Valkyre

Giant Weed - 1, Weed Whacker - 0

Hmmm..... Seems I forgot to mention that I quit my job about a week and a half ago. 5 years of 6 day work weeks were taking their toll. That, and another reason I won't get into right now. That's for a future entry. Even though I had Sunday off, I really couldn't find the time to do everything that needed to be done around the house. So, the backyard fell into neglect. It was starting to look like the neighborhood nightmare. You know, the one that devalues the houses around it. Gravel paths were overrun with weeds. Along with the decorative rock ring around the above ground pool. So, I've spent the past week and a half pulling weeds. I've already filled two city trash barrels and am working towards a third. I decided to tackle this gigantic weed thing near my rose bushes. I don't know what these damn things are called. But, the one in the above picture, is about five feet across. Yes, that's one plant. And, you can't casually just yank it out by it's roots. So, I decided to weed whack it down, then hit what's left with weed killer and dig it up by it's roots when it's dead. I want to remove about 5-6 inches of topsoil anyway. My goal is to plant a new lawn. So, I start whacking at it. The weed whacker was struggling a little bit. Never had this problem before. I thought I could smell burning plastic, but I attributed it to the new plastic line that was installed. However, the motor started to struggle. I pull it up to look at it and notice that there is some grass tangled around the spool. I've never run into this problem before. I chalked it up to the weed from hell. Pull all of it out. Start again. Motor is still struggling. Look again, more grass. Pull it out. Struggle. Look at the motor again and now I see smoke. I think it's burned out. I guess I can't complain too much. This is our second weed whacker in almost 22 years. And, I have a tendency to abuse them by leaving them outside exposed to the elements. So, I will be getting a new one this weekend. Giant weed hasn't got the best of me yet!!!!