Females I Admire  
By Maggie Turner  

Wednesday, April 26, 2000

Females I Admire

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The garden beckoned and I succumbed to its charm although it was quite cool. The lawn in the back yard is in sorry shape. At one point in the history of this property an above ground pool lay beneath the trees there. Concrete slabs that we suspect remain below the surface of the lawn supported it. The grass in this area dies quickly during dry periods and the area floods when there is a lot of rain. Still, there is some grass left among the dandelions and seedling cherry and maple trees.

Each spring hundreds of small tress poke up through the grass and reach towards the sky. My afternoon was spent plucking and gathering. I may have missed a few small trees that will root firmly; I will find them when they are a bit taller. The other plants I removed diligently were the dandelions with their deep taproots. They are very difficult to destroy effectively, often just a bit of that root manages to elude me and reestablish itself.

"The Teenager" is busy being just that this evening. On the kitchen counter now sits a pot lined with two layers of burned noodles. When she first decided to cook, she left the pot unattended, on high heat and wandered back to my office to play on the computer. Watching her do this I insisted she watch the pot while she was cooking. I was distracted by the telephone. The next thing I knew there were cracking and popping sounds coming from the kitchen. She was back on the computer. Grrrrr...

It would not be so bad if she actually cleaned the messes she creates, but she does not. I always end up either in a shouting match or cleaning things up myself. Today I opted for the "make her clean it up herself" option. Things were rather unpleasant and she managed to have to leave to go and baby-sit at the neighbor's house before the pot was cleaned. Grrrrr...

I am fantasizing about being the Mommy chimp in one of those nature shows. You know the ones I mean, where the little chimp does something annoying and the Mommy chimp gives them a good bat, knocking them off their feet. I am feeling downright animalistic at the moment. Parenting does not seem to be as complicated for the other mammals on the planet. Perhaps I will feel better after I clean up that pot. Who am I kidding?