I’ve enjoyed a sweaty week as I tackled the grass strip running down the middle of our driveway. After several years of driving in the same track the middle of the driveway is never disturbed and a variety of weeds assume that they have the right to grow there.
There’s something unbecoming when a driveway has a six inch tall strip of grass marring its appearance. I would classify it a “bush league” appearing driveway and passerby’s probably smile and mutter, “There’s gotta be a Redneck living in that home.”
The green growth finally got to me a couple days ago so I went in search of my trusty old pickax that I had purchased at some auction sale many years ago. It is the perfect tool for uprooting those nasty driveway plants.
It is not an easy tool to use however if sweating is something you dread. I was ringing wet after only a half hour of driveway plant removal. In fact I uprooted only a third of the growth before retiring for the day as I headed for a much needed shower.
As the warm water washed over my tired body I got reminiscing about the first road I was introduced to with a grass trip running its full length. Since the road lacked gravel our family named it the “dirt road’. We have always been known for our originality! 🙂
By taking the one mile long dirt road it served as a short cut to our hometown of Clinton.
It was only passable during the dry weather of summer and fall. After a rain storm the dirt road had several low spots that became a muddy quagmire,
This was before four wheel drive but that didn’t stop the local teenagers from challenging the slippery, muddy surface in an attempt to conquer the mile long mud track.
Their attempts left the dirt road scarred with deep ruts and I’m sure raised by Dad’s blood pressure several points.:)
That mile long dirt road was a scenic trip. Much of the road ran adjacent to a large slough where abundant wildlife could be viewed through our car’s windows.
A mother mallard duck paddling ahead of her dozen offspring was not an uncommon site.
The v-shaped wake caused by a swimming muskrat reminded us that the rodents hut was in the process of being constructed preparing for the impending arrival of winter.
The scolding call of a Red-Winged Blackbird filled the air as it perched on a cattail and guarded its nest of fledgling offspring.
I traveled that dirt road on bike and on foot several times.
My summer job in those years found me working for college money at the local Peavey Elevator. One morning there was no vehicle to get me to work so I jumped on my bike and pedaled the three and a half mile trip to town.
Since it was harvest time I returned home well after dark. There was a full moon which made the dirt road trip less scary.
That is until I sensed something running along beside me. Glancing over to my right the reflecting moonlight revealed a great, big badger!
Badgers can be ferocious so my bike pedaling picked up speed quickly.
Once the badger realized he was racing a human on a bicycle he made a quick dive into the tall ditch grass.
I’m not sure whose heart was beating the fastest, the badger or mine after that encounter.
One evening I decided to see if I could run the three and a half mile trip home. Even though I was wearing heavy work boots and I had just worked a thirteen hour day I thought I would give it a try.
I was half way completing the dirt road run when I met my Dad coming to pick me up in the car.
Since my goal was to make the run non-stop I shouted through the car’s open window, “Dad, I’m running non-stop. See you at the house.”
He gave me that typical parental look which reflected his confusion about the thought process of teenagers. 🙂
The dirt road is only a memory now. A farmer has confiscated it and that packed black ground has reverted from being a short cut to Clinton to being a producer of corn, wheat and beans.
It would be interesting to know the secrets it holds. What things occurred on that dirt road that will never be revealed?
The teenage “mudders” probably had some experiences that they never dared share with their parents.
Those were the days when young couples in love would find a secluded spot to park. The dirt road I’m sure could share a few stories with us about that topic. 🙂 Memories of a first kiss perhaps.
How many teenagers had their first drink or a puff on a cigar on that dirt road?
Yes, all the stories that could be told about what happened on that old dirt road with a strip of grass and weeds down the middle might even produce some best selling novels or even an Oscar winning movie.
My race with the badger or my non-stop run to my house, however, would not qualify for either a novel or a movie I’m afraid. 🙁
Anyway I’ve got my own private road now with a grass and weed strip down the middle. It’s even a step up since it is covered with a layer of gravel. There will be no “mudders” at our house. 🙂
And as for that strip of weeds and grass, I realize I removed them this week. But I have this biology background that assures me that give my driveway a couple more years and that grass/weed strip will be back. 🙂
Until next time.
