Life on the green and in the rough

Another slow news day, so today I'd like to talk about AstroTurf.  While there are a few places (a couple parks, golf courses and luxury communities) that boast real grass, AstroTurf is the way to go out here.  Perpetually green and no water required, it's a low maintenance marvel.

Supposedly, it's also hideously expensive, which explains why front yards are diminutive.

As you can see, it does collect real bits of debris.  Pam says it can be vacuumed.  I have yet to see anyone vacuuming his yard.  Rest assured, dear reader, my camera will be ready if someone does whip out a Kirby near the curb.  

The backyard is also diminutive.  You can lay out on the grass if you can arrange yourself comfortably within 300 square feet.  It's a good thing the pool takes up most of the yard.

As a matter of etiquette to you out-of-towners, one isn't supposed to call it AstroTurf.  "Artificial turf" has a less declasse sound to it, so I'm told.  Ha!

Linguistic moment!  The term AstroTurf may have a declasse ring to it, but consider how amazing it is when a company has such market dominance that its brand name becomes synonymous with the generic product.  Other examples include:  "I need to make a Xerox of that form," or "Do you have a Kleenex?"

Other randomness I just thought of!  The surface surrounding the pool is called cool rock...or something like that.  It doesn't matter how hot it is outside; one can always walk on the stuff barefoot.  Not so for the rest of the paving stone.  Pam was cleaning up the humming bird feeders and flicked some invader ants onto the paving stones.  They immediately cooked on the paving stones resulting in little bits of burnt bug bits.  Intense.