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I was out in the yard cutting up some old lumber when Courtney yelled to me, “You should come take a look at this bush!” She was staring at a shrub on our side yard. It’s near to the driveway and typically looks like hell. It’s in a spot which gets all the snow thrown on it during the winter months. It’s always been a little sad and depressed looking. I went back to cutting wood.

A few moments later Courtney repeated her call, this time saying, “You should hear the worms on this bush!” I was caught a bit off guard, so I went to survey the situation. Courtney pointed out to me these little things which were laying on the branches of the shrub. “Tent worms,” she told me, ” They’re everywhere on the bush.” Sure, I thought, “Everywhere…” But as I looked closer I realized that she wasn’t exaggerating at all. These things were everywhere.

That’s when she said, “Listen to them…” We hushed and listened. I could hear the crackling of these things destroying our bush. It sounded like Rice Crispies in milk. It was utterly disgusting and creepy.

I went back to cutting wood while Courtney went inside to look for any sort of treatment online. She found a few sites which suggested killing one of them in front of the others, which would scare the others away. Or picking them off and putting them in a burlap bag. These options were nice, but a little more humane than I was hoping. I drove to Home Depot to find something a little more potent.

I found an insecticide which specifically worked with tent worms/caterpillars. It is a concentrate so I need to purchase a sprayer as well. I’ve always thought sprayers were for old farts with nothing better to do than walk around their yard obliterating the most minute annoyances. Now, I am that old guy.

When I began spraying the bush, I kid you not, the bush moved on its own. Leaves seemed to curl up, shunning away from the sprayer. With every motion the bush seemed to fight back, moving a bit in a different direction. The truth was that these tent worms realized what was happening and were quite pissed about it. They were crawling and agitated. I was grossed out.

I checked on the progress of the death spray. I was having a hard time dealing with the fact that these things might still be crawling around our bushes. I went outside to find small piles of the worms laying underneath the bush. Victory was mine!

As I stood up I noticed ants starting to carry the carcasses away. I thought about cleaning up the dead bodies so the ants might go away but then I figured nature would take it’s course.

Courtney and I graciously accepted an offer from Drew and Michelle this weekend to help them move 10 tons of rock, literally. Every summer, it seems, either I or someone I know needs rock moved. Last year it was Chad, two years ago I did it for myself. This year was Drew’s turn. We spent the better part of Saturday morning and afternoon filling in the yard.

As much as I might complain about the back-breaking work, there’s just something that I really enjoy about gettin’ out, sweatin’ a bit, and hanging out with friends. I’m not going to lie to you, 10 tons of rock between 3 guys is hard work, but the sense of accomplishment after completing is well worth the pain.

Riles came along for the ride. He seemed to enjoy the time with Avery. For the first time Riley acknowledged Aves, smiling and grasping for him. A few more months and they’ll finally be able to play together.

We live in a neighborhood from the 1950’s. The houses are all the same rubber-stamped ramblers with wood paneling in the basement. One of remnants of the era is our mail box. Its a very small metal container hanging next to the front door. This means the postal delivery person walk up to every front door of every house to deliver the mail every day.

Each winter the neighborhood receives a polite flyer from the post office reminding everyone to keep their frontwalks cleared of snow so that the mail person can deliver the mail (it also says something about keeping your dogs inside of the fence but that’s typically scribbled on my hand in some crude stalker writing. I think that might just come to our house.). When the snow gets deep some people choose to shovel a path between houses so that the postal worker can short cut through the yard. I am not one of those people. I purposely do not shovel a path since I do not want them stomping through and killing my grass (which may or may not already be dead. I have to wait for the snow to melt.) I shovel a perfectly good path on my sidewalk and driveway that they can use.

We’ve received roughly 14 inches of snow in the last 4 days making for a late winter. I don’t think we’ve had 14 inches of standing snow all season until now. I busted my butt shoveling my walk and driveway each day making sure it was cleared so the USPS could do their job. I arrived home yesterday to find someone had cut a path through my yard with their snowblower. I was livid to say the least.

I was frustrated for a couple of reasons. 1. I don’t like people on my property if I don’t invite them. If I could sit out on the stoop in a rocking chair and a shotgun I would, but I was told its illegal in this state (but not in North Dakota). 2. I shoveled a perfectly good path that they could use. 3. I don’t like the thought that some neighbor (who I shall not name or attempt to guess who it was) sat, at home mind you, all day long looking at my yard and determined that it was well worth their time to walk up my driveway with their snowblower to plow my walkway and yard and NOT plow the rest of my driveway. I think that’s plain rude.

Retaliation has crossed my mind. I thought about putting up chicken wire buried in the snow so next time they take it upon themselves to plow my yard they run into it. I thought about kicking snow back over the trail. I also thought about procuring my own snowblower and plowing all the snow from their yard onto their front step. All I think are complete and rational.

When I finished ranting to Courtney about it, my face beat red, she told me to calm down and get over it. It isn’t worth getting all buggered about. And she is right, I guess. I still might drop our mailperson a very polite letter letting them know that I would really appreciate if they would use the path I keep clear on my walkway instead of the yard, otherwise my dogs are liable to accidently get out of the gate this summer.