Summer is just starting don’t get strung out?

 PULLING SOME “STRINGS” ANDGETTING INTO THE WEEDS

Summer is fully upon us now and it means picnics, camping, the beach, cold adult beverages etc.etc.etc...and of course amnesia.   Amnesia?  Well it seems every year a substantial percentage. Of people forget how to drive  in snow or sleet every summer and so there. Must be some form of summer forget functions at play.  

Yet  all is not sunshine and rainbows when it comes to the season of sol...Summer  brings with it that almost endless supply of uninvited greenery that we commonly call WEEDS.

Now about 50 years ago  someone  got really tired of kneeling down with a knife or bare hands and pullling, pulling, pulling.  They thought and thought and thought and finally decided there could be this  machine that would whip a chord around at mind blowing speed and that this chord would decapitate the unwanted ground cover.  ....And all was well—-or. Maybe not.  

You see this chord had to be light enough for the motor to generate. Enough rpm to spin a cutting head and while wire whips could have been light enough they would get caught on chain link fencing and tear up wood trim.  They could spark on stone or concrete etc. so wire chord or metal blades in general wouldn’t be idea.  So yes...plastic was the ticket.  

Of course the weed eater...weed whacked...or just plain string trimmer got popular in a hurry and people ...more people buy them each year at the rate of about  10 million more each year and estimates are that there are over 100 million  in existence in the US  right now ‘Existence” being the key word.  Notice  no claim was made. About how many  are in use?  

You see anyone who has ever spent much time with. These modern marvels will tell you about their ingenious nearly fatal flaw—the trimmer. Line and spool assembly.  

We won’t spend too much time on the spool assembly except for stating these are not the same from brand to brand.  While  most of the assemblies are not. Too difficult to attach and then put  back onto the main device, almost every manufacturer has managed to include one or more  small fragile plastic pieces in the head that spins at hyper speeds guaranteeing that if something  falls off it will  be launched  in a random direction into a busy street, hedge or if it is a green or black part it will definitely  land somewhere in the grass or in the patch of weeds you were whacking.  Since these  spool assemblies  are often  build to “float” or automatically feed more string they regularly contain a spring that is essential to the operation of the device and prone to bounce away every time the trimmer line is replaced.   Okay lets review so far... We have these devices that  do a fine job of whipping weeds, yet the companies should technological leadership for the rest of the technology. Sector by producing small essential parts that only their brand  uses and that are easily lost.  They sold these tech secrets  for the cell phone industry making it a certainty that no two devices use the same charger and adapters for all the possible functions.  

Okay now the trimmer line...First of all because these things were to be used by men there was a need to make some bigger and stronger. Than others so that  we could brag about  having a bigger one or a longer one..or something like that and with that we needed. All sorts of different trimmer line.  Some  trimmer line is thinner and more of it can fit  on spoools that hold varying amounts.  Some spools allow for two lines and some  are single liners.  Some Easters allow more than one size chord, but now many.   Now with rare exception this line regardless of its thickness is made from extruded plastic—which is plastics that has been heated and stretched.  Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist. To figure out that a spool  spin nil at high revolutions and encountering  friction may creat heat—and you guessed it... the plastic chords are heated just to the point where the outer edges  melt slightly and cause the merger of the chord/string.  Then the hot spool can no longer release  the chord as designed when. It gets chipped away by the weeds/fence/your boot/your neighbor’s annoying cat—oh wait..other yard obstacles.  

So then you stand in your yard  with  your whackerin hand removing the spool  parts.  You  spend the five minuted needed to find the parts that. Have bounced around. Your yard and  the extra minute admiring the string of swear  words you have just used in a linguistically artful combination... and then you either  use a store bought replacement spool which costs  about as much per inch as prize Manhattan real estate or any sort of plastic surgery.  Or you may buy  just replacement  line and wrap the  existing spool  on your own hoping  that you have done this in  they right direction or the chord. Will not travel in the direction needed  and your likelihood of success will then equal. The likelihood that GPS technology or navigation technology  will ever be named after the Donner. Party.  

So. Now let’s say we have this  plastic  war weed warrior spinning and doing it’s job and that includes the little pieces of chord flying off into the years when  need be.  What  happens to this plastic?  Rumor has it that  the plastic flies into some dark hole and attaches to the socks that disapppear into an alternative universe where honest politicians  find all the socks that disappear along with all the checks that are in the  mail and where all your calls are really important to us.  Well... seriously no ne has ever really considere what happens to the plastic.  Maybe small animals and  birds eat it which would explain how you never see a “Plastic pink flamingo factory” and yet you see a lot of them.  I know there is a lot of plastic  in our oceans so some of it may go there...who knows?  

Alright what’s this have to do with Peace and Joy?  Well it seems that we do need to do something about some weeds as they can dominate. Our pathways and impact our serenity and yet before  whacking away  maybe we can consider that universe puts some of them  there  for a purpose that we might not  grasp.  Maybe  they are a home for butterflies and hummingbirds?  Maybe when they die in the winter they add nutrients to the  ground so that. In some future world a strong oak tree can  make roots that support the glorious trees in future firsts and furnishings.  

You see seeking. Peace and joy and life are not. Always that simple and maybe we should just  get down on our hands and knees a bit  and let nature reveal itself a little more.  

Enjoy Summer!