Chris went for a walk. So did I. Sort of. I walked into the back yard to mow the grass. Might as well get that little chore whipped out before she gets back. I got started. One row begun beautifully. And then I saw it. Reaching its evil tendrils out from the depths of the flower bed. I wasn’t positive at first, so I turned off the mower for a closer look. Yep. There it was. A very large, very evil stickerbur plant. And I’m not talking about those fake stickerbur things. Oh, no. This was the kind with the actual line of burs in a pod that looks like a simple grass stalk until it opens up to reveal its treacherous innards. Not wanting to spread the evil like a Delta Covid infection, I went to the garage and got the weed puller tool. Bam. One less pocket of evil in the world of our backyard.
But
while walking back from the garage, I noticed one particularly overgrown
portion of one of Chris’ vines. Well, of
course I couldn’t let that slide. I went
to the storage shed and pulled out the loppers.
Wonderful tool, those loppers.
Snap right through any branch that you can wrap it around, as long as
you have the strength to actually bring the handles to a close. It took that vine right out. Of course then I had to carry the offending
branches to the trash can. But before I
did that, I noticed some branches of the other vine hanging down, so off they
came as well. Hey, you might as well do
what you see, right?
Speaking
of what you see, that led me to notice the old satsuma tree that died in the
freeze. It has turned a nasty shade of
black. And I did have the loppers in
hand. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get
all of it, but I at least could trim off the smaller branches to make the trunk
easier to access with a chain saw. And
before you know it, branches were everywhere.
Many from that first vine, the boogervilla, had long sharp thorns. I can attest to that with the evidence on
both hands. Scratches and punctures abound. But I worked my way through. And while I was doing that … Chris got
back. She joined in the process and
tossed some branches as well. She was
even in a perfect mood. She let me pull
up the two gigantic sunflower weeds that had fallen across one of the walkways. Love it.
We
chatted a bit, and I remembered the actual reason I was in the backyard in the
first place. Mowing. I got the backyard finished and started in front. It didn’t take too long. Even got the edging done. But then … Chris appeared, loppers in hand. Here was my chance. Like the gallant knight that I am, I offered
to assist her. And like the lovely fair
maiden that she is, she allowed me the privilege. Not only that, she actually gave me free
reign to lop to my heart’s content. I
was pretty tired and really hot by this time, but I wasn’t passing up that
opportunity. I lopped little
bushes. I lopped big bushes. I lopped the oleander bush. I even lopped some branches off the sycamore
tree. Don’t mention this one to Chris,
but I also lopped on the crepe myrtle tree in the front yard. She came back out and swept up the debris
after we stacked all the branches at the street. I gotta say … I was done. Physically, I mean. And I never got around to using the weed
eater in the back yard. That’ll be a
project for another day. Maybe a more
focused day …
Ephesians
3:20-21 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we
ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be
glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and
ever! Amen.”
Father,
thank you for the amazing way you make the plants grow. No matter what we do out there, you are still
at work, patiently providing what they need.
Guess you do that with us too, huh?
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment