Too Much Mulch

We need a bunch of mulch around our yard this spring,

and I recently heard that our local light department will deliver it for free

after they grind up fallen trees around town.

I arranged for them to deliver some a few weeks ago,

and when they asked how much I wanted and where they should put it, 

I said, "Put the whole load right there on the lawn,"

because I didn't want to block our driveway.

As they drove away, I realized I had two big problems:

1) I was now the owner of a lot more mulch than I expected.

2) The grass under that mulch mountain was going to die

before I used all of those wood chips up,

because I still needed to weed and plant things around the yard

before the mulch could be applied.

For the next few weekends,

our family outdoor chore time involved moving

load after load after load of wood chips . . .

. . . onto the driveway (you know--the one I didn't want to block).

 

. . . it was really tiring work

(even if you are wearing fabulous pants).

Sometimes, after the kids finished their chores,

I would pay them to come back and help me move yet more mulch.

This past weekend, I FINALLY moved the last few buckets of mulch onto the driveway.

That patch of lawn looks pretty sad . . .

. . . and Daddy can barely pull his car out of the garage

without hitting the mulch ridge . . .

. . . but the boys like climbing around on it, so there's that.

As the saying goes,

"Good judgment comes from experience,

and experience comes from bad judgement."