dry earth

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The other day, Greg, a man with landscaping savvy and machines, came around and "over-seeded" the backyard, which looks a bit like an unkempt baseball lot in Texas. Overseeding involves a machine that cuts small furrows into existing lawn and deposits both new seed and some dried nourishment.

Once finished, Greg counseled me: "You have to water it every day for a couple of weeks. Once it gets damp, it has to stay that way in order for the seed to germinate. Right now, the ground is the way it might be in July."

Dry. Very dry. The winter provided little snow -- which makes me wonder about drinking water supplies. But the earth has also not received much rain. Farmers are feeling the pinch. And my laziness, combined with a desire not to be wasteful, means that watering the lawn sits like some barrier reef of I-don't-want-to in my mind.

Dry earth. When it comes to serious stuff, water is right up there with the best of them.
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