Salt of the Earth
Sep. 7th, 2009 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowThe basement of my house has several windows. Each faces into a metal-walled hole, open to the air above. In one of those holes, a plant has taken root. What it is, I don't know, but it is bushy, sending up multiple woody shoots. It is not exactly pretty. It has been a while since the last time I tried to do anything about it, and in that time it has grown to be taller than I am, with many trunks, and the trunks in the center are as much as an inch thick.
Today, in the US, it is Labor Day, and I chose to do some labor, cutting that plant down as much as I could. (The parts of the plant in the hole are inaccessible; someday I will have to apply an herbicide or something, I'm afraid.) I went out there with my best cutting tool, a large hedge clipper. I went after the outer shoots first, so as to get a clear shot at the thick central trunks. As I worked, a neighbor couple passed by, walking their dog. The man called out to me, "Are you going to cut the big trunks?" I said I was; he replied, "I have the right tool for that, if you want some help." I told him I'd be grateful, and resumed clipping. They went on their way, and a couple of minutes later he reappeared, carrying long-handled pruning shears. Snip, snap, snorum, and the central trunks came down; more snips, and they were reduced to manageable sticks.
I thanked him, saying he'd probably saved me half an hour or more of work. (I shall have to get pruning shears; there are other things they'd be useful for.)
Have I mentioned before how helpful and friendly people are around here?
Today, in the US, it is Labor Day, and I chose to do some labor, cutting that plant down as much as I could. (The parts of the plant in the hole are inaccessible; someday I will have to apply an herbicide or something, I'm afraid.) I went out there with my best cutting tool, a large hedge clipper. I went after the outer shoots first, so as to get a clear shot at the thick central trunks. As I worked, a neighbor couple passed by, walking their dog. The man called out to me, "Are you going to cut the big trunks?" I said I was; he replied, "I have the right tool for that, if you want some help." I told him I'd be grateful, and resumed clipping. They went on their way, and a couple of minutes later he reappeared, carrying long-handled pruning shears. Snip, snap, snorum, and the central trunks came down; more snips, and they were reduced to manageable sticks.
I thanked him, saying he'd probably saved me half an hour or more of work. (I shall have to get pruning shears; there are other things they'd be useful for.)
Have I mentioned before how helpful and friendly people are around here?
