A Flashback from My Childhood

Yesterday after breakfast Mitch got ready to go outside and work on various projects needing attention in the yard.  Because I wanted to be included (which was stupid on my part - I should have just stayed inside), I got ready and went outside to work as well.  I began raking leaves in the backyard, which quickly became a failing effort, as there are still way too many leaves falling from the trees.  Whose idea was it to get a lot of mature trees in our yard?  And who wanted a big yard, at that?  

Mitch, however, had plans to work on the gutters (that are completely clogged with leaves), but began soaking several small bushes on the side of the house that need to be ripped out.  They are too close to the house, and so need to be ripped out before they cause any more damage through the winter.  I decided to go and help out.  

We tried a variety of methods to get these bushes out.  One would think that just digging them out would be the easiest way.  Not true, especially since we didn't have a good shovel.  We tried clipping off all the stems and pulling at the roots, but we didn't have enough leverage to get the whole base out.  So, we began raking away the rocks and slowly digging under to expose the roots.  

We came across many problems - the first being the amount of landscaping rock around these bushes.  It is a ridiculous amount, easily three times the amount you actually need.  And it isn't big rock, but little gravel rocks that aren't even pretty.  Mitch raked most of them away, but we had to remove a lot by hand.  The second major problem was the extensive root systems on these bushes.  I couldn't tell you what kind they were, but I know that these teeny, tiny bushes had enormous roots.  We took turns digging and pulling, digging and pulling.  What a mess.  I was completely covered in dirt, as I did most of the hand-digging, and the entire neighborhood got to know me quite well due to my issues with plumber-butt.  Mitch is buying me some Lee overalls to work in the yard for next time.  And we are both paying for the manual labor today, as we are stiff and sore.

BUT, we got all the bushes out.  

The worst part was the clean-up, and here is the reference to the title of this post, as I'm sure you've thought, "Mitch and Tina never ripped bushes out when they were kids!"  And we didn't.  But I certainly did spend many spring days as a kid picking rocks out of the grass.  Which is what we had to do after we destroyed the landscaping.  What a pain in the ass.  I was convinced this terrible chore was something my father made up just to get us out of the house and working.  It was something Winnie and I dreaded doing.  And I still hated doing it yesterday.  Somewhere I know my dad was laughing for a reason he wasn't quite sure of.  

My final thought as we neared the completion of the bush-ripping:  "You know Mitch, this is a little fun when it's your own house, but not that much fun."

We're reconsidering this whole home-ownership thing.