I'm dealing with the yardwork as well. Brad used to manage the "yardwork"...3 acres to cut out of 5 acres total. We purchased this home a few years ago with an entire horse pasture overrun with blackberry bushes. We manually cleared it all to original state and have maintained with the exception of reinstalling the horse fencing.

The lawn tractor wouldn't start this spring and while Brad had good intentions, I resorted to calling in a favor from a former co-worker to show me how to get the thing running again. Brad's ego was hurt but he understood that we needed to do something. I learned a bit about tractor maintenance and got the foot + long grass cut. In the process, broke the mower deck belt. Brad wasn't able to change it for me but we managed by him talking me thru the steps. Dang it...wouldn't ya know the deck stopped working again...!! It appears that the belt is still on so I need to take a closer look to see if I didn't throw a blade. It may be another phone call for another favor.... Grass grows incredibly fast in the NW in this season so I need to stay on top of it.

Fred, you and your wife are an inspiration to me. I often want to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb. I'm not the same person I thought I was just a couple of yrs ago. I value in your comments as well as your humor. To others, the seemingly unimportant challenge to the bald spots in the lawn is something to decide on a priority list.

Just my thoughts: I could be wrong.

Dorene

Fred, I have to weed my lawn in Spring, I get a lot of broadleaf weeeds and they spoil a lawn. Ray used to sit down and do the job in one Spring afternoon. I am afraid I am not the lawn person he was and things will never look that neat again.

Fred: when Bruce became a partner in the Graphic Arts firm, I hired a lawn cutter. That freed Bruce up for his garden, flower boxes. He did all the watering and chemicals. But he also worked close to 60 hours a week. Two years before the stroke, he told the lawn man that he wanted to mow himself. Even that early on, Bruce realized he needed to do more physically.

The lawn man is back. I am horrible at all of this. Burned a nice large spot coming right off the deck when I missed the spreader with the weed and feed. There are others, but that one is the worst. Been working like a nut trying to get it green again - and we do not have the water issues you all have - LOL - blizzards have a tendency to relieve that.

But the one thing I always remember that Bruce told me. Grass is a cold weather plant. It does not like heat and sun. And his true goal for a retirement home was a small sidewalk size patch in the front and back - like our friends in San Diego had. Everything else on their hacienda was high dessert and left that way. Wouldn't work here, but wildflowers and a nice large patio would do just fine. Neighbor down the street just paved his back yard. He restores cars and that is is love and priority. He sits with a beer while the rest of us work on the grass!

And now with the trees gone and cut back, I can only imagine what this year will bring. If Bruce continues to go out back every day to tend to his boxes and the new herbs he is growing for me, I will consider a landscaper. But until then, I water the parts that are seen the most, it is cut, trimmed and neat. The little back garden is all bulbs, so no work there except some weeding. That is all that is going to get done.

Do let us know how all pans out - Debbie

Dorene,

I'm glad you get something from my wife and I to make you feel better in caring for Brad while he can't right now. You may have to visit your local tractor store to inquire about what you need to restore your tractor before any costly damage is done you don't know about. You could be saving big money in the long run of you taking care of the pasture and the lawn tractor.

Sue,

I got that same Texas broad leaf and dandelions growing in the back yard. This land was once cattle pasture before the developers bought it and divided it up for homes to be built. I had mounds of big red ants too but I killed them soon as I moved in. Then we bought 900 dollars of St Augustine grass and had it put down from the front corners of the house all the way to the back fence about 110 feet by 70 feet wide. Now grass is too high to buy.

My yard man is just that, he cuts, bag it up and he is gone. I really need to hire a lawn decorator to put curved rocks around the trees, shrub's, driveway, and my big rose bushes in the front yard. I got no trees in back.

Debbie,

I need a person to come out and arrange my yard to look better like the three houses a block away on my street. I do what I can on my older scooter I use in my yard hauling all kinds of stuff. At one time a few years ago I had a garden in the back for my grand daughter to learn about tomatoes and we grew many veggies that year. I had her name on a stone saying Demetrius's garden. She couldn't wait to take tomatoes to school for show N tell!

After that she lost interest in a garden, me too!