I Fought the Grass and the Grass Won

Trevor (Head Pro) explaining how the tournament would work

My day started off simple enough....greek yogurt, berries and flax seed.  Then it was off to Teton Pines tennis Center to participate in the club's "Summer Solstice Showdown" tournament.  It was more of a social gathering then a tennis tournament, but a nice way to spend a few hours meeting new people.  The tennis club is about 30 minutes away from the house and on the other side of the mountain range.  During the 4 hours of the tennis tournament, it was cloudy on that side of the mountain range.  

As I made my way back to my side of the mountain range, I found the sun and it was beautiful.  As I pulled into my driveway, I realized that the time had fianlly come to "take on the grass."  I was really hoping that the buffalo would return often and eat as much as they wanted, so that I would never have to "take on the grass."  The buffalo still roam the neighborhood from time to time, but they have not ventured back through my gate to snack on my grass.  As part of the lease for the house, I agreed to cut the front yard and the owners left a lawn mower in the garage.  With music in my ears and beautiful sunshine all around, I headed to the garage to find the lawn mower.  Imagine my surprise when I found a lawn mower that belonged in a different generation.

The home owner's joke of a lawn mower

Once I found the lawn mower and saw that it was from the 1920's, the front yard looked a lot bigger than it ever had before.  I was not going to be beaten by an old lawn mower, so I started pushing it around and cutting the grass.  It was a lot harder than it looked but I kept going and thought of it as a work out since the tennis tournament had not been much exercise.  I lost track of how long it took me to get the front yard done, but it was way to long.

Before

After

After the front yard was done and I took a well earned water break, I moved to the back yard to give it a go.  As per the lease, I am not responsible for the backyard beacuse the property manager said it was natural habitat and not grass.  The buffalo enjoy snacking on it, and it has been growing like a weed and needed a cut.  I took the old lawn mower to the back yard and gave it a go.  Where I got was no where!  The mower could not make a dent in the growth of the back yard and I could easily see defeat in front of me!  I know better than to fight a war I can't win.  The property manager will be called in the morning so that a landscape company can take over.  I knew there was a reason I do not have grass at my house in Sarasota!

The still over grown back yard.