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Fifteenth Job of Bob - Lawn Service Part II - the part-time endeavor grows
This entry was posted on 4/24/2008 4:25 PM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
I was focused specifically on lawn mowing only. Landscape construction tasks caused too many time-bandit scenarios. It was easier to go in, knock out a lawn and get paid, week after week. You also had to be careful people would not nickel and dime you. People would invariable ask me to clean drain cutters, clean out garages, etcetera. Basically, I had to be careful not to be drawn to tasks other than lawn care. Those arbitrary tasks usually were one-time deals and interfered with a routine.
I also had to be careful when asked to come in and clean up some one else's mess. Every spring thousands of guys with old beat up cars and a used push mower hanging out the trunk are in business. By mid summer after realizing how hard the work is to keep up with, they fade away. Home owners and business owners ramp up the rescue calls by mid summer. I learned to cull those jobs out.
The custom in North Texas was to bag the clippings - it most likely still is. That causes the challenge of disposal. To make the task go quicker, I would dump the clippings in the bed of the truck. Then I found I had no room for my equipment. This led to me buying a 16-foot trailer. I built a compartment in the front of the trailer to hold the clippings. I would dump the clippings in a vacant lot next to my house. I lived in a neighborhood where the tracts of houses were started but then the late Eighties economy ground the construction to a halt - vacant lots were everywhere.
My truck and trailer became a fixture parked in front of my house. My own yard became full of trees, bushes, flowers, wild flowers, and construction designs. I used the spaces to see what would and would not grow in various situations like shade, next to walls, and in raised planting beds, etcetera. My own yard had white Peace roses; orange and red Pyracantha; yellow Forsythia; red and green Photinia; various colorful wild flowers; Columbine; and pink Crap Myrtle.
I suppose at this point I should mention we moved to a small house in far East Dallas after living a couple years in a neat little apartment in old East Dallas - Lakewood area. The apartment was older and surrounded by old neighborhoods and an abundance of trees and plants. The house was new and I had to start the plant contribution from scratch. There is a book I should mention by a guy named Howard Garrett. It is called Plants of the Metroplex. It was a horticultural bible to a guy like me. It had only 72 pages and plenty of big pictures so you could be sure to easily correctly identify the trees, shrubs, and flowers most commonly found in Dallas.
By 1988 a co-worker from the Park Department would ride along once in a while and help me cut the yards. By the middle of that same year I had collected so much miscellaneous equipment, I rented a small unit near by to store tools in. By late summer I was working several nights a week and Saturdays as well. I still worked for the City during the day, but my heart was slowly shifting to my entrepreneurial endeavor - humble as it was.
Wisconsin military service person of the week
Lance Corporal Ryan J. Nass, 21, of Franklin, Wisconsin died September 3, 2005 from a gunshot wound at Camp Blessing, Afghanistan. He unit was a rifleman in the 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force. The unit is based out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Camp Blessing, Afghanistan is about 20 miles from Pakistan. His unit was deployed to Afghanistan in June of 2005. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sited his medals as the Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Sea Service Deployment Ribbon; and, the National Defense Service Medal. Nass is survived by his wife. Lance Corporal Ryan J. Nass was the fourth Wisconsin service member to be killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
82,991 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
8,145 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,051 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
490 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
308 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
299 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
29,829 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,931 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
90 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
127 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
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