Growth & Learning

Even though the temperatures outside might not reflect it, we are now officially into the spring growing season. With that in mind, I decided this would be a good weekend to plant some new grass along the side of my house where I had done some landscaping last year. This would be a perennial grass (instead of the annual rye I planted last year) and it would be a permanent solution. With any luck it will become a nice lush carpet where I can enjoy walking barefoot.

Since this was a landscaping project I brought in my trusted landscape experts (who happen to be my brothers) to assist with the heavy lifting and provide consultation on how to actually get everything to grow. I talked with my brother Tim in advance to prepare for the work and he agreed to purchase the grass seed and other necessary dressings for the impending yard. I rented a massive tiller to help make the work easier. Tim and Jay arrived on Saturday morning and we wasted little time getting to work (after eating lunch of course).

Without getting into the gruesome details, I learned two specific things this weekend. First of all, we probably took on more yard then we realistically had time for. It ended up being about 4,000 square feet and while we did finish (barely in daylight), it took a lot more time then expected. While it might not look like it, one of the pictures is before and the other is, in fact, after.

We ended up using about 35 pounds of grass seed; 15 pounds of fertilizer; two tanks of gas on the tiller; two bales of salt hay; four yards of top soil; and about 25 different rakes, shovels, and implements of destruction. I now have a relatively leveled side yard that should produce a really nice lawn that I’ll get to mow. The second thing I learned is that the next time my brothers come to town; I need to stock up on various paper products and juices.

Guns, Drugs, and Recycling

So I was out this weekend with some people having a few pops when, for some reason unknown to me, my friend Matt and I found ourselves in an interesting conversation. After a short time, we determined that the difference between hippies and rednecks comes down to three things: guns, drugs, and recycling. I’m not entirely sure what brought about this discussion but it’s a simple equation and it goes a little something like this.

First, I should point out that while Matt hugs his fair share of trees he is by no means a hippie and definitely doesn’t drive a gas guzzling pick-up. Similarly, I enjoy drinking PBR but can’t stand the smell of patchouli. It’s also important to note that I’m going to generalize our findings because I clearly haven’t had the time to perform any scientific research to quantify or support these results. After all, I’m no academian. So here’s really all you need to know.

Hippies, for the most part, don’t care for guns. They are pacifists and violence of any kind just doesn’t sit well. Besides, with all the Birkenstocks and peasant skirts they aren’t really suited for anything but sitting around in fields of daises playing guitars and smoking hookahs. Rednecks, on the other hand, are crazy about their guns and can’t get enough of them. They also don’t miss many opportunities to hone their shooting skills. This is evidenced by the various road signs peppered with buckshot or the obligatory beer cans riddled with holes.

Next we’ll look at the drugs. This is a little tricky because hippies and rednecks seem to both have an affinity for drugs. The main difference here is the type of drug. Hippies prefer theirs grown by Mother Nature (or someone with better hydroponics) and rednecks like theirs concocted with enough chemicals to fill a bathtub (and that’s usually where it’s mixed). Also, the drugs hippies like tend to make you sleepy (from what I’ve heard) while the redneck’s drugs keep you up for days on end.

The last difference between hippies and rednecks comes down to recycling. Hippies are big fans of reusing or repurposing items so that nothing is wasted and only like to use products that can breakdown and return to the earth. They’ll compost and separate glass from plastic and grow their own food free of chemicals (but loaded with bugs). They’ll spend piles of money to have the earth friendly bio-diesel car while walking around in hand-made pants. Rednecks just throw stuff out the window of their truck or let trash “accidently” fall out the back of their pick-up truck and wait for the hippies to clean it up for them.

Youthful Beat-down

So this weekend I decided I would take care of some of the more adult responsibilities in my life. Like most independent adult males, I returned home to my mom and dad’s house so I could have my father help me with my taxes. Normally I would be able to do them on my own with a pen and paper but now I have write-offs and deductions and other adult type things that the EZ form doesn’t account for. As a kicker, my parents were watching my sister’s kids (my niece and nephews) so I got a chance to experience, once again, what it’s like to be a care free child that gets help whenever you give a yell.

As an aside, when I returned to my “real life” back in the SC, I had an interesting conversation with my friend Nikki about a story she wrote when she was eleven. The inspiration of her yarn was to predict what her adult life would be like. While her account involved some common themes, it also included some very prestigious accomplishments. The point though, was that between seeing my niece and nephews, coupled with the reading of Nikki’s tale, made me start to imagine what my younger self would think about me and what I’ve accomplished (or how I completely failed).

The sad truth is that I’m not sure how my adolescent persona would feel about the way I’ve turned out, but I think overall he’d be happy. I still ride bikes in the dirt; I have front-row season tickets at the ballpark; I don’t need my parents to give me rides to the movies; I don’t have icky girls in my house that may or may not have cooties (SIDE NOTE: adult Eric isn’t crazy about this one); and I can eat as much ice cream as I want, whenever I want. Sure, I’m not the world renowned architect I thought I should be, but I’ve got a pretty good gig going for me. Even if eleven-year-old Eric may have had loftier goals for me, he probably wouldn’t complain about how things turned out.

Maiden Voyage

Finally, after several months of missed opportunities and calm days, I was able to get my kite out for the first time and test my mettle against Mother Nature’s breezes. After doing some work around the house on Saturday, I loaded my kite into the car and headed to the park. It was a slightly overcast day with a few sprinkles here and there but nothing that was serious enough to discourage my attempt at flying the largest kite I’ve ever owned.

After some awkward time spent getting everything laid out and connecting all the cables, I gave the control bar a tug. In the blink of an eye the three meters worth of material was racing to the sky and I was pretending that I had a clue as to what I was doing. My plan was to try and fly the kite around and get a feel for how strong it would pull at certain points in the wind window.

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to fly the kite; pull a little on the left and it goes left. Pull a little on the right and it goes right. The part that was a touch tricky was keeping the kite in certain areas of the sky without it trying to return to a more neutral position. One thing that amazed me the most was how strong the kite pulled. I expected it to have some force but there were several occasions when I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold on and I could feel myself starting to get dragged across the field. Fortunately, I was able to keep it under control enough to take some of the power out of the kite and recover.

I spent about an hour getting acquainted with the beginning stages of my new hobby and it was all kinds of fun. I realize there is a significant learning curve and I’m looking forward to moving up to bigger and better kites. Of course, Mother Nature decided to bring about eight inches of snow on Sunday so I might not get another opportunity to practice anytime soon.