four years in the making
i had no idea what
it was, but read in a garden book that every gardener should have one, if nothing else. I ordered one. How could I not? It’s supposed to be the best thing for weeding! I was on vacation when I ordered it, with friends in North Carolina. But that’s super irrelevant. What is relevant is that it happened in the spring of 2019.
So I got the thing but didn’t. Either I did not order the correct item, or had to order multiple pieces, or one of the largest seed companies in the world messed up my order. No biggie … right? Postponed rectifying it because I wanted to know exactly what went wrong, what’s what, but forgot. Once in a blue moon, my husband would make a snide remark, sometimes funny, at others über sarcastic, about the C.H. I received a wooden pole — DON’T LAUGH — that is 5 ½ feet tall, smooth, narrower on one end. And a carabiner. That’s it.
I would come across the receipt, but didn’t know the location of the pole. Other times, it was the other way around. But I didn’t want to waste time (one of my, if not THE BIGGEST, nemeses, yes, that’s the plural, just looked it up).
🤯 Like, if the thing works as it’s supposed to, how much bleeping time would I save! Of all the activities in the garden, weeding takes the longest (hours, days when added together), is the most laborious, and damages and inhibits the growth of other plants. I mean, what?
… so I bumped into it about a month ago and took it to the kitchen counter. “That’s it!” I proclaimed.
“Ahh, the handy dandy C.H.” He chirped.
I looked through the catalog, and he, nicely enough, looked online. I ordered what I needed (did not bother to figure out who messed up, I mean … in 2019?), plus a kit with other implements and blades, and a carabiner 🙄), hoping it was the correct one.
Days later, I received it and it fit! Although the screw to attach the metal sleeve where the blades and other implements fit was missing, but my husband found a perfect screw among his minions of screws … then two days later, I received a pole. With a screw. HA! WTF am I to do with THAT? I guess order a metal sleeve and blades, which I may do — and I will call so I don’t get another pole.
Fast forward to last week. My husband was amending the soil, adding compost and other organic matter, as I weeded … by hand, on my hands and knees, with a spade. And, yes, it was my husband who nonchalantly said I-don’t-exactly-(nor want to)-remember-what about the C.H. I got up so fast to go get it, then weeded our largest bed in no time!
