The New Aerobics

I just finished forty-five minutes of aerobic weed pulling. I bet you thought weed pulling was a sedentary activity. Wrong.

The first of the season weeds in my back yard are an average of two feet high and today the air is a chilly fifty degrees. Since my back yard is so bad, I thought I’d rush out and pull only one large bag full, something I didn’t think would take too long based on the size of my weeds. So rather than sitting down on a towel on the grass and scooting along, pulling them until they all disappeared, I utilized the seldom-employed bend over method. Unfortunately, the weeds kept compressing in the bag and I removed twice as manyas I had intended. Although we recently had rain, a few of the roots were stubborn, so I also experienced the side benefit of upper body muscle toning along with my cardio.

Next time I need to remember to do this in front of an audience as I did with my hot summer edging and mowing in the front yard. When I exert myself my face, neck, and shoulders turn a brilliant red. At the time, my new, much younger next-door neighbor must have thought I was going to have a heart attack because when I loaned him my mower, he volunteered to mow my yard, front and back, along with his own. He continues to do this now, three years later.

The way I was huffing and puffing when I came in from my weed pulling, surely he would have volunteered to do my weeds, too! Actually, he already did volunteer to mow and bag them for me since many were the thorny kind, but I asked him to give me a chance to pull them so I could get the roots out of the grass.

To encourage him to continue helping me, in addition to letting him use my mower, I bake banana bread for him, but as nice as he and his family are, I don’t really think I’d have to do that. Anyway, it’s great having a thoughtful neighbor.