Run-Away Vine

[pixi]

Been fun. It's supposed to go down into the 50's tonight so I am going out to sleep in my woods.

Have a good one.

Pixi

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Don't forget to bring a towel.

[I Love Lucy]

So who is going to dig all my dandelions, kill all my Virginia Creeper, kill all my unknown kudzu-mimicing vine, all the underground root systems, all my oxalis, all my creeping charlie, all my crabgrass, all my lamb's ears (pull that by hand because of my violets), all my stuff that looked like marijuana that nobody ever id'ed, my volunteer walnut tree that refuses to give up when I whack it, and who knows what else is lurking out there? This is my reward for my environmentally friendly, bird-loving, pet-protectionist, self-protectionist do-nothing approach for years. It's getting a couple apps of some broadleaf pesticide a year and paint brushing from now on. I'd do it myself, but the tank when full weighs 40 pounds and you wear it like a backpack. It's bad enough I have to hand weed my wildflowers and some other spots.

I think I'll go dump all my old gasoline and chemicals in the rain drain across the street because I don't want to waste fossil fuel, my time and my energy driving it to the hazardous waste center where disposal is by appointment only. I'm just kidding. I did dump gasoline in it years ago before I knew better.

My yard is looking better every day since I got rid of most of those weeds.

Unless we buy 100% certified organic food, we are eating products that have been treated with chemicals by the hundreds of tons. I never will spray my fruit trees though. One lady who wanted an apple from my tree wouldn't let her kid pick any until I assured her they hadn't been sprayed. Just about everything around us has one kind of chemical or another in it.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Interesting last paragraph. Based on that logic, we're wide open to do almost anything we want, simply because somebody else is doing it. This reminds me of my mother's nagging: "Just because your friends do stupid things, it doesn't mean YOU have to do them, too".

[sockiescat]

pixi You are right. I am certainly not well informed on all subjects.

Is anyone? As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of subjects that slip a cog or two on.

Pixi

No, I'm sure he meant me, and I'm right up there near you. Was. Am slipping due to age and stress.-

High scores on Mensa's little picture & word puzzles do not mean yo are well informed on all subjects.

-

okay lets get this straight lol. i said before that roundup is no systemic. i was referring to how it works :(. okay roundup is systemic to the plan itself it stays with the plant and acts for about 10 days. but roundup is non systemi to the soil itself actually it binds with the upper layer and is gone within few days. it does not seep into ground water therefore does not contaminate wate courses. so anyone thinking that it does affect the water table or contaminat underground water should do a google search and see what it has to say about it. the only way u would get roundup into your water is if u mixed it righ over an open well otherwise u are not going to contaminate anyones water course. cyaaa, sockiescat

-- sockiescat

[Ann]

"I Love Lucy" expounded:

I get rid of my weeds and keep my gardens well groomed wtihout the use of chemicals. It's a pleasure to weed, dig in the dirt, prune, garden in general, and I've got every single weed you mentioned plus more. I've got many gardens around my .6 acre. It's called gardening and it's very easy to do it without chemicals. Why you want to douse everything with poison is beyond me. You may not be as dumb as a box of rocks, but you certainly do sound a bit lazy.

[pixi]

[pixi]

Y'all ever read the label on canned goods, packaged goods, etc. Unless the stuff is 100 % home grown and home cooked, who knows what all those chemicals could do.

[pixi]

The poor woman made a simple remark. Why are you all picking on her. And as for Ann. .6 acres is one very small lot. And you are probably a sweet young thing who has no idea what it feels like to be old. Lazy? I doubt it. I was once known as a workaholic. My daughter often accused me of making work just for the heck of it. I am over 80 years old and I keep plugging but I can't get much done any more. Makes me mad. But that's old age.

Let's knock off being nasty to Lucy.

[I Love Lucy]

To dig out every single weed that has taken over practically your whole yard? Just what did they do? You'd have to have them keep coming back. And pay them, of course. I don't want to be too negative, but when I needed my steps poured and was trying to find someone reasonable, I called work force, nyet, they don't do that any more, called churches to see if they had people who did cement work reasonably, couple tried, I wasn't asking for charity, but no takers; they have more important things to do anyway, didn't know any illegals to call, but heard some Spanish speaking in the nicer block next down from mine while lawn work was being done. That doesn't mean they were illegals. When I needed my car fixed, I called the local community college. Didn't have time for my car. It's all such a hassle.

I might try to fit in a call like that today just to do some fact finding, but it is summer and I don't want to go vote, but I am going to try to fit that in. And sand the fill on one of my projects, and it's going to get near 90 so I won't make much progress on that, and it's going to be a heck of a lot of work. It's old lead based paint, and I don't want to sand it in the house which I sometimes do and vacuum it all after.

Well I made a feeler call, looked in the yellow pages. We have probably

20 high schools in the area. I picked my alma mater. Couldn't find number for principal's office. Called admin ctr. They transferred me to special programs, "let me find out who I need to send you to, hold on". Pause. Transfers me to lady, won't name her. Ring. ring, ring, thought I'd get a recorder. She picks up the phone. I am specific, kids to weed lawns without using chemicals. "No, nothing like that, can't honestly answer". Suggested college kids or community service. Referred me to Juvenile Court. I'm sorry but that is not an option because I have dealt with court cases who have stolen from me and done worse, like kill people. In my case it was checks, went to Wal Mart, bought stuff, returned it for cash. It took some time to get myself out of that mess and my credit union thought I might be in on it so I had to submit handwriting samples, report to police, very humiliating on my end actually. So I don't want kids in trouble up here, had enough trouble with my own.

If the banks compared handwriting samples, which they don't I can assure you from multiple experiences, there'd be a lot less stolen checks cleared.

I don't understand everything because some topics are actually over my head, and I don't want to invest the time to study up on everything. Plus I skim and/or speed read. This is not high on my list of interests. How many women read up on getting rid of weeds in their lawn and chemicals? Their husbands take care of it (usually by spraying or hiring places like chemlawn to do it), they go without and just try to keep the mowing done one way or another, some can do it themselves but they a are a small minority, or they hire somebody to use chemicals which is fast. I've observed properties owned by women who don't have dh's or whose dh's aren't too dear and watch tv while their wives or gf's cut the grass. One lady was planting a hill in early spring. She didn't prepare it, just stuck things here and there and next time I go by there, I'll ask her how she deals with the weeds. The lady around the corner has pretty flowers, too large a property to handle, but the weeds are out of control and ruining her beautiful heirloom rose bush and the whole look of the place. There's Virginia Creeper and sumac in that bush because she can't keep up, obviously, and she's in her 30's. That's the way it is.

Since you made at least a semi-retraction, I'll try to play nicer. Unless you go into insult mode again. In a case like that, I'd best just give it a rest.

[I Love Lucy]

Well, superwoman I'm not, Ann. And maybe I'm a bit lazy. I'm tired and haven't been well for some years if you must know the truth. I am getting old. It is not a pleasure having had one case of skin cancer among other things to be out in the hot sun weeding. yes I can do it after the sun goes down but overcast days have ultraviolet rays bouncing around, I have a hat and whatever, the wind blows it off, don't like it. I don't want to weed. I don't like it. I planted some pretty flowers. It is all I can do to hand weed those and carry gallons of water where the hose won't reach behind the garage, keep up with the rest of the constant watering in the heat, my interest in photography has been shot to you know what from all this gardening work which I haven't done for years, and it's nowhere near where I eventually want to be with it. It has been hot. It is all I can do to keep up with that much and work on two projects inside destined for outside if they ever get done that are dear to my heart.

I'm glad there are some women who can do it right. I am not one of them.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

A ChemLawn employee (maybe 16 years old) once told my wife that the stuff he was about to spray on the neighbor's lawn, a liquid which the wind would've blown onto our veg garden, was entirely safe and approved for use around food crops. A call to his office revealed otherwise. He was about to apply some weed stuff that was NO WAY supposed to be anywhere near vegetables. Unfortunately, the office people told me the stuff was safe. The young employee was stupid. The office staff was crooked & deceptive.

[I Love Lucy]

Interesting. As I came out from voting, I scoped out the lawn at one of the newer and probably one of the highest achievment academically elementary schools in the area. There were a large dandelion, some oxalis and other weeds by the front door. In the grass, which was neatly mowed, there was what appeared to be juvenile plaintain, stunted clover, much of it shaded, can't remember what else, didn't notice any dandelions. Plantain spreads out in large pancakes if allowed to grow for a lengthy period, so I'm assuming maybe this hasn't been there so long, or they were smart enough to import a variety with a more compact growth habit than mine.

So I called chemlawn and asked them if they had any contracts with the public schools. After being put on hold, I was told that the only contract they had was for the grass on the public fields and stadium. Leaves some questions unanswered.

No, I wouldn't want any drifting spray on my vegetables either. I don't grow any, too much shade and what's isn't as shaded I want for flowers. But I'm reasonably certain all the produce I buy at the supermarkets, hit several for this and that, has been treated in one form or another. I eat the stuff anyway except I don't like store tomatoes and sweet corn, but occasionally buy the Roma ones. I don't like the waxy coating. It's more expensive at the health food store and doesn't look as nice. We have a farmer's market where you can get wonderful produce in the summer. It's probably a mixed bag whether any of it has been sprayed or not. The way my son's sprayer was rigged, it created a more like a hefty squirt, I was standing near him part of the time and didn't want any on my skin, and I was worried about my new flowers in the back which I covered in double bags and left until the next morning, but then it was not breezy that evening. He used to work for chemlawn, still sprays, but is leery about possible toxic effects from it. I know he didn't use Roundup but can't remember what it was.

To spray or not to spray, that is the question. I'll spray once or twice a year except for the violets on the west side of the house. Looks like violet alley.

[Ann]

"pixi" expounded:

Gee, thanx. I'm hardly a sweet young thing anymore, I'm in the second half of my century .

I hope to be in my 90's and still working in my garden. And I hope to be fulltime in Maine by then.

Not particularly nasty, but blunt. It isn't hard to keep your yard in order. I've got 2.5 acres up in Maine that stays quite nice, too, given the limited amount of time we spend at that home. I just don't like dousing the environment with chemicals because someone doesn't want to weed. Grass it all over and mow it (and learn to love dandelions.

[readandpostrosie]

.6 acre? OMG! i suppose you panic at the site of a mouse trap? do you put bells around the necks of your cats? ;)

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

a little bit MIGHT be good for you. do a search on 'chemical hormesis'

Carl

[Ann]

"readandpostrosie" expounded:

Cats don't go out. It isn't huge by most standards, but it's all I've got down here. I'm surrounded, however, by over eight acres of award-winning rhododendron woodland gardens, so it seems bigger.

[readandpostrosie]

ANN, my post was meant to be sarcastic................ :)

i was surprised by your response about weeding etc......................some folks just can't......................

[Ann]

"readandpostrosie" expounded:

Yea, I got that, but I was being serious.

I don't mean to belittle anyone who can't, it's those that won't, and use poisons.....

I apologize to anyone who can't weed but still love their gardens.

[Doug Kanter]

Pour gasoline on it lots of it.