do you want triffids? because this is how you get triffids

[the_siobhan]

I keep looking out the window at the backyard and thinking it's got to be as out of control as it can get and it keeps exceeding my wildest expectations. Today I think some of the plants are growing antennae. Or maybe hands. You know, those could very well be hands.

Axe keeps saying "I need to do something about that"[1]. Personally I plan to wait until the very end of the growing season and rip it all out at once.

Maybe November. I have some time off work in November. The sun will be further away then.

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Because there is balance in all things[2], work is going spectacularly well. I actually won a quarterly performance award, which is a first. (I have been on teams that have won them, this is the first time for getting an individual one.) There is a small amount of money attached to it, which is nice because this month is a tight one.

In a couple of weeks Axe starts a job for Elections Canada, which should get us some much-need financial breathing room.

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Just in the last couple of weeks there has been somebody speaking Spanish on the bus every day on my home - different people each time. This is a pretty abrupt demographic shift, I can count on one hand the number of times that previously happened on this particular bus.

My Spanish is at the point where I can make out the odd word and can sometimes get the gist of what they're talking about, if not the details. Very helpful was the girl who was translating between her friend with no English and her friend with no Spanish. Also helpful with a side-serving of adorable was the young family teaching their probably-Kindergarten-age daughter the English words for things. (She kept getting stuck on the correct pronunciation of "apple".)

I probably shouldn't be eavesdropping, but when they're sitting right next to me it's kind of hard to ignore completely so I might as well use it to practice my comprehension skills, right?

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I am actually leaving town for the long weekend through the kindness of friends who are throwing transportation and crash space at me. It will be a grand experiment in leaving my assigned furrow.

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[1] I have learned over the years that the statement "I am going to do a thing" is not a precursor to actually doing a thing. It probably took me longer than it should have to figure that out.

[2] I have a theory that there are three major factors that dictate how well my life is going; health, work, and relationships. It's a good year if two are going well, it's manageable if one is going well, if none are going well it's time to give it up and go start over somewhere else. There has never been a time in recorded history when all three are going well.

Comments

[nicklausse]

I've taken to throwing old trashy rugs on top of weedy areas and letting them sit a season until everything's dead. It works. Or weed fabric. You'd have to use stone instead of mulch over weed fabric for optimal human breathing purposes. Putting that sort of strategy into play in the fall would work. Pick up cheap shitty rugs second hand. Be careful of setting up moisture problems (mold) by keeping them single-layer and out of the shade. Then start over.

[inulro]

Our back yard is similar. I spent a couple of hours doing something about it so that we could use the barbecue, but like you I'm waiting till nothing's actually growing - there's less of a fight on your hands then.

You'd think that regularly losing a rabbit or two back there, plus the time spent removing all of the seeds that propagate by attaching themselves to critters from two extra fluffy rabbits would be motivation enough, but no.

[rainydaysandmondays]

I am voting Liberal as I always do. I support Justin. :)

[kest]

When I say I am going to/need to/should do a thing, personally what I am usually saying is I would like to do a thing, but yeah, it doesn't always translate into actual action. I have somewhat belatedly realized it is probably not fair to get mad when I don't do the thing and then someone else does it, though. What *is* the trick for turning desire into action, I don't know.

Congrats on the job stuff and the hanging in there stuff in general. My three things replace health with housing, which goes to show that sometimes when there is a thing going well, we take it for granted. (Not that my health has always gone well.) I am currently in the maybe just throw it all away stage. I have never prioritized stability and that may have been a mistake?

[greylock]

Spanish? Sounds like Mexico is sending its rapists! Are they MS-13? You need to BUILD THE WALL.

Also, evesdropping is fine. If Jayden doesn't want the train to know JAZZ has clamydia he shouldn't have that conversation in public.