Journal of a Sabbatical

May 25, 1999

by the roots

Today's Starting Pitcher: Brian Rose

Reading: Pay Dirt by Rita Mae Brown

Guess I missed a lot while I was sitting in the fog yesterday. Check out the Eastern Mass. RBA for yesterday. I want to know what kind of scopes they use to see through pea soup level fog.

I am who I say I am. I don't think I have the talent to create another identity.

I am losing the battle of the bittersweet.

I bought two new rakes - I broke my rake on Saturday - and attacked the yard. I raked all the stuff I'd clipped, sawed, mowed, pruned, etc. into big green trash bags so I could assess what I had left to do. After I hauled two huge bags of yard waste to the dumpster, I looked around.

The maple tree is still standing. I fact now that I've cleared out the bittersweet and nascent ailanthus trees from around it, I can see that it grew up through pavement! This tree deserves to live!

The raspberry bushes are looking pretty sorry. What the bittersweet didn't strangle, I nicked or raked over. There are about three vines with actual buds on them. That should give me about enough raspberries for one bowl of cereal come July. If the mockingbirds don't get them all first.

The lawn, if you can call it a lawn, is studded with stumps of bittersweet bushes. Before I can mow the grass anymore, I'm going to have to dig them up by the roots. I take a shovel and begin to dig. I dig. I chop. I pull. Tiny pieces of the roots come up but much more remains. I lay down on my belly in the grass and dig around the roots with a cultivator. I apologize to the earthworms I disturb and try not to injure any.

I loosen the dirt around one huge root and decide to pull. I grab it with both hands and yank with all my might. Next thing I know I'm ass over teakettle with a tree stump sticking into my butt and lower back. My head hit the fence. The fence shook and oddly my head didn't hurt a bit. The root stayed put.

It started to rain again and my clothes were covered with mud so I gave up, showered, put on clean clothes, and went shopping.