southside hoosier girl: Dear Sherpa,

Why is it that a woman can come home from work every day, make dinner, load and run the dishwasher, do a couple loads of laundry, feed the cats, change their stinkin' litter box, pay the bills and even take a load of empty beer cans to the recycling center without needing a word of thanks, and a man wants a standing ovation when he mows the lawn once a week?

It's not just me, it's my girlfriends, both married and unmarried, who have noticed this, too.

Sign me, (I'm really not a bitter)Southside Hoosier Girl

Life Sherpa: You make a good point. In my newspaper column, I addressed this some months ago. Aside from the seemingly inate ability to multitask better than men, women also are more willing (adept?) to do the thankless chores that do not get readily noticed.
Men are geared toward competition, which ends in some sort of recognition. Mowing the lawn presents a nice face to neighbors. hence the reason that so many men obsess over lawns. It's a competition between men.
Unfortunately, no one comes in to check the litter box or the dishwasher, so men don't see the big need to compete in that arena.
On top of all that, the generations of mens-work/womens-work division of duties means that young men usually see their mother doing this type of work, which only goes to enforce the roles.
Start weaning him by letting him haul his own beer cans to the recyclcing place.

Life Sherpa: By the way, sorry for any problems y'all may have had trying to sign on to the site. the gerbils who power this system staged a short work stoppage and held out for more food pellets. We reached an agreement, theire tummies are full and they now are pedaling as fast as they can.

kentuckwoman: Mr. Life Sherpa,

Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?

Sue

Life Sherpa: Dear Sue:
Angela Jolie is a little bit nuts and her saving the world one child at a time stuff gets a little old. And her kissing her brother in an oh-so-uncomfortable way are huge strikes against her.
Then again, she is incredibly, amazingly HOT so...
what was your question?

Club 'n' Fire club: I've recently discovered something that I think is worth sharing with my fellow Neanderthals. If you let your lawn grow high, I mean really, really high, your wife will eventually become so embarrassed that she will end up mowing it herself. Seriously, it works! Call it neighbor pressure. And as an added bonus, I think the physical labor increases her energy level for later. Now, it's not all roses, Sherpa. You have to face the yard-Nazi men on the block who insist on using their brawn instead of their brain. I'm split on whether I should mention the edging and raking to her or tie that into my kid's allowance. Thoughts?

-Signed
Sometimes the grass really is greener

Life Sherpa: If you can make this work, great. But I've always enjoyed mowing the lawn. Now let me state that I am not one of those fertilize, thatch, thin, water and manicure guys. But I don't mind the physical exertion of cutting the grass. I also find the patterned, mindless progression of the process, along with the fresh air and a little sweat, to be somewhat calming -- like golf, but without all the disappointment.
But if you have kids old enough to mow the lawn, then I don't see any problems at all. Neither of you should touching the lawn. You feed them, house them and clothe them. They need to be behind the mower.
And I must say, I think you might be confusing "Neanderthal" with "lazy."

tony tiger: Sherpa,
I recently read a quote by Angelina Jolie. She said her and Brad were "sometimes like daddy and mommy, sometimes like man and woman and that's all I'm going to say about that." Is that the hottest thing you've ever heard? What exactly do you think she meant and how can I get my girlfriend to talk like that to me?

Life Sherpa: Start looking like Brad Pitt would be a good start