i remember dashing around the sides of this wheelbarrow barefooted in the grassy lawn in our backyard ; it was early may and the winter rye grass already drooped from the longer hours of intense desert sun ; the blades of grass felt limp under my toes and didnt spring back when i stepped on them ; upon close inspection , i could see individual green blades in the lawn which had shriveled , blackened and wrinkled like tiny whip snakes ; when enough of the green blades had shriveled , the overall lawn would slump and look trampled and in a few days nothing would be left , bar a few patches of brittle yellow ghosts snarled together in shady corners .