I was just reading another blog, one which I get to several times a week. It's Jim Rising's Blog.Jim occasionally has a burr under his saddle. So do I.
We blog to bitch. Blogs were built for bitching. Blogging is bitching.
Seems Jim's been having some problems with his lawn mower. He fixed things, he's back in the business of mowing his lawn.
It's not my mower that drives me boogotz, it's my weed-whacker. Boogotz may not be a real word, but I'm not the only person on the planet using it, it's all over the Internet. A buddy of mine was fond of using it whenever he needed to express how something, or someone, was making him crazy.
"This phone won't stop ringing, it's making me boogotz!" There you you have BOO-gotz in every day usage. Or, "I wish he'd just shut the hell up, he's driving me boogotz."
So boogotz it is with me and the weed-whacker. Piece of junk that it is. Sure looked good when I bought it four or five years ago. It was a junker, a clunker, a loser, right out of the box. I should've returned it, right?
Being the procrastinator, a champion putter-offer, there it sits, full tank of a gas/oil mix and all, just daring me to come and try to start it.
No way, not this year, I ain't goin' near it. I ain't goin' through the usual routine of choking, pulling, yanking, coaxing and cussing that accompanies trying to get a sputter, or a cough, or a hack out of that thing. It teases you, like it has artificial intelligence, like it knows it's poking you in the eye when it won't start.
Or, it will start...then stop before you can crank up the throttle. Once it does stop, forget it, there's no weed whacking that day. As defiant as it can be on a cold start, once it starts then stops, it's 
even worse.
even worse.Not this year. I can't do it. I can't do it and there are weeds in need of whacking. Well, what I really need to do is give our ornamental grasses a haircut.
See that disgusting backyard over there? Of course it's not ours.
Below, yes, that's a little piece of our backyard, and a young deer cleaning out one of our bird feeders. His mother taught him how to do it, we watched her. This is why we no longer vegetable garden. Right behind this darling deer is one of our compost heaps. "Compost Happens." You can see some of our rotting organic matter right there on the left. We have a nice backyard. Nice, not award-winning. If you'd like a nice backyard, invest in perennials, buying as many as you can. Then they'll keep on coming back year in and year out. Annuals are for the deck, for the window boxes.
"Friends Don't Let Friends Plant Annuals." It's a gardening joke. There are so few. Perhaps you now know why.
See that disgusting backyard over there? Of course it's not ours.
Below, yes, that's a little piece of our backyard, and a young deer cleaning out one of our bird feeders. His mother taught him how to do it, we watched her. This is why we no longer vegetable garden. Right behind this darling deer is one of our compost heaps. "Compost Happens." You can see some of our rotting organic matter right there on the left. We have a nice backyard. Nice, not award-winning. If you'd like a nice backyard, invest in perennials, buying as many as you can. Then they'll keep on coming back year in and year out. Annuals are for the deck, for the window boxes.
"Friends Don't Let Friends Plant Annuals." It's a gardening joke. There are so few. Perhaps you now know why.I got me a new weed-whacker. A brand new battery-powered whacker that can't refuse to start, because all you do is flip the thumb-switch and off you go. At least that's the theory. The practice? Yet unknown. And with good reason. The battery takes around nine hours to charge.
Now it is charged. It's raining. No whacking today. We all know you can't mow or whack wet grass or weeds, it just doesn't work. Any man who's gotten out of chores knows rain brings a solid excuse, it'd stand up before a magistrate.
See, I figure this new toy is from a known and trusted name in power tools, so it has to work, it has to get the job done, it has to be at least as good as my ex-whacker, the gas-powered one, the one that mocks me. If this new whacker runs, it's got my attention.
Battery powered garden tools don't have a great reputation. Their history is pretty much one of not enough juice to get the job done. That's why we turn to the internal combustion engine for backyard chores. Gas gets it done.
I'll have to report back on what the new non-fossil fuel whacker does, or doesn't do. Until then, let's talk about Jim Rising.
Jim spoke of his Dad and how he possesses his Dad's inability to to fix things around the house.
Battery powered garden tools don't have a great reputation. Their history is pretty much one of not enough juice to get the job done. That's why we turn to the internal combustion engine for backyard chores. Gas gets it done.
I'll have to report back on what the new non-fossil fuel whacker does, or doesn't do. Until then, let's talk about Jim Rising.
Jim spoke of his Dad and how he possesses his Dad's inability to to fix things around the house.
refused to be screwed, they knew not the tingly jolt of 110AC that only forgetting to cut power can bring. I know such men, Jim. They exist. They are among us.Go out and buy yourself something manly...or go to Hillside and make it a double-dip.
