Cardboard Lawn

We now have a cardboard lawn in the backyard.
Those of you who live in the area recall we had a spectacular- if short- rainstorm about a week ago. It caused a river to flow through our yard, cascading from the downward slope of the street, and flash flooding in our basement. Although we have little of value in the basement, we had numerous empty boxes from our move and a few old area rugs keeping the floor covered. All of these became soaked, of course.
As the aroma of mildew and what-not arose from the basement, Jenny had a plan that took care of 2 problems for us. Our back yard has been home to a weed forest (not the type that one could profit from, mind you) since the lovely weed-trees sprouted early this summer. There was talk of lawnmowers and weed-whackers but the forest was much too fortified for such contraptions. So... I finally recovered our clippers (bush- trimming blade device, whatever it's called) from Lauderedale and plunged into the forest, shearing the weed-trees from their stems.
I then tossed the two unsalvageable rugs onto the forest floor and proceeded to break down box after box, spreading them out across the yard to cover about 85% of the back yard with cardboard or rug. The idea here is that such cover will prevent weeds from overcoming the yard next spring, giving us a veritable chance to plant native plants and so forth.
At least our back yard isn't too noticeable to many people.

...In the Waters of Lake Minnetonka

I have finally completed the necessary requirements for Minnesotanhood by watching "Purple Rain" and assimilating its wisdom. Somehow, I had gone nearly 27 years of my life without watching the seminal '84 film which helped make Prince a star and put First Avenue on the map.
What the movie spared in scripting and acting, it certainly made up for with a plot that conveniently sewed together events which could be interpreted as backstories for songs on his "Purple Rain" album and that play out with those very songs in the background- or foreground.
It also delights in the playfully enigmatic personality of Prince, which sometimes accidentally comes across as melodramatic, moody, non-specifically obsessive or inexplicably inarticulate. He also drives a motorcycle around a lot.
As a result of these revelations, I have added a new requirement to my qualifications for friendships, as Price put it: "You must first be cleansed in the waters of Lake Minnetonka (sp?)"
The rest of you can be grandfathered in.