Mowing the lawn and other Sunday chores

Pulled out the vintage mower today for a last spin around the postage stamp. I've decided to let the fallen leaves remain in order to increase the amount of organic material in the soil. I just mowed right over them. We'll see how the neighbors like that.

I generally disdain the people who hire ChemLawn and other toxic lawn services. I don't care what they use or how much it has been tested - it can't be healthy for our neighborhood environment to have so many chemicals sprayed on everyone's lawn. I found this great website - Organic Lawn Care for the Cheap and Lazy - and I'm following the guy's advice. So far, so good, but I really don't care as long as it's green.

While I was mowing I got to thinking about all those people in Nevada and how they want to divert water from the Great Lakes to water their lawns which, incidentally, are in the desert. I'm sorry, but if you move to the desert, you forfeit your right to have a green lawn. Make a rock garden or a cactus garden.

"Photo/Tom Lynn The suburb of Henderson is part of the urban sprawl surrounding Las Vegas. More than 5,000 people move to the area every month, and many of them insist on having yards with trees and shrubs." Great Lakes Tempt A Thirsty Nation Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. For the past five years, the water level in Little Traverse Bay has been lower than I ever remember it. For up-to-date information on threats to the Great Lakes, visit the Great Lakes Commission.

On another, yet related, topic, during my lawnmower musing, I remembered a website that appeared shortly after Bush's reelection in 2004. The bit about Florida is what I thought of when I started thinking about geographical locations which are unsuitable for human habitation without major modifications to the environment. WARNING: it contains very foul language but is hilarious, if you have that kind of a sense of humor. If you're offended by the f-word, don't visit the site. I don't want to hear about it.

And, of course, remember that I would (will?) take my granola-eatin', Subaru-drivin', Democratic-votin' self and happily build a cabin in the woods of the Upper Peninsula and live there "off the grid". Perhaps soon, if this whole Chosson Hunt thing doesn't resolve itself.