Daydreams of an Immaculate Lawn

I wish I could say I've mastered the landscaping to date. I'm CLOSE.  Just not quite there yet.  I reside in one of those neighborhoods where the lawns...immaculate...kind of like everyone's lives here.  Immaculate.  The families...immaculate.  I feel...kinda messy.  But aspire to be immaculate.  This next month, I'm taking on the tasks of rehabbing my lawn to immaculate status.... in hopes that it will transcend into my emotional life.  Yes, I think I'd like to be more emotionally...immaculate.

Sprinkler system turned on...check.
Lawn mower and trimmer repaired...check.
Lawn mower and trimmer repaired AGAIN...check
Weed and Feed operation underway...check.

I burned out about 25% of the lawn with the above weed-n-feed operation.  Dead grass patches.  I spilled some and was curious what would happen.  Would the grass become like a lush jungle with a little too much weed-n-feed?  Or would it kill it.  The latter.  Totally killed it.

Need to take lawn mower back into the shop for the same belt, cord issue I had it repaired for a few weeks ago.  This invariably involves burdening some neighbor to help me transport it by use of a truck.  I actually loaded it into my SUV once.  I like being self-sufficient.

I love that I have elder male neighbors who are not afraid to chastise my teen son if they see me doing too much around the yard.  Everyone seems to look out for me....and my children.  I feel protected here.  Loved. I want my lawn to fit in and be worthy of those it abuts.  Could take years...

This photo is not me, but a terrific piece of art depicting how I feel.

Trimming... Back in rural Vermont, people called these things "Weedwackers".  Here they are more refined and called "edgers" or "trimmers".  I have not yet mastered trimming.  I think my head almost exploded when I had to search online for the proper oil to gas ratio.  Was it 50:1 or 30:1.  Figuring this out and executing it took me an entire afternoon.  I think I had to take a nap after.  Then a friend came and edged my lawn anyway.   Said person came back to restring my trimmer head that was missing a doo-hickey making it not really string-able.  More head explosions....

I was off the hook for another couple of weeks, though.  My edging is looking a little ghetto right now, so it's time to buck up and just do it.  I'm kinda scared.  Will report back.   I do love the feeling of getting the trimmer started.  I feel so...capable.... kinda like....

  But I'd really like to outsource trimming eventually.

Ciao!