Waiting and Weeding

I'm paying big-time for being gone two weeks on our road trip to Yosemite and then nearly a week at the writers conference. ​Eighteen-inch high horsetails have taken over the new planting area in our front yard landscape seemingly overnight. And buttercups have been quietly wending their way into our garden we spent so many sweaty hours last summer establishing. Weed killer is not an option for the horsetails. I've been told by our local plant clinic that they must be kept chopped off at the ground, and, maybe in five years, they will be no more. Although I'd hate to, I confess I'm contemplating murder by poison for the buttercups, impelling me to remove my pesticide free zone yard signs.  So with my engagement in this life and death battle, I'm not holding my breath, waiting to hear back from my submissions. Perhaps this is a blessing. I can't be sure.