I blame budgetary constraints, in that I tend to spend money on books and CDs instead of on yard supplies.

We stand a very good chance of actually finishing the three-year project The Boy and I started when we moved into our house. The three-year project -- now in Year 6 -- was to create a mowing-free, yardwork-minimizing yard by replacing as much "lawn" as possible with perennial flowers and trees and shrubs and the like.

Having torn down the old shed last year and made a great deal of headway on laying a decorative path this year, the three-year project looks as though a few more trips to the discount section of the local department store's garden center may do the trick.

And while I joke about how the primary motivation is to avoid yardwork, there's also a method to my madness -- because through the yard and these efforts, I'm teaching the kids something I already know: the benefits of organic gardening.

Organic gardening -- green gardening-- is important because it's an easy and fun way to help people have a positive impact on the environment right in their own backyard... literally. By cutting down on mowing, I'm reducing emissions and fossil fuel use, and by planting flowers and trees I'm helping offset my carbon footprint and enhancing the environment, providing a habitat for beneficial bugs and small animals.

Still, that doesn't mean that I occasionally couldn't use a little help, and when I need something to help out the yard/garden I don't want to undo all the good I've done -- so I buy garden products from Saferbrand.com. Products like their "organic rose care kit," so that the rose bushes I planted in hopes of outshining my neighbors' beautiful yards can be taken care of without a bunch of harmful chemicals. Their kit helps me protect the miniature rose bushes that will someday frame the driveway free of pests and diseases without terrible chemicals.

It's especially important in our yard, because we're only about a hundred yards from a lake, and the lake is downhill from us, so anything that I put in my yard is likely to end up in Lake Mendota almost immediately.

I came a little late to this whole "Caring About The Environment" thing, but once I did, I realized it's not that hard to do, and it not only makes me feel good about myself and my efforts, but it gives me a chance to lecture the kids while they're doing gardening. And isn't that what it's all about?

That and not having to mow the lawn. Ever.

Who thinks most has the skinniest blood: Sunday's Poem Number 7

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths
by Philip James Bailey


We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest:
Lives in one hour more than in years do some
Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.
Life's but a means unto an end; that end,
Beginning, mean, and end to all things—God.
The dead have all the glory of the world.

_________________________________________________

I'd like to say that I fully appreciated this poem for its message -- that we should live life by focusing on the meaning of the things we do, not by how long it lasts. I'd also like to say that I was able to enjoy the way the poet occasionally plays with grammar, like when he changes up the expected order of words and thoughts in the line "Lives in one hour more than in years do some."

But the truth is that most of the poem was lost on me as soon as I read the words "fat blood," and began wondering if maybe I have fat blood, too.

Sure, they've got him, but they also have to put up with Tony Romo, so it's kind of break-even for Dallas.

We have this leaky shower faucet that's harder and harder to shut off and harder and harder to control -- my showers are either all hot or all cold, and there's always a drip coming from it. I have a choice of either trying to fix it myself, or trying to have a plumber come out and fix it. Of course, if I try to fix it myself, that generally means that the plumber will have to come out and fix it, plus fix the stuff I broke trying to fix it.

While I was searching around for plumbers around here, I stumbled across a website for a dallas plumber, the "Princess Dallas Plumbing" company, and not only do they have good reviews of their work right on the site, but smack there on the page are two things that I love best: the word "Free" and a coupon.

So if I lived in Dallas, I could get the best plumber in Dallas to give me a free estimate, and then get 10% off his services, to boot.

But I live in Wisconsin, so it's time, I guess, to get my tools out and get to work. And by tools, I mean a butter knife and my iPod. Sweetie will take care of calling the plumber as I begin.