Friday, July 29, 2011

Goodbye July!

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Another week gone by! We have been busy, busy, busy.

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The girls have had a great time playing "campout" in the backyard. They set up their own little campsite with a play tent, a woodpile, and even marshmallows on sticks. I think this weekend we might even have a little campfire out there. Fun!

Their favorite part is having pretend sleepovers in the tent and whispering spooky stories to each other. I wonder what they're talking about?

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Every day is a good day for a musical parade. I am not sure if the neighbors would agree...haha...but it sounds great to me! :-)

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Our lawn is a mess and has been occupying far too many thought cycles for me this summer. I have learned more about horitculture and lawn maintenance than I ever wanted to know (mostly from Google!) and we are taking steps to make our yard better.

We have a major infestation of Burr Clover, which when it dries out (as it has in our yard), causes nasty, thorny, dry prickles everywhere. It's been nearly impossible for us to use the yard.

We have turned over every option on what to do about it. Our landlords pay for weekly gardeners, but they are pretty useless when it comes to doing anything above and beyond mowing the (non-existent) grass.

We got some quotes on how much it would cost to get a pro to take care of the lawn for us, and it was very expensive, so that's out.

Then, we read online that the best way to get rid of Burr Clover is to burn your lawn. So, we tried that, but it was so smoky and when we heard sirens, we figured our neighbors had called the fire department...and that was the end of that! It's probably something that works in West Texas where there's lots of wide, open space...but here in the city, probably not such a good idea.

One night, we were inside our house fishing all the burrs off of Daisy, and noted how again we were going to have to vacuum the burrs off our carpet. Then we started joking that what we really needed to do was vacuum our lawn.

Sounds nuts, right? But we tossed the idea around, and the next day I went to Home Depot and got us a wet/dry shop vac, and we've started vacuuming the burrs off the lawn.

It is a really slow process, and we are trading off on it...but it is working! We are vacuuming up all the burr seeds from the lawn and it is slowly but surely making the lawn soooo much better.

I even got this hat for when we are working in the yard. I think it adds to the total effect! ;-)

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The bright spot of our yard is Paprika's sunflowers. Second year in a row she's grown them, and they are doing so well! I think some of them are about 15 feet tall. I hope our neighbors like them, too, because they peek into their yard!

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The other yard change we've made is that we are (gasp!) watering the lawn. We are really big on conserving water, so all along we've just thought of lawn watering as an unnecessary luxury. But, I guess if you want to have a lawn that is not brown and dead (at least in this neck of the woods), I am realizing that you have to water it!

Paprika and Daisy love the sprinklers, and want to play in them like it is raining outside! Ginger...not so much. She puts on her lifejacket when they come on, and then stands nearby and kind of glares at them! She is not such a fan. But her big sister? Yea, she's having fun with them!

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She says: Come on, Mama! Please let's make it rain! :-)

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I can't believe we are already through July and just about to start August! What a summer it has been! I have a 5th Birthday celebration to start planning for someone...just two weeks away. Eeek!

Hope you have a great, fun, and relaxing sunny weekend!

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3 comments:

Emily said...

I think the hat was a smart choice. :)

Lisa said...

Fun times in July, I hate to say goodbye too! Love the picture of your husband vacuuming the lawn. Hey, I'm with you. It's worth a try. The sunflowers are beautiful with the way they peek over the fence and gently nod their heads in the warm summer sun.

Danielle said...

If it makes you feel any better, you still can't burn your lawn in W. TX without causing a fire that sweeps across miles. And, compared to W. TX, your lawn is considered a good one. We can't even water when we want because we are always under water restrictions. Most of the people with the "stickers" mow with a bagged lawnmower, so the they won't spread when blow around by a lawnmower without a bag.