Miss the stuff you like looking at

7 and a half acres is a bunch of grass to mow. That poor John Deere yard tractor is really over matched.

My philosophy is miss the stuff you like looking at. It's a good philosophy ... as far as it goes. Things work out just dandy when I miss the indian blankets. The problems occure when I don't really know what I'm missing. Take for example the field thistles I let grow. These are 2 foot monsters that spread their thorny lower leaves in two foot circles while sending up their attractive purple flowers. Unfortunately they can take over a field and render it useless save for thistle growing. I relented and mowed them over.

Of coures we must remember that Rockport is mesquite country and just a week or 10 days of "missing" a mesquite sapling will inflict serious pain to your tires or fingers.

I'm still missing, but now I'm being selective in what I miss. Mexican hats, brown-eyed susans, and silver-leaved sunflowers - in. Field thistles, mesquite volunteers, and poison ivy - out!