Overkill

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Copyright —  Danny Bowman

This is my story for Friday Fictioneers this week. It’s a weekly challenge to tell a story in 100 words that follows the photo prompt for the week. It’s hosted by the gracious and talented Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. This week the photo was supplied by Danny Bowman. Thanks Danny.

Link: http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/7-march-2014/

Dad finally agreed to call the County Extension agent to come and look at our back yard.

Dad had done everything he could think of to bring it back to life. He dug to loosen the soil, watered, fertilized, seeded, dug again, watered again. He’d been raised on a farm and loved the land. Retired, this was his hobby.

Chuck Wilson, the agent, finally pulled up. He shook his head and dug a bit. He then solemnly looked at Dad. “Tom, Tom, I told you easy does it. You really overdid this time. You’ve gone and killed all the earthworms.”

friday-fictioneers

65 thoughts on “Overkill”

    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting, Rochelle. As in my last comment, I remember a neighbor of my Dad’s, raised on a farm, actually did overdo in his lawn and kill off the earthworms. It looked really bad. It didn’t look quite as barren as that photo, but I used my imagination.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Lisa. I think a lot of people probably take earthworms for granted but they’re vitally necessary for good rich earth. They keep it loose and rich enough for things to grow. There’s a whole chain of life involved.

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  6. Oh, the ecohazards we create! My favorite kind of cautionary tale–and a humorous one, at that. Well done!

    Just a note on your intro–David Stewart is mentioned as the source of the photo–should be Danny Bowman. You probably copied and pasted from a previous week…..

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    • Thanks Jan for reading my story and commenting on it. I’m glad you liked it. Thanks also for mentioning the mistake I made in the names. I know what I did. I’d written the intro to the page on a paper for the story the week before and copied it, unfortunately, almost word for word. I had the correct name of Danny Bowman under the picture but copied David’s name in the first paragraph. I appreciate you pointing out my blunder and I’ve corrected it.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Sorchia. I’m glad you enjoyed it. That happened to my dad’s neighbor, raised on a farm, and he was probably embarrassed. Dad never bothered with his lawn, just cut it, and had a thick, green lawn. He was amused.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Patrick. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’d guess that wasn’t so funny for my dad’s neighbor when it happened to him. I think my dad thought it was amusing also. I don’t think he let on to the neighbor though.

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  11. Poor Dad!All his hopes dashed and that too after so much hard work-dang those earthworms-why did they all have to go and die?pfft!Ha!ha!This was so much fun to read Patricia ,well done! 🙂

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Atreyee. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes that poor dad. After all his work. My dad actually used to do nothing but cut our lawn, weeds and all, and we had a lovely green lawn even in dry weather. It was our neighbor’s lawn that died.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting, Liz. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was a memory of my dad telling me that the neighbor’s lawn died for that reason. All dad ever did was mow ours and it was lovely.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Bjorn. I’m glad you liked it. That was actually our neighbor’s lawn. All my dad ever did was mow ours and it was lovely. Our neighbor was raised on a farm and had a great garden every year, but he overdid it with his lawn that year.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it. I’m glad you liked it. Yes. We have to be careful. That was my dad’s neighbor and I don’t know how long it took him to get his lawn in shape again. I would guess earthworms would have to be put back. He had a garden also, so probably got some from there.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it. I’m glad you liked it. I usually do things like that, by reading instructions. I tried to put in a garden once but the rains that year washed it away. We moved after that and my mother wasn’t well so I didn’t have the time. I enjoyed gardening while it lasted.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Russell. It was my dad’s neighbor and I don’t know who all he was related to. I’m sure killing the earthworms off was an embarrassment though being he was from farming stock. He had a great garden but I don’t know what happened to the lawn. I suppose he could have watered too much and drowned the little guys.

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  20. I’m afraid that around my house, brown is the new green. Maybe I’ll import a few worms and see what happens. Will let you know. True stories sometimes make the best stories–fun.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, VB. I’m glad you liked it. Actually, that was Dad’ neighbor

      Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it VB. I’m glad you liked it. That happened to my dad’s neighbor. My dad never did anything to his but cut it and he had one of the best lawns around. When its cut, you can’t tell weeds from grass. If you can’t grow grass, and don’t mind spending the money, I hear sod is a good choice.

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  21. My spouse would say that Dad has the “black thumb of Calcutta.” This is a fun, lighthearted take on the prompt that has a sobering overtone. Even the smallest of God’s creatures matters in the grand scheme of things.

    One little nit–you have a stray quotation mark in that last paragraph. 😉

    I enjoyed this one, Patricia!

    Cheers!
    MG

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  22. Like Dawn, I had absolutely no idea that was possible at all. nice take on the photo. true, even the smallest, slimiest creatures serve a purpose. nicely done 🙂

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Dawn. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was actually Dad’s neighbor that happened to. I don’t know what he did. Maybe he watered too much and drowned them or put some weed killer that killed them. His garden was OK so I don’t know what happened to his lawn.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Alastair. That’s funny. Actually, that was my dad’s neighbor and he also had a thriving garden so he could reintroduce his own worms. I don’t know what he did to the lawn. One time he made the mistake of using “pig” manure for his garden. When his wife tried to can the tomatoes, she found they were full of worms. Someone told me that pig manure has to be buried for a year before it’s used as manure. That way, all the insect larvae are gone.

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      • Yes Alastair. Nasty but true. I’m actually surprised that he didn’t know that having been raised on a farm. I don’t actually know of many people who used pig manure. I had a neighbor once who swore about the benefits of using horse manure. I can understand that because they’re vegetarians. Pigs eat all kinds of stuff. Here in India they feed off the local garbage bins. I don’t eat pork in India.

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    • Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Karen. I’m glad you liked it. That barren area brought to mind the time my dad told me about his neighbor’s lawn. My dad never did anything to his lawn but cut it. When it was cut, there was no difference in how the weeds and grass looked and it was always lovely and green. Another woman neighbor benefitted because she used to collect the dandelion greens to cook for herself and her husband.

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