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Stories that will make you laugh and cry- from Uncle George- an old hippie

Fire ants, thunderstorms and grass at the bottom of the hill

Yesterday I had the yard crew put new sod grass over the back yard. Someone built our house at the bottom of a hill. I wish I had realized this before we purchased it. This part of Louisiana is known for thunderstorms every day at about 4PM. Fast storms, lightening, thunder, and copious amounts of rain- cats and dogs. I love it. I am sure that I wrote about it in my book. Sometimes I sat out on the porch and watch the thunder fireworks display.

The problem is the rain water forms a small lake in the front yard and at times got into the new bedroom. So last summer I spent a small fortune making a levee in the back yard to divert the water from the woods in the back to a drainage ditch. I have not been able to get the grass to grow back. I have tried seeds, bales of hay and nothing works. So as a last resort I spent $500 on sod. There is a sod farm about 20 miles away. They converted a cotton field into a sod farm. They grow Saint Augustine grass, which was a native grass around these parts. It is green and thick like a shag carpet. It has a tendency to take over everything.

The heat down here gets to me so I have a black yardman, Larry and Nate- Heather’s boyfriend. Yesterday they unloaded the trailer and put the grass out like putting together pieces of puzzle. Another thing we have down here is an import from Africa. They are fire ants and named for the feeling when they swarm and attack you all over. Feels like you are on fire and they spread like fire. When Heather first learned how to walk we were walking along our street talking to neighbors. Heather had wandered a few feet along the side of the street and squatted down in a fire ant hill. I have not seen any fire ants any further north than Memphis. They don’t like cold weather.

We picked up 2 pallets of saint Augustine grass. Near the end of the load, Larry and Nate discovered a bed of fire ants. This was Nate’s first exposure. I heard screaming and gnashing of teeth. The only relief is removing clothes and a water facet.

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