The Dandelion Incident

A few months ago, Brandon and I had an argument that I have dubbed, "The Dandelion Incident." We had a lot of dandelions in our yard. Okay, we had thousands. This was due to neglect (Brandon being in school for 2 years, me ignoring them, wash, rinse, repeat). Brandon tried to get the kids to pick them ("$1 for every bucketful!"). He also tried to get me to pick them ("But dandelions don't bother me, Brandon!). Finally, exasperated, he hired a very small local company (coupon on his windshield) to come and spray for dandelions and fertilize our lawn throughout the summer. I was livid. I'm very much against pesticides and such. Very much. So, it makes sense that I was upset. Brandon was upset because he had had to stare at ugly dandelions taking over our lawn for 2 years. In his defense, there had been more than dandelions --all kinds of weeds have been slowing making their way into our lawn. Then, add to it the fact that we've had troubles with our sprinkler system over the last several years, and it makes for a pretty shabby-looking lawn.

We hashed it out. I finally agreed to let the small company come and spray. It had become drastic enough, so I caved.

Anyway, the guys came. And a few weeks later, our lawn was DEAD. Completely dead. Killed. Destroyed. Oh, there were patches of green here and there, but it was apparent that EVERYTHING had died.

After a few weeks of making sure it was truly dead and not some magical "oh, the fertilizer will kick in shortly!" we had the guys come out and look at it. I was really nervous. What if they didn't care? What if they claimed it wasn't their fault? What if they only offered to seed it? I tried not to do the whole "I told you so!" to Brandon because he already felt awful about it. Really awful.

Well, they texted Brandon while we were in Hawaii: "Let us know when you get back and we'll talk about when to replace your lawn."

Today they came and dug it all up. They're actually still doing it. They brought a sprinkler guy to make sure they didn't hit anything and to guarantee our sprinklers are working well. One of the guys explained that the sod will be coming early next week and they need to get the soil ready for it; the sprinklers need to be in good form so the sod doesn't die.

I think just now it hit me: New sod! A new lawn! Front AND back! Our lawn has struggled for so long, and now we're getting a new one? For free!? Totally didn't see this one coming! I mean, who knew that letting Brandon spray our yard with poison would end up being a fabulous win-win for us?!

Talk about your tender mercy/crazy-awesome miracle!