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"Thanks, Hon," Doc said, beaming. "Only problem is," said Steve,
looking up from his traditional stool at the philosophy counter,
"with Doc's patented, soon-to-be-famous method of laissez faire
gardening, it always looks the same."
"That's an outright lie!" Doc said, pretending to be a bit
nonplused. "It changes."
"Your method?" Mavis said.
Well, she should ask, because our Doc told us several years ago
of his new method of semi-hands-off garden care. He doesn't plant
anything, and he doesn't water anything he isn't fond of. He just
lets the yard go the way it wants to and then uses a hoe on anything
he doesn't want growing there. Usually, this means sticker bushes.
He believes nature knows what best to grow, so why fight it?
Doc has his hands full trying to keep most of us alive around
here, and the rest of the time he tries to spend down on Lewis Creek
giving The Lunker a hard time with his fly rod. There is no time for
gardening.
Steve and Dud stared at Doc.
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column] |
"What do you mean, it changes, Doc?" Dud asked. He considers
himself the curious one of our little group of unsung philosophers
down at the Mule Barn coffee shop.
"I change out the hit list," Doc said. "For example, last year I
whacked out the short puckerbrush that has those raggedy-edge
leaves. This made more room for the tall, skinny stuff with the
little purple flowers. Well, this year I decided I was tired of the
little purple flowers, because they smell bad, so I'm whacking the
tall, skinny stuff and letting those fat-leafed hoo-hoos take their
place."
He looked at us. "Change is good, you know."
"I'll bet you don't know the Latin name for them," Steve said,
smugly.
Doc pondered and sipped.
"Sure I do," he said. "They're Hoohooditsia obesiana."
"Oh, Doc," said Mavis, laughing. "You just made that up."
"When they're in my yard," he said, "they play by my rules."
[Text from file received from Slim Randles]
Brought to you by the good folks at St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital. Give them a hand at
www.stjude.org. |
