There's that old saying, "When life hands you lemons, you make....lemonade." I totally agree with the sentiment. Take today for instance. The day started off rather cloudy and chilly, but later on, the sun did make an appearance for a few hours. By 7pm I knew there wasn't going to be any amazing life altering event happening, so I figured I should get outside and do some weeding. I already knew which areas I wanted to tackle and which particular weeds... the ones that were three feet tall with tiny yellow flowers and the like. I merrily went along my way, first pulling a few in the backyard, then going around to the front. I finished that and went to the other side where I had to insert myself into rose thorns and past a four and a half foot thorny monster of a weed to get the tall yellow flowered beasts in the back. Sadly, several of those did not come out with gentle tugging as the others had, so I will have to deal with them when I have a little more protection from the prickly suckers.
One of the hydrangea bushes in the front has brown spots on the leaves and in the past I had sprayed them with dishwashing soapy water, so I went in the house to find the bottle. As I was making my way around the hydrangea, I noticed a horrid smell, which I figured was just from some neighbourhood cat that had decided to use my garden as a toilet. I continued to spray and the smell continued to smell. The bottle ran out, so I went around to the back to where the garden hose is situate, and ... I did one of those "whoooooosh" type slips... almost... with a smooshing sound. And there was that smell again. I looked down at a solid liquid squished mass right in the middle of the pathway to the backyard... that I had stepped in... Gah! Double gah, with an arggghhhhh thrown in. I lifted up my shoe and ... yup... Well... anyways... I filled up the dishwashing soapy water bottle, hosed off the bottom of my shoe, and having no other recourse but to try and blow the diarrhea type poopy mass off the grass, turned the hose up and attempted to do so. I then realized that there were solid lumps as well... I turned the water up for a little more oomph. I was at first a little ticked off that someone had let there dog go poop in the middle of the garden pathway, but realized that it was not someone's loose dog, it was an incontinent cat. Anyways, luckily I had the suds filled spray bottle and attended to the bottom of the shoe one more time.
I took the soiled shoe off went into the house to rid myself of the now wet sock, and put a flip flop on the left foot. Went back outside to spray the rest of the hydrangea, and two rose bushes, then bagged up the weeds. The mosquitoes were teasing around, so I figured I was done. I would say the same for those poor old shoes. I think I have had them for probably fourteen years. They had started off as my indoor sports shoes, then tennis and biking. After they had worn down their treads, they became gardening shoes. They were allowed to relax, to spread out, the ties to loosen, then break. Now, with holes in the bottoms, old and outworn, I couldn't wear them anywhere else as they would just fall off my feet with each step. I had been thinking a few weeks ago that I should throw them out, but that I didn't yet have a worn enough replacement pair. Well... today's exciting event decided their fate. Come Wednesday morning, they will no longer be a part of my life, but soon will be a part of the Earth, upon which they trod so well.
Photo taken June 4, 2011
The funny thing about this? The last week or two, I have lamented the fact that I had nothing of substance to write about. Go figure... the substance turns out to be
crap again... literally.