Ah, the “and” part: We used the weed-eater to cut down these really huge weeds that we thought might possibly have been the inspiration for sci-fi movies. They were not tall in relation to their width; no they were big, ugly leaves that reached out to cover the area of an end table. Of course, the wise thing to do would have been to cover those leaves with weed killer, but we couldn’t wait. We needed to defend ourselves; we will go back later and put down some anti-weed stuff and we will probably arm ourselves with more than a weed-eater.

I love my curved pruning saw; well, love may be too strong a word, adore might be more appropriate. I mean you don’t want to get too intimate with a saw.

With the exception of the saw, all our tools were corded – I have given up on battery-powered tools for yard work. We probably used 350 feet of cord – light green, dark green and yellow. We put the yellow one next to the tool we were using, making it more noticeable. Of course, now I am toying with the idea of adding more cord . . . and more . . . and more – sort of like those million light Christmas displays.

We were able to make it look so much better so fast because it was so overgrown to begin with. I suppose we could have filmed it for a cable TV special. The only thing that went awry was that we left a spool of weed-eater cord hanging from an old clothes line; we thought of it about three miles down the road, but we were hot and sweaty and tired and figured it could hang there for a little longer. Besides, we might have pulled up to see those huge weeds had called the Mother Ship for re-enforcements.

We were going to go on Sunday – to mow, to weedeat, to trim, to spray poison ivy killer, but it rained and was cold. We planned then for Monday but the skies were a heavy overcast and the temperature low and the dew would hang on forever where we were going,  just a couple of miles south of the Michigan line, so we planned for today. And, yes, the sun is out and the sky is blue. Somehow this isn’t like waiting for Christmas.

First on the agenda is loading the car with tools and cords and mosquito stuff; that’s such a festive activity. Almost as much fun as unloading said car, but not nearly as much as the traditional untangling of cords.  We have to be very careful about scheduling the bush trimming – a little too frustrated and gosh, that bush might be a stump, a little too much of good spirits and that bush might start to resemble some sort of “art work” statue. Of course, there is the crazy option which is a variation on the chain saw massacre.

May the force be with us.