I broke down and called a lawn service yesterday. They offered to send someone out to do an assessment. I wanted to ask them to please send someone with a sense of humor -- but the woman on the phone sounded very serious about things like weeds and insects and fertilization. These are things I haven't given much serious thought; the barren desolation outside our front door is proof of that.

Maybe I'll go sit outside now and enjoy the scenery -- the lawn looks pretty good before the sun comes up. With the coach-light still out and the darkness more or less complete, I can even pretend that some of the brush I fell underfoot is real grass, not the crabgrass and clover I know it is.