Thursday, September 6, 2012

I'll do it when...


As many of my male brethren do, I bristle when I hear the phrase "tomorrow, you need to ...." directed towards me. "You should..." doesn't sit much better.

I was tag teamed Tuesday with a group "you need to...". I was you shoulded into believing that I wanted to remove several overgrown boxwood bushes. It wasn't the first time the subject had been broached, nor the second. I simply didn't want to do it. I love those bushes, I love their size, and how they anchor the entire hedge.

Mrs. T was away for the afternoon, and knowing she wouldn't notice for weeks I opted for a compromise course. I ruthlessly pruned.


And pruned and pruned and....

And made piles and piles, and..

And cleared and cleared and cleaned and


until I wore my self out.

I admit it, Mrs. T was right, and I was wrong. It does look much nicer with the bushes cut back. I should have done this two or three "you shoulds "ago, or even better 3 or 4 years ago.

Enjoy your day.

Toad



9 comments:

Pink Benny said...

As your post proves, Toad, Winston Churchill was correct when he observed that "Americans always do the right thing....AFTER they explore every other possiblity." Congratuations on a job well done. Now...take a few moments and enjoy a well-deserved adult beverage!

James said...

At my house it's "you know what would be a good idea".The most aggravating part of the exercise is that they are usually right.

Anonymous said...

Good job! There must be some ruthless pruning vibrations in the air! I ruthlessly pruned all the leggy sad ligustrum down to sticks all along the front of the house, then I kept swatting mosquitos and went nuts clipping the barrier ones near the parking area. Why didn't I look as good as you did upon completion? More importantly, was Mrs. Toad pleased when she came home and saw the results of your hard labor?

-Flo

Gail, in northern California said...

Good heavens, Toad. You became a man possessed. That's what happens when you give a guy a set of pruning shears or, gawd forbid, a chain saw.

There's a certain smugness to a job well done and you've earned it, Toad.

Without a doubt you just moved up a notch or two in the eyes of Mrs. T. and I hope she has the good sense to keep the "I told you so." to herself. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Isn 't it disgusting how once the wife suggests a project, she continually brings it up every six months or so!

Toad said...

A day later she hasn't seen it and I haven't brought it up. My guess is sometime near the end of the month she'll notice.

Anonymous said...

I have a terrible longing for those box cuttings I'm looking at in your driveway. Oh, I LOVE the smell [an olfactory holdover from grandmother's house in Maryland], number 1. But number 2, here comes wreath season and there's nothing so delightful as boxwood wreathes set about the house and grounds during the fall season. I will imagine them all gathered up and jammed into giant tubs of water, set inside the pool house, waiting.

-F

Toad said...

Bill Buckley Jr. would occasionally ramble on about the smell boxwood, and how some liked it and most thought it smelled of litter boxes.

Our hedge is a Korean cultivar and I cannot detect any scent at all. Perhaps English boxwood is the choice for aromatics.

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