Thanks so much for the sweet words, Sammy :) My issue with my school now is so dissimilar to this, actually... I agree that high school and younger kids need more rules [different, anyway] I have to admit though, in my schools or at least my classes, we were very known by our teachers and administrators, and so a simple hug or two would certainly go unpunished. That may not have been true for kids who did not have any bond with the adults there, but we really were "Good Kids" and I'm glad that we 'earned' some leeway. The saddest thing to me is that kids can't be known by their teachers and staff if the classes are too big, etc. We learned a lot more than facts in school, and I'm afraid that too many rules will leave kids having no idea how to handle situations later in life, where there isn't a rule for every hug ;) I do understand and thank teachers who try their best in the midst of a practical zoo... Trying to keep order with too many folks put together is bad enough with adults!

I hope the owner of the dog takes responsibility for his pet's actions. There are too many dog owners who think it's OK to just let their dogs roam. Your story reminded me of the time I was driving my daughter to a soccer game about 15 miles away. As we approached the field we saw 3 ostriches running loose on the neighboring field and the owner trying desperately to round them up. Both soccer teams offered to help but the owner said the birds could really hurt them and he was just trying to keep them away from the road until his sons arrived. The coaches had a tough time getting 30 thirteen year old girls to pay attention to pre-game instructions after that. It's certainly not an everyday event.

You're not in over your head. You're in over your knowledge level. Fortunately the knowledge required is well below knee height, so it shouldn't be hard to get you back where you need to be. Watering properly is the key to lawn care. There you go. One simple element. Here's how you do it. We call it deep and infrequent. Deep mean one full inch all at one time. Measure one inch by placing cans like cat food or tuna cans, around the yard and turning on your sprinklers. Time how long it takes your system to fill the cans. That will become your new watering time. In a few weeks you will unset the sprinkler timer and reset for that time. But before you can do that we need to discuss infrequent. Infrequent means once per week when the temps get into the 90s, once every other week with temps in the 80s, once every 3 weeks with temps in the 70s, and once a month with temps below 70s. But you can't just do that. Your grass has "learned" to be watered frequently. You'll need to go gradually to infrequency required to give your grass roots time to grow down deep enough to take advantage of the deep watering. There are any number of ways to get to infrequent watering. Watering more deeply and less frequently now is the place to start. If you are watering every other day now, set it for every 3rd day and water to get 1/3 inch (from your can timer test). Do that for a week and then move to watering once every 5 days. Water the full inch and watch the grass carefully toward the end of the first 5 days. If it look stressed at 3-4 days, water again immediately, but do the full inch of water. Continue watching it like that and before you know it the grass will be going a full week (or 2) without needing a drink. One thing you will notice is the soil will dry out completely at the surface. That is expected. As long as there is water down where your new deep roots are, everything will be fine with the grass. This dry surface soil is going to prevent many weed seeds from germinating. Weed seeds need several days of continual moisture, sort of like you're doing now with your watering every other day. If you deny the seeds that continual moisture, they cannot sprout. Of course Mother Nature has Her plans for your rainfall, but you can control what you can control. If you need to reseed, NOW is the time to get hopping on that. Your window of opportunity is now through about mid September to get it done for next year. If you have Kentucky bluegrass you may not need it. Mow at your mower's highest setting unless you are reseeding. Fertilize on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and again after the grass stops growing but has not yet turned brown. Stay away from weed-n-feed products. If you need a fertilizer use a fertilizer. If you need to kill lots of weeds, spot spray with a liquid like Weed-B-Gone. The weed-n-feed products have several issues that you don't need to deal with if you just don't use them. Also if you watch TV in the early spring and see the advertising for seed and fertilizer, ignore them. Just wait to fertilize on Memorial Day to do it no matter what they guy in the newspaper or on TV says. They selling you products. If you fertilize early the grass uses up more root sugar than it would normally. Then by May the grass is exhausted of nutrients and requires an extra dose (great if they're selling you products). Once it awakens in the spring the grass is going to grow like it's on rocket fuel whether you fertilize or not, so just wait. If you want to apply a preemergent herbicide, put it down when you first see the forsythia blooming. Forsythia is an early blooming plant that seems to be a good predictor of weed seed germination. There you go. A crash course in the basics. It's relatively low hassle when you know what to do and what to avoid. Slightly less basic is to use organic fertilizers. Organics work completely differently from chemical fertilizers. The difference you'll notice first is that they don't seem to do anything for 3 weeks after you apply. All you have to do to compensate is to move your fertilizer schedule ahead of what I gave you by 3-4 weeks. A subtle difference with organics is you don't have to worry about applying too much. Organics can't hurt the grass if you overapply. Feeding organic fertilizer will improve the overall biological health of your soil. Organic gardeners never complain about their soil looking tired, dried up, worn out, depleted, or unhealthy. Hope that helps.

"I'm glad the lady had the means to live a full life and have some adventure." Did we read the same article? "Too poor to retire and too young to die" is not a tale of the bohemian adventures of a free spirit. She's not living a full life; she's living a desperate life. She's an old woman who has to take jobs where she's on her feet 12 hours a day, and lives in an RV that's on its last legs, without the means to make necessary repairs. She's hanging on to the memories of a former life when she could afford to indulge in little luxuries, in denial that her current situation is far more dire. She's one illness or injury from being hospitalized long enough to have her RV impounded, and will then be without a home or transportation. (She couldn't afford a speeding ticket, much less impound fees. There is no buffer in her life.) She may likely spend her remaining days in homeless shelters. The article spoke of no relatives or friends who would take her in. Yes, she's trying to make lemonade out of lemons, but she can't afford the sugar that could make it drinkable. I fear for anyone's future to end up in such a sad, lonely, desperate place.