I wrote a column

last summer about attempting to mow the lawn at my new home with one of

those manual lawnmowers. In the column, I described nearly going crazy

from the heat and I really showed my ignorance for proper lawn care and

landscaping. I mention this because it may surprise you that I am turning

over a new leaf, so to speak, by working on creating a garden.

The previous

homeowners had a dog, a Chihuahua, and that dog had its own fenced-in

pen in the backyard. Since we don't have a dog, and because the pen is

located near a nice lawn swing, I have decided to make that pen into a

garden. As with seemingly everything I do, easier said than done.

The problem

is that the previous owners let the area grow wild. Not just a little

wild, but wild like Yoda's swamp. There are piles of leaves that are knee

deep in places and thorny vines that have choked nearby trees and have

spread to form a deadly canopy of dead branches and spiky vines. It is

very fortunate that this Chihuahua was not swallowed up himself. Since

the weather has been improving lately, I have spent several hours trying

to clear this mess. I guess I have been kind of bored.

Though it has

not been easy, I am enjoying myself, probably because I am still in the

destruction phase of the Chihuahua pen. I have been wielding clippers

and eliminating the thorny weeds, yanking them down from the branches

of the trees and ripping them out of the ground. It is a good workout

and a positive way to get out aggression. And just think, two months ago

I was playing "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." I'm like my own

urban renewal project.

The fence of

the pen was secured to 12 metal posts and to get the fencing off of the

posts, I have had to separate the fence from these curly fasteners. So

far, I have ripped out nine posts. I suppose I should have dug them out

but it was far more satisfying to pull and snap them out. In addition

to the fence destruction and the elimination of the thorny weeds, I have

also had to rake out several years worth of leaves and the stuff that

leaves become after a few years of just sitting there. I'm sure my folks

are reading this thinking, "Now he rakes."

I was brought

up to respect nature but, unlike my sister, my respect was also coupled

with fear. I liked looking at animals from a safe distance, but I did

not like touching them. In the case of some animals, like reptiles or

insects, I did not even want to see one. This too is changing. As I was

ripping out fence posts on Sunday afternoon, a little grey lizard sat

sunning himself on a nearby woodpile. I looked at him and he looked at,

well, I guess he was looking at the woodpile or my bottle of water. He

hung around as I completed my work for the day. In my mind, I named him

Woody.

I feel just

like Thoreau, communing with nature. Though, I'm sure Thoreau didn't sprain

his thumb as he tried to rip fence posts out of the ground. I'm also sure

he didn't wear sunglasses, listen to rap and swig water from a nearby

water bottle as he went about his business in the woods. That doesn't

really matter though. One doesn't need to compose odes to a spring breeze

to really enjoy being out in nature. Sometimes, all one has to do is take

a deep breath and look around.

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