Hey, DIY… there’s nothin’ like a dame

I think it was Oscar Hammerstein who wrote, “There Is Nothing Like a Dame.”

Go ahead, sing along.

Or better yet, tell it to the DIY Network. ‘Cuz it recently held the America’s Most Desperate Landscape Contest, where people from all over the country entered photos and videos for the chance at a total landscape makeover of their front yard.

Last I counted, there had to about 10,000 entries.

And the 4 finalists who ended up on the Today Show yesterday morning for The Landscape Challenge?

4 guys. 4 young guys at that.

Hey, DIY. What about the dames? Don’t you think we DIO(urselves)?

Come on, guys. There had to be hundreds, perhaps thousands of women who entered the contest…

And this is not to say that Kevin from Florida, Chris from Ohio (who ended up winning), Mark from California and Shawn from Pennsylvania weren’t personable and as cute as chirruping chiggers. They were. (Well, I speak in an old dame kind-of way because these guys are all young enough to be my sons.)

But I’ve been driving a sit-down mower since before these guys were born. And DoingItMyself.

Leaf blowing. Watering in an accurate fashion. And even sod rolling. The old-fashioned DIMyself way, tilling a little bit of civilization with each year.

This old gal has raked, plowed, planted, sowed and reaped. And I guess I just needed a rest as my landscape got a bit more desperate. That’s why I entered the America’s Most Desperate Landscape Contest in the first place.

Of course I know that contests are contests, subject to all kinds of decision-making machinery and analytical judgments. I understand that sometimes there are principles that defy rules. I know that a rationale can be created for just about anything. But I admit a twinge of disappointment when I was not among the chosen. OK, I am a woman scorned.

Or thorned, as this case may be.

But Jason and DIY? Not one. Not two. Not even three. But four young, strong, happy, cute guys?

What about the gals? I personally live on the DIY Network. I love it. It loves me. (Well, until now.) My daughters love it. My friends love it. I mean, where else would I so handily find out about the Coolest Tools around, like the Senco Finish Pro pneumatic nailer… 600 nails from one battery. Wow. The Frontgate Outdoor Solar Wireless Speaker that I’m getting my hubby for Father’s Day. (Sorry, Honey… surprise ruined if you are reading this blog). Or one of my favorites, my 4″ Angel EasyClean Paintbrush.

Yes, it is easy. And yes, I DIM(yself). Paint, that is.

So DIY Network, what about the dames? We, too, find landscaping and gardening a discovery of our very strength. We too find the challenges of the soil challenges of our minds. We rock… literally.

I am woman. Hear me roar.

So at least, next time, let me roar up a John Deere.

- Sharon