Do you remember that scene in the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", when Richard Dreyfuss throws various parts of his yard and house into the living room to build a mountain? The joke around the Goodwin house this weekend is that I have arrived at my "Close Encounters", mountain in the living room moment.
You see, Noel and Lily and I sat down a couple weeks ago and we had this crazy idea to tear up our lawn and build a garden maze with a little grassy play area inside the maze. Nancy was amused when we showed her our plans, but I don't think she took them seriously until today, when the girls and I rolled up the sod like sleeping bags and hammered stakes in the ground with the precision of a seasoned survey crew.
We're going to call it the "Year of Plenty Community Garden". We don't really need 2,000 square feet of garden for ourselves, so we asked a couple of friends who can't have a garden, to take a couple of rows and plant what they like. I'm a little worried about the weeds that will start plotting their attack tonight, now that there is bare ground where the grass used to be, but I don't think we'll miss the lawn much. The mowing, the fertilizing, the invasive clover tentacles, brown spots that never go away no matter how much I water them, the dandelions, etc. Come to think of it, now that we're not "chemically treating" the dandelions, I think we'll just eat them. I hear their leaves are kind of like Mustard Greens.
We haven't figured out where to put the mountain of sod yet. Maybe the living room?
Dang it. Now you are just trying to outdo us Vetters. I once put a tree in our house. It was a big tree. It was an engineering feat to get it in the house. Also, cut a stump into a chair! We had a "Little House On The Prairie" party here once. Kids were in bonnets (at least Kaley was)! I had kids walking on sawhorses which scared parents to death!
But now you are talking about grazing on your lawn. I told you that when this happens, you've gone TOO FAR.
Stop! Drop! And Roll!
But wait! Kovi loves blowing on dandelions though. Grow a lot of them. Little parachutes!
Don't want to quelch anything! Ahhh-oooooooooooo-gah!
Posted by: Keith | March 09, 2008 at 04:41 AM
I'm still trying to figure out your yard. It comes in rolls? What planet are you living on?
Posted by: Keith | March 09, 2008 at 09:28 AM
Does anyone remember what Teri Garr did when Richard Dreyfus made that mountain in the living room? I don't remember. One thing I know's for sure, she DID NOT do the "whatever you say, Dear" response.
Ok, here's the deal. When Craig gets serious about implementing his outlandish ideas I feel like my role is to offer the more practical, saner side of things. Like: Ok, the kids will like that garden maze for one day, and then they'll say, "can we have our lawn back? I want to practice soccer now." Or: Can we make sure our friends are really in on this before we start ripping up the lawn? Or: What about the basement bathroom and moulding we have to have finished before your sister and parents come for Bloomsday weekend?
And then there's that side of me that says, THANK YOU GOD! You've given me an inspired, passionate husband and I'll take that over a bored discontented one any day. So Craig, you go to it and have a ball. (Don't mind me if I hide inside the house for a while, take some deep breaths, and try to psych myself up before taking a peek at your masterpiece.)
ps- Keith, I don't believe you can grow this kind of "roll out" grass in Texas. So if you were thinking about ripping out your lawn for your very own close encounters moment, it might be a tad more difficult.
Posted by: nancy | March 09, 2008 at 08:03 PM
Kim doesn't stop me from doing anything as long as:
1. The kids are happy
2. I don't mess with her sleep
3. She has chocolate
Posted by: Keith | March 09, 2008 at 08:18 PM
Dear Sir: In all due respects I read your article in the Spokesman Review pertaining to Year of Lessons. The majority of your story I totally agree with and enjoy as a
four year student of Agriculture in High School.
But a sore spot that really irritates me is when people call soil "Dirt". Please refure to your dictonary as between the reference to the two words. Soil is the giver of LIFE period. Dirt is just down right offensive and it was emblazed on my mind while trying to read your story. Please consider in the future to use the word SOIL when writing future articles and pass on this wonderful word SOIL to your support group.
Posted by: Will Gates | December 31, 2008 at 08:11 AM