Weeds and mulch....

... and no, I am not doing either.  As I type, Handyman #2 is outside working in the flowerbeds around the house. He's been working here off and on for the past few weeks, giving us time when he's not scheduled at his regular job with the plumbing company. He's been here a lot lately, on the weekdays, so we're wondering if he still works for that company. (We haven't asked.)

My husband hasn't called Handyman #3 back here since the day he took it upon himself to trim the pecan trees in the backyard. We hadn't asked him to do that, the trees didn't need it, and even if they did need trimming, this is not the right time of the year to be messing around with those particular trees.  Lesson learned: Tell Handyman #3 what to do, then check him in ten minutes to make sure he's doing what you asked him to do. (Or, just call Handyman #2, and don't call Handyman #3 unless you're desperate.)

This particular handyman goes through the buckets of mulch as fast as my husband can haul them back from the tree-recycle place in town.  It would be much simpler for us to get a truck-bed filled with mulch. The only problem is that we don't own a truck, city-people that we are.  I don't even know if my husband still qualifies as a city-person, given the number of buckets of mulch he has shoveled up since we've owned this property.  My husband has taken it upon himself to do a lot of un-city-like chores since we moved out here. For someone who hardly ever got his hands dirty, he's used an awful lot of hand-cleaner since we bought this house.

And goodness knows, I am no help out here. I started out with good intentions.... weeding flowerbeds and putting down mulch and planting flowers. The flowerbeds in the backyard looked quite good, considering I am by no means a gardener.  But then the rains came, and the weeds grew, and the flowerbeds were suddenly populated with little green lizards and thin black snakes who liked to hide amongst the weeds.  The flowerbeds looked like I hadn't ever done anything to them at all.

Time is precious. Time spent pulling up weeds and putting down mulch is time one will never get back. Is that how I want to spend my time?  No.  Hence... the handymen.