we'll be out here as long as it takes

growing up, family yard projects were a pretty big deal in the beck household. whilst the neighbor kids were having fun, all 5 beck kids were being tortured in the yard with weeding, tree removal, shrubbery trimming and one very special summer, sprinkler system installation. because thomas and i were both so blessed, thomas and i wanted to continue the tradition with our lucky, lucky children. we kicked the summer off with a special "weed's day" (reagan's term) on memorial day and we've been able to re-celebrate weed's day on multiple saturdays since. 

the tradition continues:

i actually feel a little bad for the kids. mostly because i agree with them; it isn't fun, it was hot and there were bugs aplenty(to scarlett's delight). but kids who don't know how to work are rather annoying and i don't want to contribute to that epidemic(how old am i?). the worst part though is when all the neighbors loaded up their kids and all their pool toys and headed up to the pool, while we were sweating it out in the yard. that's a hard one to explain. at least the kid's penchant for wearing their grubbiest clothes finally paid off. 

as i was coercing the kids to more fully participate in the yard work process, i had several flashbacks of some doug beckisms i experienced in the yard. i was repeating almost verbatim some choice phrases.

doug beck- "if we all pitch in, this will only take about 30 minutes." i think i heard my dad say that more than any other phrase in my entire life. 

kids-"i don't want to do this!"

doug beck- "surprise! i don't either!" 

kids- "how much longer?"

doug beck- "as long as it takes!"

kids- "none of the neighbor kids have to do this!"

doug beck- "none of the other kid's parent's love them as much as i love you!"

kids- "what if it starts to rain?"

doug beck- "then we have to finish in the rain."

(which is one of my favorite memories from growing up. all 7 becks in the yard during a thunderstorm pulling weeds. everything we were wearing was ruined, we were up to our knees in mud and the neighbors thought we were nuts.)

before:

after:

if doug beck taught me anything, he taught me how to remove a shrubbery without the aid of power tools. perhaps to know a bit what life was like for my pioneer ancestors?

i broke off most of the branches by hand, used a hack saw to sever all the roots and pulled the base out with my own two hands. all while engaging my core for a more dynamic workout. 

this removed shrub is for you dad!