I've been looking out at my backyard a lot lately and the more I look the more disgruntled I get. My fence line is a mess of all the kinds of vines and over growth. I know there's poison ivy growing in one corner. Oh, how I know there's poison ivy growing in that corner. It gives me hives just thinking about it. Also there's a side of the house I can't really get to with the mower because it's so over grown with rose bushes and more of that invasive vine that is choking the life from all that it covers. The rose bushes aren't even mine. They belong to the house next door. All of it just looks messy and makes my skin crawl. Last year, I ignored it. I made one attempt with my measly little handheld clippers, cleared half of one fence before throwing those clippers at no one in particular. My give-a-shit level got a little higher this year. Friday I bought an electric hedge trimmer and some brush/poison ivy killer. Do I know how to rock a holiday weekend or what? I trimmed ALL of the fence line. Well...most of the fence line. The battery died on the last foot of fence. That was actually a good thing because I can be tenacious when I start a new project. I will work until I collapse, which I almost did. As it is, lifting my arms HURT. Typing isn't easy either. It took me two days but I cleared the fence AND the side of the house AND sprayed the crap out of all that poison ivy. As I hauled the last of it over to my now not so little pile of yard garbage, I turned around and looked at my sad little vegetable garden. It's not all sad. I have one section where the lettuce is coming up like gangbusters. And one day where there was nothing, the next I had three squash plants. I don't even remember planting those. But the rest of the garden is a bust. I guess some of those seeds don't like getting snowed on, twice.

So I picked up a shovel with my already noodley arms and reworked the soil. I planted more seeds. I pulled weeds. I finally got rid of the dead lavender plant in the herb garden. I fought with the garden hose and won. And then? I rewarded myself with a beer that I had to lift to my lips with both hands. I looked like a raccoon drinking a beer. And last night I ate taco salad with lettuce from my garden.

And remembered why I do this garden thing.