OK, many people now have blogs, so why do I need one?  And if I had a blog, what would I write about (that was interesting to at least a reasonably sized group of people)?  Recently, my wife had to write in a blog for a class she is taking and I thought, maybe this is good for me.  So here I am.

Next question - what should I write about?  There are blogs out there for all types and shapes of things and topics, so what can I muse about that I have some knowledge of, and is interesting (mostly)?  So I decided to write about a topic I know intimately, GRASS!  Yes, I am nuts...but not really (maybe a little quirky).  And for you cannibis lovers out there that stumbled (figuratively and literally) onto this blog, the grass I am going to explore is not your favorite pastime, but turfgrass, that green stuff in lawns, football end zones, baseball infields, soccer pitches, golf course greens and highway roadsides (and around the rest stops you frequent).  SO DON'T STOP READING....this stuff is interesting, although I bet you are not yet convinced of that. This guy in Iraq missed green grass so much that he asked for seed, soil, etc. sent from home so he could have his own little patch of green...SO THERE!

And BTW, those of us involved in the turf industry normally call that green stuff on lawns and golf courses 'turfgrass' or 'turf'....unlike 'turf' you hear TV commentators talk about that is really artificial turf, i.e. 'Astroturf', 'Field Turf' and a plethora of other brand names.  To us turf guys and gals, artificial turf is just that, artificial, not a living surface with thousands of plants (leaves, shoots and roots) within one square foot of lawn.   

So what am I going to use this space for?....well here are a few thoughts - a natural vs. artificial turf discussion, what turf does in the environment, new products or grasses on the horizon (especially considering my job with NTEP is turfgrass evaluation), issues and concerns with grass, lawns, golf, etc., and maybe just some crazy things like how we can make turf more exciting (yes, I meant exciting - we know it is already interesting).  Maybe easy ways to make designs like this....we're just watching grass grow, right?  If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Footnote - the name of my blog, It's just grass...or is it?  Where did that come from?  Well when I was thinking of a title, the first thing that came to me was 'The grass is greener', or something to that effect.  Well, Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google) told me via a Google search that title was already taken, albeit not for a 'grass' blog.  Oh and BTW, since Sergey Brin went to my kids high school (he is several years older than my oldest), I always say that he is helping me find things.  In any case, my almost 25 year old daughter Meghan, used to ask me: 'Dad, what do you do at those meetings and conferences, just talk about grass'?  Meghan is also a little quirky (actually very quirky but that's for another day), but she has a point ....we are not finding a cure for cancer or stopping terrorism.  However, this job has paid the bills for me.  So I am happy.  Therefore, I hope you stop by again for more of my musings about grass (turf) and other stuff!

Thanks for reading!!