Thursday, April 1, 2010

What a Crazy Day!

The kids are still on Spring Break but today I was REALLY HAPPY for that.  We babysat a friend's four year old.  He's a great kid, but he's 4.  Remember that?  High energy?  And friends, my EARS are tired.  Four is the age where they ask the same questions over and over and then tell you the answers you gave them over and over and over...

BUT my teen daughter was home and totally took over with this little guy.  Took him on 2 bike rides.  Dyed Easter eggs with him (can you say CRACK and SPLASH?).  Played golf on the Wii.  Drove on Mario Cart on the Wii.  We were hoping she'd tire him out.  NOPE - just wound him up more!  But it was a pleasure to be able to bless this other family.  Their littler guy is about 20 months and they're visiting a lot of doctors because he has some neuro-muscular problems the specialists are trying to nail down.  It's emotionally and physically exhausting, so to know their 4 year old is entertained and taken care of is a big relief.  If you think about it, pray for answers for J.G.'s parents!  And by the way, we're paying the teen.  Big shopping day tomorrow!


After they left, I went out in the yard to pull ivy.  Sounds like fun?  Oh my, no.  The Reston Association has decided that English Ivy, as a non-native species, must go.  I've ignored them for a couple of years, but suddenly I look up and the yard is being overtaken, so it must go.  There is great satisfaction in pulling it and pulling it and pulling it.  I'm not stupid though -- I know this is just a lull in the battle.  Ivy is tenacious.  At any rate, I spent nearly 2 hours on about 25 square feet.  And we gotta LOT more yard than that!  So tomorrow, more to come! What I am seeing though is the effect of the big snow storms.  Lots of damage and limbs down. I'm being completely ruthless with most of the plants, cutting WAY back, and figuring if they can come back, they deserve to stay.  A real horticulturist would probably admonish me, but hey, it's all just deer food anyway.

FLASH OF BRILLIANCE -- why can't we train the deer to eat the English Ivy?  Du-UH!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Better yet tell the four year old he's Mr. Green Jeans and have him help pull ivy LOL So nice of your daughter to do that. They can be a handful that's for sure. I'd bake her something myself. ROFLMAO. My thoughts are with the family. :)

quilly said...

Prayers offered.

If the English Ivy was edible the deer would have munched it without being invited.

Mary said...

Hope the family gets good news. How blessed they are to have friends like y'all! It's good to have teenagers who can take over and entertain. Ivy is beautiful, but getting rid of it is a BEAR!

The Bug said...

If you ARE able to train the deer to eat the ivy send them south to take care of the kudzu LOL!

Nessa said...

I love the look of ivy just like i like the look of bamboo but they both grow like crazy pushing everything else out.