Do Not Step On The Grass!

          I’ve been cutting grass since I was about 12 years old. At first it was just to make a quick $20 to buy junk food or some other trash I didn’t need when I was young. Once I got a little older and bought my first house, I started really getting into actual landscaping versus only cutting the grass and being done with it. I found that there is a lot of trial and error when you’re learning different aspects of landscaping. Sometimes you find yourself re-working something you already did, or causing more work for yourself than needed. For example, my buddy Brandt swears putting a weed blocking barrier down is a mistake because next season you have to fight threw it to plant new plants or re-do the mulch beds. It is a pain in the butt to deal with, but keeping the weeds out of a mulch bed or garden is easy if you just put a few minutes a day into it.

          I’ve had many people ask who does my yardwork, or how do I do this or that. I’ve seriously considered opening my own little landscaping business I can run on the weekends. This past week, my girlfriend had a friend over that wanted me to take care of her yard. I agreed to do so, not knowing how it looked before I quoted anything or started! This yard was a mess. You couldn’t even see the sidewalk leading to the front door for all the weeds. Needless to say, it took longer than expected to get it fixed, but it looks really good now.  Her and her neighbor both said I have “real talent” and should start a business landscaping.

          I enjoy landscaping more than most people I’m sure. I can just get out there with some music and a cold beer and do my own thing without being bothered. I think I will start accumulating more landscaping equipment over the next year or so, and see what comes of it. I figure, if I can get a decent mower and a trailer to pull all the gear from house to house, I can do what I want and make my own schedule. Even if it’s only part time to make a few extra dollars, I’ll be doing what I like. I can also pass the skill on to my son, and maybe even pass him his own little start up business when he’s ready!

If you want an estimate just hit me up at jeffc.jeff@gmail.com 

 

Dis Hoe Don't Tread On Me

          Virginia makes it really easy and cheap to get custom tags. It costs about ten dollars for custom tags here, so many people have them. I always thought they were kind of lame, so I’ve never had them until recently. When they give you the paperwork for them, they offer three choices to pick from in case your pick is taken or not allowed. I chose to pick one versus three and if it weren’t available I would have just gotten regular tags. I chose to get the navy tag which is yellow, with a snake in the middle and at the bottom it says “Don’t Tread on Me”. The custom tag I chose is “DIS HOE”, and if you read it all together it says “Dis Hoe Don’t Tread On Me”. To me, this is appropriate for many reasons that I won’t go into here, but the funniest part is that I drive a Chevy Tahoe. Surprisingly, they allowed it and sent me the tags right away.

          Now that I have the tags I hear a lot of compliments. Especially from those that read it all out together or those that have or respect the Tahoe. The worst part is the people trying to run into the back of my truck taking pictures of my tags. Others will chase me down just to tell me they like it. Some just look inside, see the wife and two kids inside and just ride on confused! I guess a lot of people have posted the pictures online, because it’s been seen by many that tell me they’ve seen it and laughed. It’s surprising to me that they even allowed that as an option, and even more surprising that no one has had a negative comment on them yet. Every time I see a cop car behind me I assume he is going to pull me over and tell me I need to change it or at least be jealous or upset about it enough to pull me over for something stupid.

          I’ve had the tag for five months now and I’ve enjoyed them so far. I imagine when I grow up and get a real job that it won’t be appropriate to show up with. They does bring a certain bias with them, but they offer plenty of comedic relief for now as well. I’m going to ride them out until they expire or until it becomes an issue for one reason or another. Once I’m done with them, I’m sure they will make a nice wall piece in my man cave. If you’re ever driving around and see a tag you like, just laugh a little, wave, and ride on. Don’t try to stalk them or take pictures! Put the phone down and drive!         

Monkeying Around at the Norfolk Zoo!

      My family and I had a great time visiting our local zoo recently. The weather wasn’t the greatest and a lot of the animals were hiding out of sight, but the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk is a great place to spend the day if you have the chance. They have so many different animal exhibits that it’s hard to say which one was my favorite. I really enjoyed the giraffe’s because the walkway you travel puts you at eye level with these insanely tall animals. My daughter only knows a few words so she was yelling out our dogs name at the giraffes thinking that’s their names as well. Another interesting pair of animals were these two white cheeked gibbons they had that were swinging from branches and playing, despite the rainy weather. There was one white female gibbon named Asia and one black male named Dexter, both ranging from about twelve to twenty pounds. Both were born in captivity but originally their species are from Vietnam and South China. The thing I like a lot about these guys is that they are able to climb around the entire area in seconds, leaping from branch to branch, making it look easy. They also share the habitat with several Asian Small Clawed Otters in which Dexter likes to tease to keep himself occupied! These guys eat mostly leaves, bark, fruit, and flowers, but they also eat insects, spiders, and bird eggs.  Unfortunately this specific mammal is nearly extinct and has been placed on the critically endangered species list due to hunting and habitat loss.

            They have countless great exhibits with incredible animals at the Norfolk Zoo that everyone should go see. While the White Cheeked Gibbon’s were an amazing creature that I could sit back and watch all day; they were only my second favorite species at the zoo that day. My favorite creatures at the zoo were another species of monkey that were obviously mislabeled by someone. They were labeled as Homo Sapiens but I know they were monkeys by their erratic behavior. The oldest was a female named Jordanne who was obviously the ring leader of these tiny terrorists. The young male was an eleven year old monkey named Austin. He had been all over the world before Norfolk, yet he still didn’t seem to know how to act right. The youngest little one was a female named Avril, she looked so mean it scared me. I knew monkeys had been known to throw their feces at people before and I’m fairly certain she was fully loaded and ready to fire at any time! These three monkeys made my visit to the zoo a great experience. As wild as they were, I felt compelled to open the gate and take them home with me afterwards. You may not see the same exact monkeys when you visit, but I assure you that if you get your own monkeys together for a trip to the Norfolk Zoo you won’t regret it. Visit http://virginiazoo.org/  for more information and visit soon.