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It was a pretty view out our upstairs bathroom window yesterday morning. Today, even with the rain clouds, the view is even better now that the fields have been sprayed for noxious and toxic weeds. We were pleased to learn during yesterday's weed spraying project that, relatively speaking, our little farm has fewer weeds to kill than most. In fact, Lori told us we could maybe limit the spraying to alternating years. |
Meet Lori Jasman.
She's a former student and a farmer with a degree from the University of Idaho. She's a bus driver and a licensed weed sprayer.
Take my word, as her former English teacher, Lori is one smart cookie----which by the way, is the name of her little dog which she brought with her yesterday.
Lori has gotten to know our place over the years through past weed spraying and while mowing our hay.
I asked Lori several months ago if she'd put us on her list of clients for this year.
And, so yesterday, with no wind and with the guarantee of a few hours of no rain, she drove into the driveway in her pickup, pulling a trailer loaded with with her 4-wheeler, equipped with spray tanks.
Lori told me, after completing her spraying project yesterday, that she loves projects like yesterday best in her work schedule cuz it involves connecting with customers and, of course, open-air applications in pretty farm fields.
Bill and I both enjoyed our time with Lori as shared her knowledge and mixed up her concoctions meant to take out the most stubborn of weeds, including buttercups.
Now, there's a sensitive spot for me in the grand scheme of eradicating weeds. Try as I might, I cannot accept that the pretty yellow buttercups of May and June are weeds.
But I'll take Lori's word for it, 'specially after she had used her wand for more targeted spraying in one of the pasture shelters and announced, "Your buttercups are dead."
Sometimes we have to compromise and look at the grand scheme of things: twould be hard for anyone to eradicate weeds in big areas via selectivity.
So, I accept that the buttercups had to go.
Lori also told Bill she had found a toxic weed out in the hay field and doused it thoroughly. We also have deadly night shade, which, no matter how much we pull it, more sprouts pop up, so it's good to know that we have no worries there for this season.
The other aspect of weed spraying, especially at this time of year, is that later, when the grass is eaten down, the ugly weeds will NOT stand out more than ever.
So, it's a good time to get them before they have a chance to grow.
We appreciate Lori and her no-nonsense expertise, and I know several other clients feel the same.
Lori honors her commitments, and she is very honest with pretty much everything she says.
Plus, she's a perfectionist, so that adds to the confidence we see in her and in her work.
Thanks, Lori.
We are happy being pretty much weed free here on our little hobby farm.
Wish we could just figure out how to keep those weeds out of the gardens and flower beds!
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On another subject, yesterday marked the opening of several commercial entities here throughout Idaho.
With that in mind, we family members choose to be more cautious than ever with hand washing, sanitizing, wiping services and wearing masks in public.
Granted, it seems easy to adopt the mental outlook that since things are open, of course, the world must now be safer.
Thinking about that just a bit would suggest that it may be in some ways with the measures now taken in virtually any business entity.
Nonetheless, the more people are traveling and interacting, the more that virus has a chance to spread.
I, personally, have never thought much about my chronological age because I'm active, busy, pretty healthy and do my best to stay engaged every single day.
That's all cuz I do believe the adage that "life is short," and so I don't believe in wasting it one bit.
Still, I must admit that when the experts first started listing the population groups most endangered by the virus and they said anyone over 65, I cringed.
I still do.
So, for me, as the state and nation open up, there's definitely partially personal and selfish motive for caution along with my general concerns and beliefs that we ain't seen the worst of this yet.
Plus, I may have said before: what does being cautious hurt besides maybe our vanity when wearing a mask in public?
If we look somewhat ridiculous, so be it. I believe that strategy is not as potentially harmful as the Russian roulette approach.
We're preventing potential harm to ourselves and to others by taking care and by following suggested guidelines for keeping folks as healthy as possible.
With that in mind, I read an op-ed this morning by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The piece features a general, easily understood analogy for the country, as a whole, and for individuals to consider. Also, a few specific analogies are embedded within.
The message that struck me most was when he referred to antibiotics and reminded us of doctor's orders to take the antibiotic until its gone or risk the possibility of being worse off later than if we hadn't taken anything at all.
Seems like a great analogy for this stage of the pandemic when restrictions are being lifted. Following guidelines until the pandemic ends instead of stopping mid-course seems wise and maybe life saving.
So, I encourage you to give this link a read, thinking about life and death, as opposed to whatever your political persuasion may be.
After all, it's hard for a virus busily at work to take time out to declare a political party.
On that note, Happy Sunday.
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