Mulch

March 26, 2025

Nothing says "it's Spring!" like seeing piles of rotting leaves and woodchips being dumped on everybody's driveway. Sniff it in, that enticing stench of death and decay to usher in the exuberance of rebirth and life that the warm weather brings. It stings the nostrils! We hatch from our winter cocoons filled with cold gray days where we spent hours staring out the windows desperately praying for the winter to break. Then, like magic, the big red truck comes lumbering up the driveway, and we spring forth with shovels in hand!

With our "can-do" attitudes we whittle away at the pile shovel by shovel. Oh, the glory of wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow up the hills, around the bushes...over and over and over again until the pile is nothing more than a wet spot left on the driveway. A trophy to mark your triumph of hard work and dedication. Yes, my friend, you have survived another winter...well done, well done indeed!

Of course, two months from now, we will be locked back inside the house. Air conditioners blasting and complaints about how damned hot it is outside. Back to the window we find ourselves, staring at those once glorious gardens now filled with weeds and crabgrass. We pray for the fall to arrive, the cooler weather, the kids back at school...the leaves changing colors and dropping endlessly all over the yard. We hire people to come clean it up, pay them top dollar...but damn if those gardens don't look great again.

The long winter then ensues, as we stare out the windows again...but not to fret, spring will be here again. The big red truck will come back up the driveway to dump all those leaves and twigs you spent good money to have removed last fall back onto your driveway. I guess you paid to have them stored for you over the winter? Well, either way, damn those gardens look sharp. Happy spring everybody! I've got to go, the big red truck has been spotted coming up the old driveway. Now where did I leave that shovel?

Now get to work, Maggie! Chop Chop!