Punishment Gone Wrong

Last week Middle Son had misbehaved and needed a punishment.  The Good Wife felt that having him go out to the garden and pull some of the grass that has been growing up amongst all our veggies would be a good time consuming punishment, giving Middle Son some time to think about what he had done wrong.

I'm not sure of the exact details of the punishment instructions, but I am guessing it was something to the effect of, "Go out to the garden and pull the weeds and grass out of one section of the garden."  It may not have been that specific, which is where the problem may have started.  Again, I wasn't home at the time, and am not privy to the exact details.

However, as the Good Wife says, the Middle Son is very much like me, the Haphazard Countryman.  Being an engineer by education, I am always looking for more efficient ways to get the job done.  Some call it lazy, but I call it being efficient.  That's what happens when you are trained in "Lean Manufacturing".  Trying to eliminate waste from the production cycle.  Trying to get to the desired end result in as little time and effort as possible.  And tying the relationship of Middle Son to me, helps to explain the outcome.

Middle Son proceeded to grab the weed killer and spray more than one section of the garden.  That caused the entire section of the garden to die a brown and tangled death.  Some may look at this as the Middle Son being derelict in his punishment.  Others may look at him trying to be efficient, and possibly generous, as he proceeded to "take care" of more than just one section of the garden.

I'm not sure if he decided he had done enough and stopped, or the Good Wife saw what he was doing and came running out, instructing him in the errors of his ways.  Either way, a good section of the garden, along with everything growing in it is dead.  The only question now, is can we even use that portion of the garden next year?  Only time will tell.