At one point I decided I was sick of cutting the grass and decided to let about 2/3 of the back go natural. A few years later it a) looked like almighty crap and b) seemed like a fire hazard so I spent my entire one week of vacation back there ripping all the Autumn Olive, Bittersweet and other crapola out with a weed wrench.

Except that I had to do it all single handedly. There are no words sufficient to describe what a bitch it was.

So now I’m back to mowing the combination of weeds and grass. Grass likes to be mowed but weeds hate it so the grass is winning. I sprang for a battery powered lawnmower ($450!) but it was worth it because there is no pull rope and is quiet enough for me to listen to audio books and podcasts while I walk back and forth feeling smug about my environmental conscientiousness.