#145: Mulch

**Welcome to this Special Edition of That's So Dad, the I Was on a Boat for 4th of July and Had No Access to a Computer Edition**


"WHAT IS THAT PILE OF CRAP IN THE DRIVEWAY!?!?!?!" mom exclaims. It is an early Saturday morning: the birds are chirping, dew hangs in the air, Dads are finishing their sweaty running routes. "HONEY? DID YOU BUY ANOTHER PILE OF THAT STUFF??" mom yells out again. Oh yes he did. Sitting neatly in the middle of the driveway is a gigantic pile of mulch, situated perfectly so that no cars can get in or out of the garage and stinking up the entire property. Dad has done it again.

Mulch is the foundation of lawns and gardens, it is basically an amalgamation of wood chips, dirt, mud, mushrooms, and high grade cow manure. It is dirty, it stinks to high heaven, it is heavy, and Dad LOVES IT. Dad says it protects the soil and root systems for the garden and reduces weeds. But he really loves it because it is low maintenance, gives him something to discuss with other Dads, and allows him to putter around an entire weekend hauling dirt from one end of the lawn to the other. Of course the kids get lassoed into doing low grade manual labor by shoveling steaming piles (yes, it gets steamy) of mulch into wheelbarrows, spreading the coagulated mixture onto the dirt Ugh,  I am adding dirt to dirt! I just wanna play with my Super Soaker. and moving the pile off the driveway before mom kills someone.

When the job is done (8PM on Sunday night) the whole family is exhausted, wearing tattered/dirty clothes straight out of a picture from the Dust Bowl, and generally upset that they spent a whole weekend basically spreading animal crap all over the place. But not Dad, he is PUMPED. He cannot wait to get back at it next weekend.