I labored on Labor Day. Mowed the back lots, mowed the front, and had a good ole time. I pulled weeds. Got my hands dirty. Got down on my knees. Raised a sweat. I missed my spring fling with the yard. No rain. No weeds. No soft dirt. Nothing much to do. It’s all turned around now. The rain has fallen. The nights are cool. The weeds are back.

I’m still battling khaki weed, my arch nemesis. But there are others just as nasty. The two most prevalent are Erect Spiderling and Puncture Vine. Both put down tap roots and spread by crawling along the ground. Of the two Erect Spiderling in the hardest to dig up. A mature plant needs a shovel. Puncture Vine can be rooted out with a turning fork, and that’s easy in the rain softened ground. I’ll be back at it this morning.

I think the pleasure in all this is the sense of control it gives me. This is my yard. My ground. My space. You may come, but you may not always stay. I have found that Bind Wind and Silverleaf Nightshade are almost impossible to eradicate, but they have pretty flowers, so we have sort of a truce. I do what I can but I’m not losing any sleep over the rest. The three above are ground covering spikey beasts, however, and we are at war and they give me something to do and I will do it. And when I’m  done, I will rest, and feel at peace, tired by the work with my hands.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver's Tale