when you have free time, what do you look up on the internet?

this is what i look up!!!!

i read the "texas roadside vegetation management manual":



Section 14: Noxious Weeds and Pests on the Right of Way
Anchor: #i1023211
Overview
A variety of plants are considered pests along the highway right of way. Pest plants are generally those species which pose safety, maintenance or public relations problems for the department.

The predominant pest species in Texas include Johnson grass, Giant Ragweed, Musk Thistle, Sunflower, Field Bindweed, Bermuda grass, Mesquite, Huisache, Retama, Georgia Cane, Kochia, Russian Thistle, Switchgrass, Turnip Weed, Morning Glory Vine, Western Bitterweed, African Rue, Cattails, Saltcedar, Wildoats, Jointed Goatgrass and Kudzu.

Some of these are native to Texas. Others are introduced species which have become naturalized, taking advantage of environmental disturbance to invade and become established in the right of way. Minimizing disturbance caused by construction or maintenance activities is the best way to reduce the spread of such species. However, once these species become established in an area of the right of way which must be maintained, properly selected and applied herbicides may be used to control the pest and to re-establish desirable vegetation.

This section addresses important characteristics of the major pest plants of concern to the department, and the recommended methods for their control.


and dictionary.com:


nox·ious
[nok-shuhs]

adjective
1.
harmful or injurious to health or physical well-being: noxious fumes.

2.
morally harmful; corrupting; pernicious: a noxious plan to spread dissension.



as far as i'm concerned, my backyard is MY right of way! it shouldn't be filled with NOXIOUS weeds! but right now it is. and that is injurious to my health & physical well-being. i have had some morally harmful thoughts & words about these noxious weeds!

(warning - lots of pictures!!!

ya can't even see the "flowerbed"!!!

so these are the things i'm needing today:

a man with a tractor

or a goat! a goat would be much easier to handle than a weed eater!!!

but today i took things into my own hands. literally!!!

i used this to cut the noxious weeds in the backyard.

shoot, i don't use it to cook with, so i might as well put it to good use somewhere! need to get my money's worth out of it!!!! didn't buy those knives just for decoration!!!!!

i grew up on a farm, baling hay. no different from what i did today! except back then we used a tractor & a mower & a baler. today i used a kitchen knife, a rake & a garbage bag!!

i want a SICKLE. it's a long handle with a VERY SHARP curved blade at the end. we didn't have a weed eater when i was growing up on the farm. we had a sickle. my grandpa taught me how to use the sickle. i WANT a sickle. but you can't find one anywhere.

i looked up SICKLE on the internet. they've got all kinds of halloween sickles with blood all over them. but no grass/weed cutting sickles.

what's the deal?? doesn't anyone use a sickle anymore for cutting grass? are they just used to kill people???? but my search isn't over. i WILL FIND me a sickle!!! and y'all just watch out, cuz i KNOW HOW TO USE ONE!!!!!!!

there were lots LOTS of mosquitoes in the grass. and ANTS. seems like ants like to make GIGANTIC mounds in the center of these beautiful grass fountains noxious weeds!!

i've received lots of emails & private messages from some of you wondering if "amwacs" (a man with a circular saw) is still around. yeah, he's around. he's spending most of his time driving my barbed wire all over creation in the back of his pickup truck!! we see each other at church. in fact, today we had a quite lengthy discussion about noxious weeds!!!! he spent all day yesterday mowing "goat grass" in the pasture at the farm. with a tractor. goat grass isn't good for cows. it's noxious! i guess you can't cut it with a kitchen knife. "amwacs" told me i should get a "weed cutter" -- he described it in detail. told me exactly how it was shaped & how the "blade" was "serrated"

--- yeah, yeah, i got one of those at lowe's on friday (the day i took a vacation). i returned it to lowe's on saturday!!! the dang thing didn't CUT the weeds, it just mashed them. (it was just like the 2nd picture)

well, my brazilian-made kitchen knife with the 8" blade did JUST FINE!

WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL YARD!!!!!!! can you believe just a few hours ago you couldn't even see the "flowerbed"?!?!?!?!!!!


i'll bet "amwacs" would have a fit if he knew i cut the noxious grass on the football field city-pasture in the backyard with a kitchen knife.

but heck, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

(and now i have a noxious rash all over my arms. great! and if i die of west nile virus, i'd like a closed casket please. well, no casket. i'd like to be cremated. don't go to any unnecessary expense.)

i'm frugal alive & i'll be frugal dead!!!!!!
a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!!

guess what?! i just got an email from "amwacs" -- he's coming over tomorrow after work to check out my weed eater issue!!! how about that?! ...and once again, i didn't even have to ask!!!