Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A visit from the other side

This evening while Sue and I were enjoying dinner we got a knock at the door from a pest control guy.

“Hi I’m Joe from Joe Blow Pest Control.” “DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE BEES!!!???!?!?”

“I have what?”

“YOU HAVE BEES!!”

“Sure I know I have bees, you should see the catmint down by the main sidewalk they are just buzzing all the time with bees”

“AND YOU’RE OKAY WITH THAT??”

“Yes I am, I want lots of bees; they'll pollinate my blackberry flowers which will give me lots of blackberries later this year!”

He looked at me rather strange at that point “Okay, …… Do you have any other pest problems?”

“No I don’t, thank you.”

Why do we have to kill everything that doesn’t fit the mold of a mass produced ‘American Dream’?
I have fallen into it a bit in the back yard, since I bought some Scotts fertilizer. I figured Sue likes lawn and she gave into my going natural in the front yard, I had better have some good green grass for her in the back. I only bought the fertilizer, not weed killer. Both of us like the little yellow flowers (dandelions) early in spring. Thinking back to when we lived in Milwaukee I don’t believe I would have fit in very well since I would not be out there killing anything that was not green, or did not look like grass.

Long live the bees!

Thank you for stopping by.

Mark

2 comments:

  1. Yay you! I used to be scared to death of bees. I don't know how I got over that. I know what you mean about killing off what is thought to be desirable.

    My husband's family is Belgian. People talk about us of Polish decent having to have a perfect lawn. Well, we ain't got nuthin on the Belgians, but my husband has come around. I LIKE the clover in my grass. I enjoy the little white flowers of it and yes the bees it attracts. I also absolutely adore the little weeds that are violets. I actually transplant them to a garden area. You know all those flowers that grow along side the road in Northern Indiana, and probably Wisconsin? Weeds. All of em. Some call em wild flowers. No matter. They are natural to the area.

    I have a small area in the back yard probably 20 x 20 that is fenced to keep the dogs out. Every year I throw sunflower seeds and birdseed in. We have brush piles there for the little critters to hide in. We sit in the back yard in the summer by the frog pond and watch the birds fly in and out to eat and watch the chipmonks run along the privacy fence going to who knows where.

    Sorry, I wrote a book here. You can see, I'm a live and let live kind of person.

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  2. Thank you Carol.

    I think the perfectly green lawn is a Northern Eurpoean thing, not just Polish or Belgian. My side came from Germany and Denmark.

    My defintion of a weed is anything that is growing where you don't want it. Right now the small sprigs of grass that are popping up amongst my flowers are weeds.

    It sounds like you have a nice, but not necessarily quiet corner of your yard to retire to.

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