The grass is greener on my side

It seems like it has been raining a lot more than usual this late in the summer. But at least my lawn is green.

Every year since I have moved in, I have used Scott's annual lawn care program on my lawn (including the Summer Guard which is supposed to protect against summer bugs). Last year, my neighbor came over when I was out working in the yard and told me that he thought I have bugs in the yard. "That's what all those brown spots are" he said, as if I hadn't noticed them. I noticed them. But it was a lot more dry last summer. AND, all of the brown spots were in areas that get full sun all day long. The other shaded or partially shaded areas of the lawn were much more green. So much so, that it almost seemed like there was a line drawn exactly where the shade from the large cherry tree is in my front yard, with everything being green underneath it, and things being more brownish outside of the shaded area. So it seemed like too much sun and too dry was the culprit to me, why would I have thought there were bugs?

"I wouldn't have said anything except now the bugs are getting into my lawn. Watering won't help because it's bugs, not just dry" he said. He must have seen me watering my lawn a few times. Still a little surprised at this, I didn't say much. But I looked up some things on the internet later.

I found many articles like this one about grubs. It says that grubs
"... eat the roots of grass, causing irregularly shaped patches
of wilted, dead or dying grass in April and May, and again in
August to mid-October. With a serious infestation, the turf
can be lifted up from the soil and rolled back like a carpet.
If the damage to the grass is not too severe, the grass will
recover with normal watering and fertilizing."

So this seems to suggest that watering could help. But whatever. The article goes on to tell you how to check your lawn and count the grub population. It suggests
"If animals such as skunks, raccoons, birds and moles are digging up the
turf to feed on the grubs, consider treating your lawn."

It did seem that some of the dryer areas were being dug up by something. I had thought by a dog, but perhaps by some other critter. So I entertained the idea that the digging might be because of something feeding on grubs. And did as the article said to check the grub population. I picked 3 or 4 separate areas of the lawn, cut out a square of turf and lifted it up. And do you know how many grubs I found? Zero. Zero grubs.

I'm not so sure how my neighbor thinks he knows so much. Usually the grass seems greener on the other side. But my grass is usually greener before his in the Spring (thanks to Scott's fertilizers I'm sure). And mine seems greener to me a lot of the time. Explain that! Plus I have less crabgrass in my whole yard than his whole front lawn alone.

A couple of days later, he knocked on my door and said he had bought a bag of grub control and had more than enough for his yard so he wondered if he could put the rest on my lawn too. "It's a waste, but knock yourself out," I thought. "Sure," I said. I guess I didn't fix the brown spots quickly enough for him. Must be nice to have a wife to take care of half of the household chores so he has more time to get other work outside done, unlike me who has to do all the stuff around the house myself.

What sucks though, is that I have a hard time not stewing over this every single time I mow my lawn this year. Usually it passes. Sometimes I end up in a bad mood by the time I'm done mowing and stewing. But I like to be outside doing stuff so I guess it usually makes up for it.

I pulled some weeds from the lawn the other day, and planted some grass seed in their place. I wonder if he'll see the "missing grass" (where the weeds were) and think that's bugs too. I've been watering the lawn at night after they go to bed so he won't see me watering and tell me that watering won't help, again. Crazy, I know.

They're having a baby soon, so maybe he'll have something better to pay attention to now besides my lawn.

My Kitchen

It seems like only about a month since I had my kitchen remodeled (see pictures). But time flies, and it's actually been about 3 months! They (Kitchen Kraft) started on April 24, 2006 and were done on May 8, 2006. They called me last week to ask if they could take pictures of the kitchen for the photo books that they show to other potential customers. Cool! Although now I have to clean :) They are coming tonight to take pictures.

I don't feel like I am "done" yet though. I still have to paint the walls. I guess it's pretty typical for them to leave that part up to the customer to do. It took me awhile to decide on a color, but I decided and I bought the paint at the beginning of July. Now it's just a matter of finding the time. And I've still got some lighting to do, which I opted to have my brother Dan and his boss who is an electrician come up from Dayton so we can all work on that and save me some money.
I hope it is OK with Kitchen Kraft that the kitchen is not 100% "done" for their photos. Then again, all of their portion of the work is done, so maybe that's all they want photos of anyway.

The best part that I love is the table that is built into the wall. I have lived in my house for over 4 years, and have maybe sat down in the kitchen to eat maybe 5 times, total. In the almost 3 months that my kitchen has been done, I can think of at least 4 times that I have sat at that table to eat already, whether by myself or with friends. I guess that means it is a good, functional design.

Code Monkey

I'm wearing a skirt at work today, which if you know me, I do not wear skirts often. This is the 2nd day in a row actually. It has just been too darn hot, even for me. So, since I can't wear shorts to work, and I am a girl so it's socially acceptable for me to wear a skirt, that is what I've done.

At 5:00 pm today, I got a compliment on the clothes I'm wearing today (actually the guy used the word "outfit" which is also odd, b/c I didn't know guys used that word). And it occurred to me, at 5:00pm, that was the first time I had seen any of my co-workers all day. Or much of anyone for that matter. Thanks to LunchMaster I knew that other people I have lunch with, they all either packed their lunch or had other plans. So I went to the cafeteria and read a chapter in "Pragmatic Version Control using CVS" by Dave Thomas and Andrew Hunt. But I didn't see anyone I knew at lunch. My client manager's on vacation. And I've been sitting quietly in my cubicle coding the rest of the day. So, I never really saw anyone I knew all day. Odd.

Or is it odd? Being a code monkey like I am, I tend to favor e-mail and IM as means of communication over all else. That way I have history of what was said, because I will likely get caught up in something else and forget within a few days if I don't have it in writing... plus it's less of an interruption because if I'm in the middle of a thought, I can get to my email or IM whenever I'm ready. So I guess it's not so bad. It's much better than sharing a cubicle with a college intern with the constant barrage of questions, albeit appropriate questions for his level of experience, but still an interruption to my productivity and quest for sanity.

Anyway, my "nonsmoking break" time's over so I better get back to the isolated grind :)

Spanish Slang word-o-the-day

It seems lately that I've learned most of my Spanish slang from watching comedian Carlos Mencia on Comedy Central. He can be kinda vulgar, but he's pretty funny.

The best is watching it with the closed captioning turned on, because sometimes they write out the Spanish words that he says, and I can go look them up. Although I usually try to make a guess based on context first.

The word I learned yesterday was "mijo", which he used twice. One was when he said something about his "aunt mijo". The other was something like "... and then my mom said to me, 'hey, mijo..."

So I thought it must mean something like "dude"? And in context, I think he was making fun of some aunt that was particularly masculine.

I wasn't too far off. According to urbandictionary.com, mijo means:

> 1.
> Conjoined spanish slang of affection. Mi + hijo, "my son." Can be said to any man or boy,
> usually by an older person. Can also mean "my dear" "sweetie" or "hun."

> 2.
> Spanish term of affection, meaning my sweetheart, baby, honey, etc. Used between lovers
> or other close people the way honey can be used.
>
> Also may mean son, or the female version mija means daughter. This derives from "my son"
> or "mi hijo". "Mi hijo" = "M'ijo" = "Mijo" so its basically a shortened version of this. Alternate
> versions: mijito, m'ijo
>
> Ay, mijo, I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

Notice here the alternate version "mijito" (see the ito/ita discussion in a previous post)


And I don't know how reliable this one is, but I liked this definition:

> 5.
> A friend or "homeboy" in a new slang created by Paul "the mijo" A.
> Someone you trust and know.
>
> you are my mijo

There were a few other definitions, but these pretty much sum it up.


Hasta Luego, mijos!

My First Blog Entry

Ok, I'm finally trying this blog thing out. Yay me. I've been reluctant to start a blog because I don't feel like I really have anything worth talking about. Time will tell.

I guess I should take a moment to explain my blog name, mi-blogita. I guess is kind of "spanglish" (a cross between english and spanish) for "my little blog."

mi = my in spanish.

blog doesn't have a spanish translation that I am aware of, so I just used the english word blog.

the "ito" or "ita" suffix is what makes it little or small. i.e. gordo/gorda means fat boy/girl, so gordito is "little fat boy" and gordita is "little fat girl". pescado is fish. pescadito is little fish. Extrapolating that, I made up the word blogita to mean little blog.



And, I'm out.