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yard work!


mackat5

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I do have a couple of problems with being asexual - one of them is having no one to do the yard work without me having to pay for that!! And since I'll be 64 this year, I really don't want to mow the yard anymore. I still do the rest of the work so that my Iris and other plants will be all right, but....... Sometimes I could wish that I had married and had children, but just sometimes. *sigh*

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HannaWyLady

I put in artificial sod last year in the front yard and the back yard will get done next year. Only live stuff I have are plants and trees now. The sod looks just like "real" grass - it saves wear and tear on me and my water bill is down to less than $20/mo - you just can't beat it. Check around in your area - there might be a company that gives senior discounts.

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I'm in the same boat.

Luckily I'm in a rural area, and once I get this place fenced I will stock it with some sort of smallish grazing critters to keep the grass and weeds under control.

The only part of the 3 acres that needs actual mowing is very small, and may very well become even smaller if I add another water garden.

This is a deliberate decision, believe me!

Water gardens need attention maybe twice a year, but grass? oi ...

-GB

(edit: speeling)

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Elizabeth I
I do have a couple of problems with being asexual - one of them is having no one to do the yard work without me having to pay for that!! And since I'll be 64 this year, I really don't want to mow the yard anymore. I still do the rest of the work so that my Iris and other plants will be all right, but....... Sometimes I could wish that I had married and had children, but just sometimes. *sigh*

Gosh Mac....Don't wanna burst your bubble but if you thought having kids would get your yard work done...

I have a son who is grown now (age 23) and I was never able to coax him into doing any yard work. He always says " Sure Mom...I'll help you, I'm busy right now but I'll do it later" .... needless to say, I had a meadow in my suburban front yard, and in this area you get fined for that.

He was the same way about helping me shovel snow..."Wait till tomorrow and I will help you" but I was never able to get him to help. At 20 years old....He would lock himself in his room and play video games while his 50 year old mother shoveled a foot of heavy snow out of the driveway.

When he started trying to bring his unemployed girlfriend into my home and up the stairs so he could bonk her in his bedroom, I put my foot down.

I realized I was asexual very early on, even though I didn't realize there were others like me. I never married because I pretty much knew... that contract includes a pretty vague sexual consent. (I find it odd that so many women don't realize this)

I love my son dearly, but he has a very bad attitude, and I honestly think this has lots to do with the fact that his father was CONSTANTLY suing me for custody, and was always looking for something that he could categorize as neglect or abuse. My son was threatening to call "child protective services" if I asked him to carry the trash to the curb. There is no doubt in my mind where those notions came from.

The moral of MY story is.... if you are an asexual woman who wants a child...USE A SPERM DONOR! They don't have any parental rights!

AND....Hire a lawn service to mow your lawn. It's MUCH cheaper in the long run!

Lizzie

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Gosh Mac....Don't wanna burst your bubble but if you thought having kids would get your yard work done...

Yep. Exactly what I thought when I read the post.

Husband and kids wouldn't have gotten the yard taken care of.........

Better rely on paying neighbor kids to cut your grass........

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Here in the UK, a 'yard' is something covered with concrete, but I assume you mean grass. I intend to 'sell' my house to my sons for a nominal amount, providing they (he and his borther) fund my retirement appartment, or preferably houseboat on the local canal, then it's their responsibility. :lol:

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Let's see, lawn service - on my budget, that's not practical. Not enough $$! Neighbor kids, I don't see any, but then I work during the day, and am tired when I get home. I don't think there are many kids the right age around here. But I have hired the Hispanic man across the street for this summer And he is doing a great job. Just had to complain. Somewhere. My job is just a bit above mim wage.

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Anyone ever thought of astroturf? No mowing/watering and always looks good. :lol:

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Elizabeth I
Better rely on paying neighbor kids to cut your grass........

I haven't had much luck with hiring neighbor kids either.

I did try it more than once thinking it might not be so bad to have the neighborhood teenagers as allies-but I had lots of problems.

They actually charged me more than the lawn service I currently use, and it was too difficult to get them to finish the job.

I really Believe that teen-aged boys find it culturally demeaning to work for a woman....regardless of what they are being paid.

The lawn service is a 35 year old man who has employed his brother and an older man for years. He also has a different teenage boy each summer. I have given up tryng to ask the teenager to go over a spot they missed because their response is visibly one of anger/frustration.

Yet if I go to "the boss" he has to stop hatever HE is doing and go ask the boy to go over the spot he missed.....and he does it...no problem.

I have never had any problems of that type when i make the same request from the older guy or the brother...they just do what they have to do and move on to the next lawn!

Teenaged boys are REALLY tough...for me anyway

Lizzie

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Anyone ever thought of astroturf? No mowing/watering and always looks good

I thought of a rock garden. Just spray with veggie kill ever so often for any green stuff that grows between the rocks. :D :D :D

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Had my front block paved so my son and I could park our cars. No one cares much about the back (and the rabbit will eat wha's ther anyway... :shock: :shock: :lol: :wink: )

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Had my front block paved so my son and I could park our cars. No one cares much about the back (and the rabbit will eat wha's ther anyway... :shock: :shock: :lol: :wink: )

My homeowner's association would go into apoplectic shock if I did that! They have specific guidelines as to your lawn and driveway, especially how many cars you have and where they're parked.

God. I need an apartment.

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In the uK we can have some rather quaint provisions forbidden under the terms of our 'freehold'. In Birkenhead, we weren't allowed to sell strwberry teas on our front lawn, in Banbury, if we wish to make any alterations to the house, not only do we have to get planning permission from the council, but also the original builders.

*My son and I love to watch 'Extreme Makeover - Home Edition', just couldn't happen here in the UK - we have so many planning reglulations and approvals needed. Take at least a year.

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niteshade....

My homeowner's association would go into apoplectic shock if I did that! They have specific guidelines as to your lawn and driveway, especially how many cars you have and where they're parked.

That's why I would NEVER live in one of those planned communities. I have always believed that if you own it, you should be allowed to do whatever you want with it. If you can't, then you DON'T own it, you are just renting.

Tanwen.....

*My son and I love to watch 'Extreme Makeover - Home Edition', just couldn't happen here in the UK - we have so many planning reglulations and approvals needed. Take at least a year.

Yep. I guess I'll never move to the UK. :D :D :D Extreme Makeover is fun to watch, but I actually lived it all my life. My dad was the kind of man that every winter he tore a room out, completely, including the floors, you could see dirt, and sometimes the outside walls, the winter was indoors and re-did the room. My mom hated it. Dirt and debre everywhere. But that's my dad. :D :D :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

A 2nd vote for artificial sod. - Luckily I have no yard of my own. I know the nuisance of fighting stinging nettles every 2nd year with a scythe.

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Yeah, replace the grass. Godd idea, but with what money?? I live from pay check to pay check as it is.

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That does make things much more difficult. But maybe you could do some research on ground covering plants and buy the seeds. Would take longer (and in the mean time you still have the problem that the grass keeps growing)

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HannaWyLady

There is a place on the web called Freecycle. I am not sure if there is one in your area but I have received a lot of items that I needed and given away things I don't need. On the Freecycle Cafe you can barter for things you need. It's actually how I got my artifical sod put in. I bartered for it. Did some bookkeeping for the company that put in the sod. I highly recommend this site!

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  • 3 months later...

I live in the pines and have to deal with pine needles and leaves. The pine trees pop up everywhere and I really have to work at keeping the forest back...must clear 100 ft from the house.

In the spring when the grass grows and everything starts growing, I lose my weekends doing yardwork and wellcome the winter as everything stops growing and becomes a brown stick so I can ignore the chores of yard workand have time to play.

I will not pay a gardener, my experience with them is they never show up and charge way to much and I don't have the energy to babysit a gardener keeping track of his no shows.

The good news is I finally purchased a self propelled lawn mower and now my back does not go out when I mow my lawn.

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Having survived 7 years without any sort of garden, thanks to the generosity of the local council I now have one..I am having it levelled and covered in gravel..

roddy

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for us here in Cleveland, it's an early autumn. The corn plants started to turn brownish middle of August! Gardening is my one stress relief!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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