No More Mowing

 No More Mowing

    For Uncle Harry, the grass outside his home was becoming too much trouble to take care of. He lived in the desert of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was hot most of the year, and his water bill was becoming very expensive. In the summer, to keep it green, he had to water his lawn twice a day! In the winter, the grass would turn brown when the temperature got too cold. On top of all that, he thought, at seventy-five, he was getting too old to mow it himself. He decided to have his lawn dug out and removed, and put pampas grasses, cacti, and cool looking rocks and smooth stones in his yard instead.

    First, he hired some men who were looking for work, waiting outside the local home improvement store. Together, they dug out all the grass below the roots. Next, they removed all the sprinkler heads and capped them off, as the plants Harry would be putting in wouldn’t need much more than the occassional rainstorm to stay alive. The next step was to smooth out the dirt using rakes and make it flat. After that, they rolled out some thick plastic over the dirt to keep wild grasses and weeds from growing through. Finally, the men opened the bags of different colored smooth stones Harry had bought and spread them out by hand until the dirt was covered. They left open circles where the grasses and cacti would be planted next week.

    Harry was happy with his work and the work of the men he had hired. He gave them all an extra twenty dollars each over the one hundred dollars each he had promised to pay them for the day. In the next few weeks, after Harry had planted the grasses and cacti, neighbors were stopping by daily complimenting Harry on how nice his yard looked. Some people even asked him which landscape architecture company he had used, and ‘could they get the phone number?’

    Few people believed Harry and a few men looking for work on a Saturday could have done such a ‘professional job’. That gave Harry great satisfaction, along with the relief that he didn't have to mow anymore, and that his water bill would be cut in half.

©2016 Henry Anker