2023 52 Card Project: Week 20: Grubs
May. 19th, 2023 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrThis spring felt as though it was never going to come. The winter seemed to stretch on endlessly, and when the calendar said it was spring, it was still cold and wet. When the snow finally (finally!) melted, I looked out over my yard, hoping that the signs of emerging growth would lift my spirits.
But alas. The conditions were ideal for lawn grubs: and all winter long, they were there under the snow munching at the roots of the grass. They have absolutely trashed my lawn. There are huge bare sections, and I am trying to decide what to do.
It feels almost like a betrayal. I was SO looking forward to seeing the grass grow, but it's already ruined. And repairing it is going to take immense work, and possibly money I wasn't planning to spend this way.
It feels as though every time I walk out of my back door, I'm looking at a big, fat metaphor. There are all sorts things lurking under the surface, and when you finally notice, it's already too late and you wonder how you can possibly repair the damage you didn't even notice was happening.
Like the threat due to climate change. Or inflation, and what it has done to my personal budget and portfolio. Or the pandemic, and what it did so much to American society. Or the cancer that killed Rob. Or the creeping authoritarianism and anti-democracy that is poisoning our politics. Or depression.
I remembered the moment at the end of the movie The Incredibles, when a new villain emerged, a strange, mole-like creature who popped out of the ground and yelled, "I'm the UNDERMINER!" [Undermine definition: lessen the effectiveness, power, or ability of, especially gradually or insidiously.]
Not my greatest collage and I'm not sure I'm explaining what I'm meaning in this post (but I'm too tired to tinker with it anymore). But eh, it's done for another week.
(Eric suggested I might skip the collage for the week if I wasn't satisfied with it.
"No, I can't," I said flatly.
So yay. You get a collage.)
I went looking for pictures of lawn grubs, but they were so ugly that I could hardly bear to look at them, much less put them in the week's collage. So I resorted to a cartoon grub instead. The fact that it's brandishing a knife and fork gets the point across.
Image description: a picture of a back lawn. A large portion has missing grass (damaged by grubs). Superimposed over the bare patch are the black outlines of beetles. Left: The Underminer (from the Incredibles movie), a short, stocky man with a large torso and short legs. His eyes are obscured by the miner's helmet he wears on his head, but his face resembles that of a mole, having a long snout and rodent teeth. He has two robotic hands that are very articulate, and they each have two webbed-like fingers and one thumb. Lower right corner: a cartoonishly villainous worm rears up, brandishing a knife and fork.
Grubs
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
But alas. The conditions were ideal for lawn grubs: and all winter long, they were there under the snow munching at the roots of the grass. They have absolutely trashed my lawn. There are huge bare sections, and I am trying to decide what to do.
It feels almost like a betrayal. I was SO looking forward to seeing the grass grow, but it's already ruined. And repairing it is going to take immense work, and possibly money I wasn't planning to spend this way.
It feels as though every time I walk out of my back door, I'm looking at a big, fat metaphor. There are all sorts things lurking under the surface, and when you finally notice, it's already too late and you wonder how you can possibly repair the damage you didn't even notice was happening.
Like the threat due to climate change. Or inflation, and what it has done to my personal budget and portfolio. Or the pandemic, and what it did so much to American society. Or the cancer that killed Rob. Or the creeping authoritarianism and anti-democracy that is poisoning our politics. Or depression.
I remembered the moment at the end of the movie The Incredibles, when a new villain emerged, a strange, mole-like creature who popped out of the ground and yelled, "I'm the UNDERMINER!" [Undermine definition: lessen the effectiveness, power, or ability of, especially gradually or insidiously.]
Not my greatest collage and I'm not sure I'm explaining what I'm meaning in this post (but I'm too tired to tinker with it anymore). But eh, it's done for another week.
(Eric suggested I might skip the collage for the week if I wasn't satisfied with it.
"No, I can't," I said flatly.
So yay. You get a collage.)
I went looking for pictures of lawn grubs, but they were so ugly that I could hardly bear to look at them, much less put them in the week's collage. So I resorted to a cartoon grub instead. The fact that it's brandishing a knife and fork gets the point across.
Image description: a picture of a back lawn. A large portion has missing grass (damaged by grubs). Superimposed over the bare patch are the black outlines of beetles. Left: The Underminer (from the Incredibles movie), a short, stocky man with a large torso and short legs. His eyes are obscured by the miner's helmet he wears on his head, but his face resembles that of a mole, having a long snout and rodent teeth. He has two robotic hands that are very articulate, and they each have two webbed-like fingers and one thumb. Lower right corner: a cartoonishly villainous worm rears up, brandishing a knife and fork.
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-05-20 08:11 am (UTC)We had grubs really do a number on many lawns in the neighborhood two or three years ago, after a huge influx of Japanese beetles. Our lawn had already gone mostly to violets, creeping Charlie, various other flowering weeds, and some kind of sedge, so it didn't and doesn't look worse than usual.
I'm probably going to put down seed for a bee lawn and hope for the best.
P.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-05-20 10:09 am (UTC)Our lawn mostly looks like that, and you are right that it would take money and work to right the ship.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-05-20 02:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-05-21 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-05-20 09:31 pm (UTC)So sorry about your lawn.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-05-22 11:22 am (UTC)