Dear Lawn Buddy – have ONE MORE treatment left before you can look forward to the next three months of Leisure, like a 1st grade school teacher at the end of May!  Let’s review …

It’s too late when it looks like this …

Winterfeed  (from an earlier Epistle) 

The last step for the Fall, is a Winter feeding that should be applied no later than mid-November.  The Winter feed goes right to the grass’ roots and is stored there over the Winter.  Once Spring arrives, the root-stored nutrients will give your lawn a growth boost to start the season off right,

Yes, that says “mid-November!  And no, I haven’t done mine yet.  But it’s at the top of the chore list for this weekend!

The important thing to remember is that the Winter feeding has to be accomplished before the grass goes dormant for the Winter.  If you have treated your lawn nicely, you are also still mowing … just less frequently … as your grass should continue to grow until the first REAL frost sets in.

Now, time is a wastin’!  We are at the very latest point for putting down the last feeding of the year.  So get to it … and enjoy your Winter downtime!

… if this Spring you want it to look like this!

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Blogger’s lament

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Winter bleak, cold and dark;
Tho’ “Not so bad.”, Past Winters bark.
Still it saps this writer’s mood,
His efforts at sage interludes.

He sits and stares
At keyboard wanting,
Needing,
Waiting,
Anticipating.

Pressure builds.
Will readers stray?
Cannot you find
Something to say?

Hurry, the mind urges
Or they will wander
To some other place
To slake their hunger.

Resist!  No surrender
To that nagging command,
Temptation to toss them
Whatever’s at hand.

Just try something new,
That you want them to see.
Do it for you to
Dispell your ennui.

And so it occurs on a day with no spark
An effort to purge those fears that harp,
That threaten with a mild depression
Over a blockage in written expression.

The Forecast Blues

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Tonight: Snow, followed by up to 1/2 inch of ice! … Changing to rain, then to a rainy, icy mix tomorrow night.

I can’t take much more of this.  Of course, it could always be worse.  The Mid-West can expect up to 2 feet of winter wonderfulness from the same storm.  So we’re not getiing the worst of it.

Where is global warming when you could really use it?!?

It ain’t easy …

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… writing a blog, or anything else, I imagine.  Despite my goal to contribute to this endeavor on a semi-strict, regular schedule, experience thus far indicates that it just isn’t that easy.  I am concerned despite the fact that NO ONE as yet has been permitted to peek at this effort of mine.

But it’s not like there’s nothing to write about.  From the events in Egypt to early maneuvering in the 112th Congress, there is plenty of material out there.  Fact is, you have to be in the mood to write anything meaningful. Otherwise, you just end up with a lot of muddled, directionless drivel … Kind of like this.

Yet there are times when I cannot wait to get at the computer to put thoughts and ideas to the ethernet.  I imagine other blogger/writer types probably experience this as well.

In my current state of mind, I can readily identify the time of year as one possible cause.  The Dead of Winter is upon us.  This is the worst time of the year for me. I hate it.

The holidays are behind us; Spring seems to be miles away; and there’s very little I like to do at this time of year … that doesn’t involve doing the kind of domestic chores I abhor.

And this weather ain’t helpin’!  Snow snow everywhere … It must be piled 4-5 feet deep along the edges of anything paved. And any public area with a parking lot looks like a Himalayan landscape.  Some of these mounds look like they will still be with us on the 4th of July.

Anyways, it’s a real mood killer.

So what’s the neophyte blogger’s solution?

I think I have to develop some likely themes for those Geez-what-do-I-write-about moments.  This will at least give me ideas for subject matter that can be developed during these dry times.  And I think, once I clue people I know into my secret little project here, I can solicit ideas they might have for promising topics.  That is assuming I end up deciding that this venture is worth someone actually viewing it.

We’ll see.