Hockey Stick

My kid got an $80.00 stick yesterday. How does a ten year old get a stick that expensive? His parents buy it for him? Wrong. He bought it himself. Well that is not exactly right. He bought it on credit. Credit? Yes. This little entrepreneur has gotten himself a grass cutting gig at his great-grandmothers. Now how much grass could he have cut this year? None. Not one blade. He has chopped a little at my house on the riding mower but that won't result in ANY money changing hands. It is kinda like a downpayment on rent for him. He has taken his first couple months payments from the old lady in advance. I am going to have to see if I can try that at work.

So this news reminded me of a time when I cut grass for money. We had a crazy neighbor that lived a few houses down the road from us. They would barbecue in the front yard, leave their garden hose on for days and flood all the yards around them, have fights in the front yard, constantly lock themselves out of their house, AND they almost never cut their grass. We hung out and had cookouts in the yard next to them. So one day a friend and I decided we would beautify the neighborhood, and make a buck in the process. So we knock on the crazy lady's door and she stumbles her way to the porch. We offer to cut the grass for $10 a piece. She counters with $5. Well we have two guys and two mowers and our parents gas so $5 each isn't that bad. We proceed to attack this knee high monstrosity. There is junk under cover. Lawn ornaments, rakes, dead bodies. After what seemed like an hour, we were done. We went to collect our reward and receive not $5 each but $5 total. $2.50 for fighting ticks and snakes and spiders and sweating like a hog on spit. Unbelievable. Not one of my wisest business decisions.

This brings us back to the fact that the little mongrel has an $80 stick. Obviously as much as I hate it, I should have gotten him into soccer. NO EQUIPMENT. Just a ball. All these soccer moms and dads I see wasting their Saturday mornings outside on chilly spring days must have something right. NAH. Just because it is the number one sport in the world, that doesn't make it cool.

In other news, it has been weeks since any of my children have defecated in public so that is a good thing.