Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name

Last week, while we had the tiller that we rented for our garden, we decided to re-plant the grass in our backyard. We inadverantly killed it by not watering for a mere couple of months last summer...

We really don't have a clue what we're doing, so Todd went to the busy farm store, bought a couple bags of grass seed and a rake and came home.

Now, you have to know something about the difference between me and Todd. If we have to make a really important decision (for an example, we'll pretend that we have to choose what cereal to buy), we go about it in very different ways.

I will first get online and read reviews about the cereal. Then I will ask all my friends whether they've tried it, and what they thought. I'll look at the price, how healthy it is, and how much comes in a box. Then I'll call my family and get their opinions. Next, I'll probably say a prayer and then go with my gut feeling. After trying the cereal, I will most likely spend entirely too long examining my decision, and whether it was right, and deciding what I will do next time.

Todd, on the other hand, will pick the one with the best prize inside, eat it, and have no clue what it cost, or how healthy it was, and in the future will not remember whether he liked it or not...so he'll most likely subject himself to the same cereal again.

It was the same with grass seed. He went in, picked the one with the pretty picture on the front, bought the manliest solid steel $40 rake he could find and went on his way.

Meanwhile I called my sis-in-law, Melece, who gave me enough information about planting a lawn to help me realize how much we don't know, and I questioned the pretty bag of grass seed.

So, I drove myself over to the farm store and asked for help. As soon as I did, the owner looked up and said, "Todd bought the wrong stuff this morning...I was going to say something, but sometimes I'm too opinionated so I thought it best to shut my mouth."

To which I replied, "We don't know anything, so please feel free to correct us if we're ever buying the wrong thing. What do we need?"

He then proceeded to tell me we'd need around 35 pounds of grass seed (Todd only bought 20) for our back yard. Since we were buying so much, he voluntarily gave it to us for $2 a pound, instead of $2.35. The grass seed came in 50 pound (ugly) bags, so he told us that we could use what we needed, and bring back the rest on Monday. We could "settle up" then.

Next he started to tell me what to fertilize it with, and when. I stared at him blankly, because I didn't have a pen to write down all the numbers he was rattling off, and I finally broke in with: "Could you just drive by my house occasionally in the summer and tell me what I need to do?"

He smiled and said, "Yeah, I can do that".

Then he told me I'd need peat moss to keep the ground moist. He recommended a tool they have that easily rolls the peat moss evenly over the newly planted grass. I asked how much it cost to rent, and he said, "Oh, you can just borrow it."

Then, he looked at the bales of peat moss, and at his watch. The store was closing in 10 minutes, and he wasn't sure how much peat moss we'd need. So naturally he said, "These bales are sitting outside the gate; If you need more, just come get them and let me know how many you used on Monday."

And off I went with a smile on my face, knowing that even though my dad, (who is armed with a tractor and much knowledge in the area of growing "stuff"), doesn't live nearby...I live in a small town, where everybody knows my name.

Oh, and I just wanted to clarify something: I do NOT pray over which cereal to buy, nor did I pray over the grass seed....but you get the idea about our differences.