Dandelions

Upon arrival home from a fun-filled vacation at the beach, we found a note from one of our neighbors asking us to call. This neighbor as kindly as possible explained that she "hates" dandelions. In this "before" picture of the front of our house (before the new roof), you can see many dandelions. I have been fighting a loosing battle with the dandelions since we moved in. Literally. One of my dreams is to have a front yard that looks like my brother Kent's front yard...like a golf course because the grass is so green, weed-free and soft to walk on. I explained to this concerned neighbor that I, too, do not like dandelions and have been fighting with them for many years. Bless her heart, she went and got her dandelion killer spray and started spraying my dandelions.
Neighbor: "See how easy it is!"
Me: "Yes, I see. Now look how many of those there are to spray and notice how your hands feel after spraying a few."
Neighbor: "Here, your husband can do it!"
Husband: "I don't do weeds!" (Note: he mows the lawn but that is about all he can do due to his bad allergies to grass, weeds and more...more on that later.)
I wish I had a camera to capture the look on the neighbors face. It was priceless!

So, as Jason unloaded the car, I made dinner then quickly made a mad dash to a local store to purchase the kind of spray you attach to a hose and let the hose do all the work. I sprayed the front yard and the back yard. Time will tell. I have done this before but maybe the secret is to do it several times a year. Not once every other year. The song "Back to life. Back to reality..." quickly came to mind!

Jason has had some success with the allergy shots he has been getting once a week for the past 3 years. I think he is down to every other week now. Most people are able to give themselves shots after 6 months and don't really need shots after a couple of years. Jason is still going to the shot clinic because his allergies are so severe they won't let him do it on his own. I am grateful for this as he has made a trip to the emergency room after reacting to a vile check (face and mouth swollen along with other not-so-desirable symptoms) and almost had to go on two more occasions but was able to stop the swelling on his own. However, he continues to go because his summer last year was almost allergy-meds free, something he has never been able to say before. He had a reaction last summer to the sunflowers we planted in our garden so we won't be planting those again. But, other than that, he was able to enjoy the summer a little bit more.