A few posts ago I said that I just wasn't motivated to go outside and do something with my yard, given the current state of the real estate market and my HOA's double standards. That was before my real estate agent told me that HUD had officially appraised my house at slightly less than half of what I paid for it, which is less than what I have it listed at and what the potential buyers put an offer in at, or that Chase and HUD would be willing to accept an ever lower amount, one that is dangerously close to one-third of what I paid for the house, at closing. If I knew then what I know now, I might have written that I wanted to spray the entire yard with Weed-B-Gone so that it resembled a barren, clay-covered wasteland.Often what we do and what we want to do are two different things. That's why I got up this morning and not only cut the weeds in the front yard--the greenery doesn't quite pass as grass yet--but cut back the Mrs. Huff's lantana and overgrown butterfly bushes in the back yard as well. Honestly, it wasn't my sometimes green thumb that motivated me. It was the weather report. It's supposed to start raining tonight and not stop until next week. A rainy week means that I have to go back to taping an IV bag on Bella's cast and begging both her and Bailey to step off the covered back porch to do their business. In other words, I did it to make my life easier for the next few days. With the bushes cut back, the dogs can now relieve themselves under the eaves of the house, and I have to beg them a lot less.
What did I get for my troubles? It wasn't the satisfaction of having a neatly trimmed yard. No, it was two arms covered in scratches. If you were to see my arms right now, you would think that I got into a fight with a really big cat, and the cat won. There was no cat, just six lantana bushes. The scratches wouldn't bother me if it was still cold outside and I could wear long sleeves without dying of a heat stroke, but it's not and I can't. That means I get to go to Friday's continuing legal education seminar looking like Brer Rabbit after he fell in the briar patch. At least maybe it will make for interesting conversation.
