Drama in Real Life

I wish I had pictures to accompany this post... I wasn't in a frame of mind to think that way yesterday, and the day was something I figured I would not want to remember. We inherited, with the purchase of our home, a lawn of many and varied species of both grass and other plant varieties. Annie (and others) will tell you that I spend a good deal of time fiddling with our lawn... largley to no avail. Yeah its not the worst in the neighborhood, but its certainly only status quo (and there are definitely people who spend less time with their lawns and have better results).
For about a year now I have been flirting with the idea of de-thatching the lawn. "Thatch" is the organic stuff that builds up between the grass and the soil. It has been clear that this was preventing the lawn from succeeding in some areas. Thatch keeps sun and water and air out... not good. The reason I haven't thatched yet, is because I know it is a tremendous undertaking. Its easy to find something else to do on any given Saturday.
I decided it was now or never. We had a weekend with reasonable weather forecasted and this is one of the only times of year that it is recommended to thatch (spring or early fall).
My day started at 5:00 am. I got up and watered the lawn, getting up every half hour to switch the water around.
I had a pleasant breakfast, and waited until it was late enough to start up the lawn mower. 9:00 mowed the lawn once, to get it to a manageable level, then mowed it again to get as low as I needed it. I came into the house sore and exhausted and thought... this is going to be a long day...
I rented a de-thatcher which can be best described as a 'Power Rake" They are pretty gnarly machines. The blade rips up the dead organic material in your lawn and leaves a little carpet of stuff in its wake. It seemed to work best when I pulled it backwards... which was sort of like pulling a wagon full of people across the lawn... back and forth and back and forth. I then ran the de-thatcher perpendicular to you previous rows. Our 1/3 acre lot was covered in a 2 inch thick blanket of thatch. At this point I ran the dethatcher back to the rental place (a harrowing experience in and of itself (trying to keep the de-thatcher from hitting me in the head or slamming through our back window (all while driving a stick shift)).
When I returned my least favorite part of the project awaited me: Raking up the grass. Dear heavens... there was SOOOO much grass. It was the sort of thing you think "there is no way I will ever be done with this." About a third the way through the front yard a freind of ours came over with her kids. They started to help me. Although they didnt help much and ultimately destroyed most of my piles, it was a little tender mercy that made me laugh and forget my miserable task for a bit. I dont know if I would have stuck to it if they hadn't shown up. it took about two and half hours of rigorous raking to get the grass up and into the truck. I then took the grass to a reccyling place... assumed incorrectly they would have a shovel there... and ended up heaving everything out by hand... it almost killed me.
Upon return we mowed the lawn one more time to trim the stuff that had been lifted by the de-thatcher, and to clean up extra grass clippinngs. the project was pretty much non-stop from 9-5.
I then went to a church meeting. And watched the rest of the Duck football game.
Tomorrow I will fertilize and reseed some areas...
This had better do something positive to our lawn!

Note to all-- if you ever de-thatch --- stretch first... pray often... and get some help.

I'll post a picture of our immaculate lawn, when it is thus.

Jake