A Single Man

Ed and I decided to thatch our yard. This was going to be a GIANT undertaking because:

1. we have a super humongous yard
2. the moss was almost growing faster and thicker than the grass
3. we hadn't thatched for probably six years.

Ed rented a thatcher from the local rental place and spent Saturday thatching the yard. On Sunday, the ginormous task of taking up the moss would have to begin. Our neighbor down the hill has this new-fangled invention called a "sweeper". This sweeper hooks to the back of your lawn mower and as you pull, these large brushes "sweep" the lawn and pick up whatever might be lying there. (Think carpet sweeper for your lawn.) Ed was able to borrow Patrick's sweeper and he chose the job of sweeping up the moss.

Once the sweeper was full, he'd make a circle back to me, who had the garden cart hitched to Rosie (my quad). He would pull the rope that Pat had attached to the top of the sweeper and dump the moss into a large pile. I was then to shovel it up into the garden cart and, once full, drive Rosie and the cart up to the compost pile/blackberry bushes to dump. My garden cart holds 10 cubic feet. I stopped counting loads at 20. That's A LOT of moss, yo.

Towards the end of our seven hour day, (oh, yes, it took SEVEN hours to clean that mess up) Gavin the six-year-old neighbor boy came over to chat with me. Gavin is a really funny kid. His brother is quite a bit older, so I think that he's really lonely, because, hey, he wants to come and talk with me! He asked if he could help to which I responded, "Of course!" and gave him the rake to keep the piles Ed was making neat for me.

As we were working, we got on the subject of growing up.

Gavin: When I grow up, I'm going to be a single man.

Me: You don't want to have a wife or family at all?

Gavin: Nope!

Me: Why not?

Gavin: Because all my wife will do is yell at me to take her to the store. That's all my mom says to my dad. 'Take me to the store' (Gavin's mom doesn't drive due to medication she takes for diabetes)

Me: Well, won't you be lonely?

Gavin: Nope. I'm going to have a house and furniture and all that stuff.

Me: What kind of job do you think you want to do as a single man?

Gavin: Oh, I'm not going to have a job when I grow up. I'm not going to work.

Me: Well, how do you think you're going to buy your house, furniture and food and stuff?

Gavin: Oh. Well, maybe I will have a job. But no wife. I'll be a single man with a job and a house and furniture and stuff. Maybe I'll work with my dad. We can have a job together. Like a company. And I won't have to take my wife to the store.

Such innocence. What he doesn't know yet is that someday, girls will come before job, school and everything.