With that blog title I’m thinking I know what you are thinking. You are getting ready to enjoy a wild west cattle drive.
That would be wrong cowboy! 🙂
If you are a television watcher, you probably have watched the commercial a thousand times. In fact, I can almost repeat it verbatim.
Roundup is a nasty chemical used to kill all weeds as well as most farm crops. If the applier of the chemical is exposed to it without, rubber gloves, mask, rubber boots and a long-sleeved shirt the chemical can enter the applier’s body.
Years can go by and that long ago exposure to roundup can raise its ugly head resulting in the development of a variety of cancers.
However, fear not as the commercial reminds us. If cancer develops you just have to sue and reap thousands of dollars as your reward.
You will be dying but you can do it with class!
I deal with Roundup as little as possible, however, this summer I was forced to use the nasty stuff.
I’m still recovering from a hip replacement so kneeling and planting a garden was next to impossible. For forty- three years we have had a garden and this year we have two tomato plants, four hills of cucumbers and a half dozen hills of pumpkins.
Since our garden is huge, those few plants take up very little space, so now weed control becomes essential and that Roundup commercial keeps replaying in my head.
Do you sense that I carry the hypochondriac gene?
I don’t want to use that stuff! 🙁
I could fire up the rototiller but remember that hip. I have a visit with my surgeon next week so he can clear me for golfing. But if I wait that long to clear using the rototiller the Canadian Thistles will be three feet tall.
But what choice do I have?
So off I went to the hardware store to purchase a gallon jug of that evil chemical.
I was quite a sight for the traffic going by our house, as I gingerly applied the chemical. I wore my bright yellow rain jacket (hood up), aqua colored rubber gloves, and knee- high rubber boots.
What about the mask? Well, I heard Dr. Fauci
admit the other day that masks don’t really work. I’m kidding, I’m kidding! 🙂 I think the mask thing is still a debatable subject.
Actually, it was a very still day and the chemical spray was not a mist but more like the flow from a squirt gun. I was far enough back so there appeared to be no danger of breathing in the chemical.
With great relief the spraying was completed. I put the sprayer back in the garage, happy that the tension filled activity was over.
It takes several days before the spray effects become visible.
The Canadian Thistles were a foot tall, lush and green. As the days slipped by the rich green color began to fade.
After a week to my dismay, it became evident that the chemical was not working very well. The thistles looked wounded but not to the point of death. 🙁
That meant I needed to return to the hardware store pay $40 for another jug of Roundup, put on my aqua colored rubber gloves, bright yellow raincoat and knee- high rubber boots all the while praying that the evil chemical, years down the road would not cause an explosion of cancer cells in me!
Then it dawned on me that this July 5th I will turn eighty years of age. I’m already old!
Why am I worrying about Roundup effects when I have lived far beyond what I thought I would?
It reminds of that old saying, “Old teachers never die they just lose their class!”
Until next time.
