The instructions on the fertilizer bag said that I did not need to water my lawn after it was applied, but that doing so would more quickly active the fertilizer. Well, I spread the fertilizer on Monday and by Friday hurricane Ike began watering my lawn—over 9 inches fell that weekend. Fertilizer and a veritable deluge makes a lawn grow—very fast.
I mowed my entire lawn last Monday (with the mower set on the highest setting). Tuesday I redid part of it and Wednesday, the rest (at the right height). Thursday I mowed Tuesday’s section again. I took Friday off and mowed the whole lawn again on Saturday—and it was long. That’s a lot of mowing in a span of six days. The sad thing is that I could be mowing again today. Mowing lawn, it seems, is my response to hurricane Ike.
In nearby Kalamazoo, there were still some downtown roads reported closed yesterday due to flooding. There are many accounts of flooded basements, with carpet being torn out and needing replacement. For those folks, Ike is demanding more of them. However, aside from the local news, this is occurring in obscurity.
Unfortunately, even those directly affected where Ike hit landfall have been already forgotten. Since there is no one to blame and everyone is behaving with great civility, the media is on to more explosive things—namely politics and the mortgage crisis.
Maybe I’ll address those topics in the near future, but right now I’m more concerned with my minor lawn issue and wondering how the folks in Texas, who have far worse issues to face, are doing .
[The entry was planned for yesterday; in my next blog I’ll share why that didn’t happen — it’s a really good excuse.]
Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book The Successful Author for insider tips and insights.