Yard Maintenance on the Rez

I happened to glance out our window this morning, and saw three men and an enormous blowtorch at our back fence. Turns out they were torching the dead weeds blown up against the fence. Luckily, it was not a particularly windy day today. They were kind enough to move our soccer ball from the side of the fence, after it was already on fire. Papaya Daddy (who had the morning off) ran out to rescue our other items near the fence (such as our rain barrel) that we did not want torched. Unfortunately, he missed something. The Papaya burst into tears when he discovered the remains of his cardboard windvane among the ashes.

Our yard looks so much better now! Just as brown and barren, but with an attractive blackish rim, and a lovely smokiness hanging about in the air. And after the next day of wind (there are many still to come this Spring), the yard will have just as many dead weeds back at its perimeter.

Still, talk about a dream job for a teenager! Get equipped with a serious power tool, then paid to go around torching the neighbors' yards!

Just when we think we've seen it all, our housing management thinks of another brilliant landscaping idea. We've joked before that they held a "scorched earth policy". I guess that wasn't just hyperbole...