I got a twenty-dollar gold piece says there ain’t nothing I can’t do; I can kill fire ants, mow the lawn and weed eat all without you … ’cause I’m a woman! W-O-M-A-N, I’ll say it again …

As a wise friend of mine once said, “I don’t know how you feel about men, but it is the women in your life who empower you …” and bobocela is here to empower you!

Let me start at the beginning. In my younger years it was always the task of my sister and I to pick up sticks in the yard before my father mowed the lawn and we detested this chore. Every now and then I would get to push the mower around a little bit, which seemed really cool at the time. As for the weed eater, which we called a weed wacker, well, the only thing I knew about this obnoxiously loud tool was it flew debris all over the place that once shattered our glass front door, my father wore funny looking goggles when he used it, and, most important, we were not allowed to go near it!

Fast forward many years, 3 years ago, I decide to purchase my own home and I got to mow my own lawn for the first time. So I borrow a lawn mower and I mow my lawn. I didn’t touch the weed eater, it wasn’t necessary at the time as the lawn was so new. Oh, I was so proud of myself! Then, just a couple of weeks later, I found out I was allergic to these nasty little buggers called fire ants. As a “Yankee” in Texas, I was not familiar with fire ants. Once bit, I blew up and ended up looking like a troll and it hurt to walk for several days because my feet had swollen. If you’ve never heard the stories of people killed by mowing over fire ants, you should know it happens. My lawn mowing days were over, or so I thought.

Lesson #1: If you decide to mow/weed your own lawn always borrow the equipment first to see if you are capable of using it and if any problems arise.

So, I hired a lawn mowing service. They did a decent job and I was content except when I found out they were just mowing over the dog waste I payed them extra to pick-up.

Lesson #2: Some people can’t tend to their yard or just don’t want to. This is perfectly fine, but when you hire someone to do yard work make sure to talk to your friend/neighbors and have them refer a service to you. Also, don’t waste the extra money for them to pick up dog waste.

Again, fast forward, this time to the next (last) summer. I’m about to call up the lawn service again when my two-faced lying hypocritical nag ex-boyfriend insists I not hire someone and he’ll do it for me. Big mistake.

Lesson #3: Don’t depend on ANY man to do the yard work for you unless he has some vested interest in the home. He will hold it over your head every single chance he gets, even when you objected to the idea in the first place! If you still insist on accepting this “favor” at least learn how to do it yourself before the relationship inevitably ends.

Which leads us to this morning. It had been raining last week and I realized how awful my lawn looked and how desperately it needed to be taken care of before I get the dreaded letter from the HOA in the mail citing bylaws about how awful my yard looks. With all my options exhausted, no lawn service guy, no boyfriend, no one to help, I decide to tackle my yard, fire ant allergy, scary weed eater and all.

Lesson #4: No matter how daunting and desperate the yard work situation seems, you CAN do it! If bobocela can do it, so can you … here’s how you do it:

1. Pick a nice cool morning to do it. Early in the morning is perfect as it is a bit of a workout and you will get hot and sweaty. Preferably one where it has not rained the day before as wet grass is not fun, it gets all clumpy and clogs the mower.
2. Speaking of it being a workout, you will be sore, make sure you are healthy enough to take on such a workout. If you don’t know, check with your doctor.
3. If you have general grass allergies take something before tackling your chore. I swear by Allegra-D and I know many others who do. It works quickly and provides almost instant relief.
4. Make sure to wear appropriate clothing. I like stretch pants and a light long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt as they are light enough to breathe, but still give good limb coverage for flying debris. To protect against fire ants and other crazy things I wore my hottie “Huntress” Wellington boots (see picture above)
5. Check the yard for four things, sticks, stones, other debris, and fire ants. Remove all sticks, stones, and debris from the yard. As for fire ants, poison has never worked all too well for me, plus, it’s bad when you have pets. Simple solution, mix up a bucket of ivory dish soap and hot water. Dump it on the nest and the fire ants are gone.
6. Begin your work. Make sure to read the directions or have someone show you how to mow. Rolling the weed eater cutting line is difficult, but bobocela is proof you can teach yourself. I can’t get too specific here as each piece of equipment is different (pushing vs. riding, bag vs. bagless, single string vs. double string, etc.). All I can say is, you CAN do it. If you don’t have a manual or someone to show you, look-up the manual online like I did.
7. Last, remember, it might not look completely professional the first time. My edges were sorta ragged and the grass a bit uneven, but I had done it, me, who would have ever thought???

As I continue to do my own yard work it will only get easier and better looking. But as I look out on my yard today, it looks beautiful and I feel empowered. This brings me to my final lesson …

Lesson #5: You can do anything you set your mind to do. The one thing you can’t do is control how other people behave. So go out, live your life, don’t let others get you down, and empower yourself.

Did I miss anything? Anyone have some additional helpful hints and tips?

~bobocela

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