I don’t know what has come over me. For the 2 springs I’ve lived here, I have outsourced the weeding and tidying up of the yards surrounding the house. This year I’m doing it myself. Donna was the yard person, and I’d just come in at the end with the whipper-snipper 1 and tidy the edges. Here in Portland, where the winter is nothing but rain, the weeds here are hardy, to say the least. I have spent a couple hours a day starting on Sunday, and I’ve sprayed weed killer over everything that is unsightly and have one half of one side yard done. I’ve yanked out all the dead stuff, and I put down weed-blocking fabric and mulch, so next year it should be easier. The second half is pretty easy because it is more mature; that should be one more day. In the other side yard the previous owners put down a layer of small gravel, which looked really nice, but they didn’t put down any weed block, so it is filled with hundreds of invasive sprouting things. I have got 25 or so thistle plants there. Some are as tall as 4′ high. That side will probably take me all next week…
The Sox did beat the Detroit Tigers today. It’s the first time this year they have won three in a row and swept a series. This weekend is a big test; they are home for a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa is only a half game behind the Yankees in the division and are 8.5 games ahead of the Sox. The Rays are hot right now; they’ve won 6 in a row and 12 of their last 13 games.