Just priceless

My oldest son, Brian, has had the tasks of cat box duty and yard work for the past, well...let's just say, since we've moved in. Very occasionally Karl would have to jump in and squeamishly skreet the butt biscuits and urine-filled corners while Brian did some other chore. I shared the scooping privileges many times - probably half the time or better - as I room on the same level with the box. Now, there are some mornings where the girls all use the box within minutes of one another, and sometimes one of those little stinkers (literally) doesn't quite cover the lump, so the smell gets to be a l-e-e-ttle overpowering.

Ah well, every critter has their own particular set of care and needs to take care of routinely. The alternative is having no pet at all. With any other household pet you just trade off chores and routines, so, no real complaints with our girls.

I began saying that Brian has lately been better about mowing the yard without much procrastination (past years would find us arguing for a week before he would do as instructed, which then meant there would also be a need to either bag the clippings or rake them as the grass would be too tall to just mow and let fall to the ground); he has been more proactive and mindful of the appearance of the yard, which is a great thing (wish I could get him to pull the dandelions and other noxious invaders in my flowerbeds!), and so I am not looking the gift horse too deeply in the mouth. But he did kvetch when I asked him to also weed whack the perimeters and around the stationary objects in the yard.

"Why can't Karl do it?" came the familiar refrain (for everything).

Well, quite legitimately, Karl has vicious allergies which just renders him useless when it comes to tasks like yard work, so I let him have other duties where the sneezing and additional irritations are kept to a minimum. He has improved over time, too, with the stalling and whining, but I agreed that Karl could learn to do the weed whacking, so long as he could keep from sneezing his head off and see through watery eyes.

Brian agreed to, and understood these conditions, and then spent a little (stress "little") time showing Karl how to fill, start and use the cumbersome tool, but no real instructions on where or how to accomplish the deed. However, with the new found weapon of Karl destruction, and armed with little to no knowledge and experience, but with a new-found strange determination, he set off in helter-skelter fashion to trim some ground cover.

After 20 to 30 minutes Karl had had enough - even if the yard hadn't - and he compliantly walked the trimmer back to the garage for the day, covered in grass spatter and wearing a smile of accomplishment. That night he took a shower (which he should have taken straight away following the trimming) and then trimmed his facial hair. Surprisingly, he did it without prompting (or reason - at least with the beard and mustache part), and then cleaned up after himself for the most part. I guess this was Karl exerting control and making his own decision regarding his appearance - something he has more say over. It was surprising to see he had made that particular decision as the beard and all was his way of staying invisible to the world when he is out in it.

I have to admit to being quite proud of my sons - it was a priceless day of communication and teamwork for them.

You moms know where I am coming from.