Winning The War

The last time I mowed my lawn I ran over one dandelion that wasn't dead.  Just one in the entire yard!  It is amazing how far just a little lawn care can take you.  While not perfect and no where near a golf course, it is at least green now and mostly free of weeds.  Plus we got mulch around the trees (thanks to the landscaping company) and Sarah and I threw down an additional 15 bags around the front of our house and that has helped a lot too.  Now we're just waiting until the fall to plant some shrubs or something around the front of the house and I think the exterior will be looking much better than it did earlier this spring.

Pay That Man His Money

In the past week I got letters from one of the state medical societies that I belong to, a national medical society that I belong to that is also affiliated with a different state medical society, and another national medical society that I belong to.  So three letters in total.  All three were requesting money for membership "dues" totaling about $700.  It would've been closer to $1,000 but I think one of the societies still thinks I'm a resident because they gave me a discount on this year's dues and they recently gave me a discount on a conference I signed up for that they run.  I'll keep that info to myself for now.  At any rate, the point of sharing this information is just to say that I think it is ridiculous how many societies there are and how you more or less don't have an option but to be a part of them (if you want to be board certified, which you basically have to be to get paid by insurance companies, you have to be a member of some of them).  I shouldn't complain too much because the hospital covers these fees for me but regardless it is a lot of money to have to spend each year to be able to do your job.

Welcome Back To The Jungle

Over the past 3-4 weeks I've placed spring fertilizer on my yard and sprayed it with a selective herbicide to try to get rid of the weeds that were starting to take over the west side of my lawn.  Add to this warming temperatures plus a couple of good rain showers and I'd say there has been a noticeable improvement in the quality of my lawn recently.  My herbicide spray did miss some weeds so I think I'm going to go back and spot treat any remaining weeds that I can see.  Sarah bought me a Scott's book on how to have a nice lawn and I've read some of it and it suggests putting additional fertilizer on in the early summer so I'll probably do that in a few weeks.  I've put minimal work into it and I can already see improvement which makes me feel quite a lot better about the situation.  Plus I'm going to put a fall spray on the yard per Scott's steps program and am planning on putting down seed in the fall over some of the brown areas as well so I have a plan on what I'm doing, which makes me feel better about things as well.  Now if we can just get the mulch people to come we'll be set.