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Is the Grass Always Greener?
Homeowners are taught to be obsessive about their lawns. It’s like the diamond industry has brainwashed couples that without an expensive engagement ring, your relationship is doomed. Doomed!
Without vigilance, the best-kept, regulation-height, precision-irrigated, postcard-perfect greenery will brown. Nasty dead patches will develop. Soon you’ll be the scourge of the neighborhood. What’s wrong with you, dude? If you can’t afford a timed underground watering system, break out the hose and get on your toes!
My father joked that he didn’t need to pay for irrigation because he had four sons who could water the lawn (Although in the long run, I’d argue the kids cost him vastly more money).
The same principle held true with cutting the grass. Many times, it would get competitive to see who would mow the lawn (and get paid $12 for finishing the task). My mother eventually had to put out a revolving schedule, which held until my younger brothers disappeared for summer jobs and eventually moved out. To the victor went the spoils. Rather, due to an unemployed spell and choosing to live at home, I became the de facto lawnmower man for a few months that spring.
As summer approached, my mother realized that the hedges were overgrown, trees were scraping onto the roof, and it was time to hire a gardening service.
