Of weeds, Spring, and aging

I am old. My ancient bones and muscles are creaking out groaning complaints of misuse and abuse.

Yesterday after work I got my Roundup out and made up a small bowl of it up. That and an old sponge were all I needed to do my normal Spring ritual involving Henbit and Wild Onions. Those are the evil ones over there on the left. I swear--the devil must have created those plants, and maybe mosquitoes too.

Both these plants really resist eradication so I have to coat them twice, about a week apart, in herbicide. I like to do it early before the grass becomes active so that the herbicide won't kill the grass too. That's also why I use a sponge to apply the Roundup instead of just spraying it pell-mell. That way I can place the Roundup just on the long upright leaves of the wild onions. Henbit stays close to the ground so I have to use a sprayer for it. Much to the detriment of the nearby grass, I'm afraid.

I've lived here for 3 years now and each year there's less wild onion so I'm winning the war against it--but I don't seem to be making much of a dent against the henbit. I really hate that weed with a passion.

Since I am tall and the plants are short, applying the Roundup requires a lot of leaning over and squatting--and today, the day after, this involves sore hamstrings and lower back. Somehow I forget every year how much an hour of leaning over and moving from nasty weed to nasty weed in a crouch will affect me. Damn, I feel old!

Any particular Spring rituals you engage in? Please share them with me regardless of whether they're dutiful work or shameless pleasure. I promise not to judge! LOL

Comments

Bobkat said…
I remember being told as a teenager to look after my knees - I wouldappreciste them when they were gone. I now know what they were talking about!

I don't really have any specific Spring rituals other than to start gardening again as everything starts growing. I have something similar to your henbit. I can't get rid of it and it is very pervasive. Horrid stuff.
rosemary said…
Spring = cleaning up all of the sunflower seeds that were dumped on layers of snow over and over again....hard raking job. Spotted knapweed is our bain...spring, summer and fall. We have tried flat out killing everything in site of the weed...the weed survived, mowing...bad idea...watering it to death...worked a bit..planting clover and tons of grass then pulling...back breaking and finally last summer we went to a seminar and got bugs and hope they survived this last winter and are busy as I type working on knapweed roots.
LOL, LOL..Well, I feel for you Dave...And just to cheer you up, I can tell you that it only gets worse as the years go by! I speak from creaking groaning moaning experience, I'm sorry to say! There is only one word that covers this: OY!
Craver said…
I feel you.
I am a compulsive spring-cleaner..I spent the weekend, scrubbing baseboards, windows, windowsills, cleaning out closets, etc., On Monday, I felt much like you described in your post.
Old and sore.

Couple days you'll be back after those nasty weeds.
srp said…
Let's see. It is time to clean out the flower beds... the henbit is rampant here too, as is the chickweed, bedstraw and wild strawberry. The dandelions are entrenched and I think some of the bird thistle seed has sprung up. I should plant the wild flowers soon and get a few bulbs in. Hmmm... outside work.. hard labor... good sleep at night.
kenju said…
I used to much more of that than I do now. Closet cleaning gets my energy thesedays.

You must give.me.a.small.break, Dave. You are NOT old (compared to me).
Olyal said…
Old or not Dave, you're still my guy! (or one of them anyway.) ;o)

Can you eat wild onions?
Anonymous said…
The first warm day I cleaned out my flower beds, racked my rock gardens, removed the leaves from the Iris bed and my back and thighs felt like I'd been in a kickboxing tournament and lost badly! It is tough getting older! (I'm glad we don't have many wild onions in the yard, they kill my allergies when they get mowed down!)

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