This will constitute another change. Yes, I will continue to be in business next season, God willing. I will decided this on a yearly basis as I personally enjoy impermanence so next year I’m working. For the past 43 years, my contracts always been delivered to you on or about the first of December.

This year, however, contracts will be coming to you on or near the 6th of January, 2023.

Contracts are a time-consuming bit of joy for me requiring a review of successes and failures and creation of a new plan forward for each of you. No lawn is the same so I always personalize the plan to fit your needs.

It's amazing to me to see people who allow the city to steal their leaves without paying for them. I often hear that there were too many but the facts I saw were based on 40 inches of leaves in one season. Obviously, they were not mowed in at once but as they fell and sometimes you need to blow them around the lawn to even out the application. Also note that leaves mulch better with regular side discharge mowers and takes no special equipment. That’s a normal excuse from a mowing company but if they do mulch, expect to pay more for that service. This to me is like putting dollar bills out at the curb and letting someone haul them off.

We all know that pets were Diane’s life and I was just happy to be part of her pack. To memorialize her now that I have moved beyond the pets we had talked about, I will continue to carry on this section with an eye to things that were her passion and carry her tradition forward.

How cool is BeBe? For 34 years, BeBe has been under the watchful eyes of Mike and Debra Andrews, longtime clients of mine. Debra has told me about her pet several times and when I showed up to spray her lawn one Saturday, there was BeBe outside on a towel in a big Tupperware container, sunning. I couldn’t raise her mom on the phone or with the doorbell but since BeBe told me she was a water turtle and her mom never left her out too long I just hung out with her.

BeBe came to me when I called her name but I’m better at dog language than turtle so I didn’t know if it was for food or a good head rub.

Mom then showed up having just finished cleaning her castle and she explained she only ate treats in the water and came to me because she thought I was a ride out of the dern Tupperware. In the water, Bebe showed me which corner she was fed and let her mom explain that she did like to have the butt end of her back scratched, sometimes quite a lot.

I asked Debra what was the best things about having a turtle for a pet? She quickly answered that an unusual pet like BeBe created a lot of interest with people that didn’t already know about her. Mainly, though, she said BeBe was a very quiet pet. Those who know Magic will realize that was interesting to me.

Thanks to Mike and Debra Andrews for sharing their pet turtle. Even though BeBe was known to pee a little when she was being held, I know Diane would have been first in line to hold her.