Burning Down the House Lawn
Today, in between reading torture memos, I burned my front lawn. (Click on the pix to enlarge.)
The first year we moved into our house, mr. ew and I replaced most of the front lawn with native plants. We’ve got some oaks in our side yard which pretty much prevented lawn from actually growing. By replacing the grass with native species, we figured we could have flowers and interesting sedges that didn’t need much care that would thrive under the oaks.
Thing is, you’re supposed to burn native plants every five years or so. The idea is that the burn kills off non-native species and refreshes the natives that are left over. We were overdue. Plus, we had a bunch of ash saplings grow in last year (which is sort of odd, since almost all the ash trees in MI have died off after being infested with the Emerald Ash Borer), which were taking over.
So today we burned our lawn. Or rather, we had some guys who know what they’re doing come and burn the lawn. There were three of them, dressed like firemen, with backpacks of either gasoline/diesel or water. They’d light the fire, let it burn for a while, then put it out before our house (or, more importantly, the neighbor’s house) went up in flames. The whole process took about a half hour.
Yes, some of the neighbors came out trying to figure out why the heck we were setting our lawn on fire. And, since we live on a fairly busy road, there were plenty of people rubbernecking, trying to figure out what was up. (School’s out today, so the kids weren’t in the elementary school down the street, and we did it during a fairly low traffic hour.)
We burned the actual non-native lawn too. Apparently, it’s buffalo grass, and will come back stronger after the burn, as well.
So now we’re left with a scorched front lawn!!
The woodsier parks in our town do these burns all the time. It’s amazing to see the fresh new plants growing out of the burn, coming in healthier than before. In a few weeks, that’s what my lawn is going to look like.
Thanks to Peterr and bmaz, a selection of music to accompany this post:
Light My Fire.
Now Loo Hoo, you gotta give a link if you want to play with bmaz and Peterr…
Oh shoot. You did include a link. My apologies. Smoke must have clouded my eyes.
Perhaps Smoke Got In Your Eyes
Looks like fun. I had no idea they’d do a small residential burn like that.
Disco Heat
We know the guy who did it from ultimate. But I think he does other residential burns, too.
Philippe Sands in the Guardian – Nightmares made law
Okay now, I beat up Loo Hoo unnecessarily. But I checked and here’s no YouTube there, right?
Nope, only text.
Well, it works for me, but it is a pretty pathetic recording. Let me see.
Take photos of your vegetation regrowth over the summer.
Plan on it.
You obviously handle things on the domestic front the same way you do with the country’s evil doers here on the blog. Scorched earth.
Any mountains there in your neck of MI, Marcy?
And you . . . light up my lawn . . .
you give me strength . . . to carry on . . .
Much Better.
The King Burns
We know the guy who did it from ultimate.
Ah. Actually I had sort of thought of the person stationed near the tree (and the neighbors!) as kind of a goalie … Maybe some part of the thought process is similar.
Anyway, just because I can’t resist underlining the importance in these matters of using services of only the best professionals to guarantee a proper slow flame,
Buenas noches.
My fave (Hendrix):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQRUcybOjOM
Or for the Michiganistas (video complete with Ashley Dupree)
The god of hell fire.
I’ve never heard of residential burns. Very cool.
I have oaks in my front yard and very little grass. I’ve been blaming the squirrels, but now that I think about it I haven’t seen any yet this spring. They were everywhere last year.
Here’s Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. At about 1.5 hours, I think it’s the longest YouTube I’ve found to date.
You’ll have growth returning by the time the piece ends.
ew – Michel Camilo On Fire for your native grass uprising
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..8;index=61
The may be fire on Marcy’s mountain, but Greg Paulus is going to put lightning in the Wolverine air!
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roofyard is on firean my folks thought I wasted their tuition money, go figure …
I’m late to the show, how about The Knitters on Letterman with Burning House of Love?
And Johnny Cash with Ring of Fire.
fire – bruce
sleep now in the fire – rage against the machine
fire down below – bob seager
Department of Justice memos detailing interrogation techniques prove the U.S. did not torture, even as the ACLU and some lawmakers claim the memos are proof positive the Bush administration did.
Time to shut up and move on…
DOJ opinions: “We didn’t torture, because we didn’t meet our own very odd definitions of torture.”
Yeah, that’ll hold up.
Interrogators: You want us to do what??
Bush Admin: Tell ‘em it’s not torture.
Yoo et al: It’s not torture.
Interrogators: Uh, sure *smack* *biff* *bam* *glugg* *repeat*
Bush and spokespersons: See? we don’t torture.
Memos:
Torture,torture, numbers and details referring to torture,tortureGregOPauls: See? it’s not torture. Shut up and sing!
No wonder Marcy wanted to burn something, besides removing vegetation…
Just like the stupid, unsupported inanity burns.
You mean like “We’re Taxed Enough Already! Now, with tea bags!” kind of inanity?
I remember a prof I had during my first year of engineering; he got maudlin and weepy in class one day when he discussed some of his research work prior to teaching.
Improving flamethrowers for use in Vietnam, he told us.
At least he had the moral sense to be introspective, recognize his contribution for what it was and feel some remorse.
Introspection instead of inanity would be a nice start; expecting remorse is almost beyond hope, as it appears we are dealing with pathology.
Oh well. At least we have the Boss singing yet more tunes about fire.
My father wasn’t real happy about some of the things he worked on, either. I think the safing-and-arming devices are probably on the saner side of defense work, though, and some of his output was non-defense. (The design/stress analysis for the cargo-bay arm on the shuttle launch platform is his.)
Wow, your dad must have done some finite element analysis back in the day on that cargo-bay arm. My hat’s off.
I don’t think there are any mountains around Ann Arbor. As I remember its kind of flat…. but if there were one at Marcy’s house I think this Fire on the Mountain would be appropriate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmN0mFHDH2w
…. and no kids will ever accuse Mr. and Mrs. EW of yelling, “Get off my damn lawn!”
Speaking of burning-off old growths to spur renewal in Springtime…
I’m ready to ask, “What’s it going to take for US to believe that Barack Obama is everything he says he is?”
Our old growth, imvho, is the rightly acquired cynicism of the oppressed, that has come upon US over the last eight years, where Trust in Government used to be.
Obama has said from the beginning of his campaign that he ‘is’ that Trust, that he represents that Trust, again, for US.
So, I’m honestly asking, “What’s it going to take?”
He’s engaged on Torture – he courageously put the Memos into the public discourse – so he’s certainly not running from the issue. What’s it going to take for US to believe that his intent is for Justice to be done, as best as Our Rule of Law-based, but also Political, system can produce?
I say you play a trump-card in order to take the pot – throwing the Memos down on the table is a signal, imvho, that he fully intends – Within Our System, which also self-evidently and neccessarily includes the Expressed Will of the People – to bring Accountability and Justice to those who knowingly circumvented the Rule of Law in order to Torture. He’s playing to Win on this one and I wonder, “What’s it going to take for US to shed Our cynicism and rally to what looks like a Common Goal – the restoration of Moral Leadership into our Government and our International Relations?”
What’s it going to take for US to rally to him on rooting-out and burning the Tares of Torture?
The same question can be applied to Wire-tapping, Wall Street, Israel/Palestine, and the other major issues that We care about – Obama is ‘in-play’ pretty much across the board. Without a doubt, Our justifiably-acquired cynicism resonates loudly with every perceived ’sell-out’ of principle for the sake of compromising with the intransigent – but, but, but he’s engaged across the board, reasonably open and transparent, and I’m just asking, “What’s it going to take?”
What’s it going to take for US to get past the debate regarding the best way downfield, and to start supporting the guy who’s already making yardage now?
I say he’s showing ample indication that his intent is to bring the highest practical, realizeable solution to every major issue, especially the issues that speak to the very fabric of Who We Are. So – I’m just curious, What’s it going to take?
When will We burn-off the choking weeds and sapless vines from the Season of the Bush-Plague that brought Our cynicism to US, and instead begin growing again – individually and together – striving freely once again with optimism and hope for the light of Our highest aspirations?
What’s it going to take?
Why do we slam detainees into walls only 3 hours at a stretch? I slam myself into walls 8-10 hours a day and I’m no worse for the wear.
Remind me why we prosecuted those “few bad apples” at Gitmo that tortured Gitmo detainees. Wasn’t that becuase they did it on their own without authorization? They were prosecuted, found guilty and served jail time.
The JAG corps knows criminal behaviour when it sees it.If Obama and Holder won’t do what thy are required to do by law, the JAG corps will. Let’s see Bush and Cheney defend themselves in a JAG corps proceeding. That’d be one way to do this and accommodate the political cowardice of the Obama Administration.Wait ’till Tomorrow
The Goopers overwhelmingly thought a Blow-Job was Impeachable.
We’re talking about Bush and Torture here.
Why can’t, and shouldn’t, the Natural Force of the Good and the Right overwhelm them now?
What We ’see’ is *clear* – what We do takes Action.
For this instance of Outrage – Torture perpetrated in Our Name – to Redeem Ourselves We should apply the Political Remedy for Foul Play – Impeachment! – in order to purge US of the Spectre of Bush and Cheney and their Henchpeople, and to Keep Our System Honest and Fair for All, into the future, as Our contribution to the preservation of the Founders’ bequest of Freedom to US.
We should keep sacred the Integrity of the Political System that they said best protected Our Freedom through Vigilance and Action.
First: Preserve Our System of Government – We need to Take Action to Re-Affirm that the True Source of Power in Our Land is US: Reject Tyranny-Through-Secrecy! Impeach Bush and Cheney!
Second: Investigate, Prosecute and Punish – Law Enforcement and the Courts need to Take Action – Preserve the Rule of Law! Torture is Not Who We Are!
Impeachment is an Act of Political Will. Only We can supply that Political Will, and thereby Reject the purveyors of ‘Torture in Our Name’ as Not Who We Are.
The recovery of Our Moral Fibre demands it – We can’t say that We care about it and then be un-moved.
Reject the Monsters and Return to Our Original Freedom!
Blow-Job…Torture…Blow-Job…Torture…hmmmmm?
In the words of Cheney – “So?!”