DailySusan Humor Blog

DOING WHAT BEHIND THE BARN?

The North One-Fortieth, the garden my brother-in-law tends in a former horse paddock behind our barn, is up and at ‘em. There are tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and much more on the grow. I’m slowly developing a cutting garden along the fence, too, in my four spare seconds per day.

It’s my job to provide the mulch, since he buys the plants. Last year, I couldn’t get much grass hay, and the straw I bought was full of weed seeds. It was more trouble than it was worth.

This year, I got 20 bales of good brome, but it’s hard to place around tomato plants. We’d prefer a thick layer of grass clippings. But nobody around here picks up their clippings any more; everybody mulches it right back onto the lawn. And I can’t rake much up in four seconds per day.

So I found myself calling a mower guy whose ad runs in the local weekly, and asking him to deliver a load of clippings to our driveway instead of hauling them to the dump. I paid, in other words, for grass clippings. They’ll be great in a thick layer around the tomato bushes. But I’m sure my agricultural ancestors are spinning in their graves over my lack of frugality.

At least I had an opportunity to leave this message for Ernie: “I got some really great grass you can do out behind the barn this weekend.”

I think I’ll leave him a rock concert T-shirt and a leather bracelet with spikes to wear while he’s doing it.

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Prayer request: A new friend has opened up to me and revealed a deep sadness: her husband and she are rarely, if ever, intimate. She feels confused and rejected. From his family history, I can tell that he needs a lot of pampering and nurturing, but she works full-time plus and has little energy to give. Father, fill her with Your supernatural strength and warmth, and empower her to reassure him of her love, and Yours. (Psalm 27:10)