Well, after some more research, I've made some progress on identifying the weeds, and figured I'd share... I'm almost positive #1 is Virginia Buttonweed I think #2 might be nutsedge. Can someone confirm that? As far as #3 goes, I think it is bermuda grass. But I think I actually have some bermuda and crabgrass, particularly where the lawn meets the street. And now begins the long process of trying to revive my lawn. My current plan is... 1. Try to control the weeds as best I can for now by spraying them with weed control for lawns and/or picking them by hand. Already started and it seems to be slowly killing the weeds and leaving the grass intact. 2. Come early-September, I'm going to fill in some depressed areas of the lawn with topsoil 3. Top dress the rest of the lawn with a thin layer of top soil. 4. Add some milorganite (unless someone has a better suggestion) 5. Seed entire yard with tall fescue, or maybe a mix of tall fescue and kentucky bluegrass 6. Water daily until grass starts to grow, then only twice a week for a few weeks, then only once a week. 7. Pray that tons of grass grows and chokes out the weeds 8. Come early spring, spread pre-emergent herbicide on the lawn Thoughts? This post was edited by ryanhaub on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 0:40

Thank you all for your kinds words. It really is something else seeing that very first bloom of the season! Kathy - it's not too warm out here - we live in San Lorenzo - where abouts are you? Bernice - the colour is a rusty orange - it's kind of got spekles on it I think ... hmm the pot ghetto - I kind of bought too many roses last year ... those own roots have a way of sneaking up on you - and then I discovered a few Canadian suppliers and had to order from them ... we are thinking of digging up more lawn - but I don't know - we are still undecided about moving so don't want to plant too many cos that's how much we'll have to dig back up to take with us. as for the move - it got moved to the back burner for a while ... I still want to move - mainly to add more garden space. aprille

Please help me figure out what this is and how to kill it. Most of the yard is Bermuda grass

Warning: Sciency Content The reason the nozzle is locked in with the hose is galvanic action. The molecular differences between the brass hose and the aluminum nozzle causes the exchange of electrons leading to a sort of chemical welding. Now, since that came up... Brass has another interesting characteristic whereby it allows what's known as 'erosion' when water leaks through it. I've had brand new Sears hoses go bad in 30 minutes because I did not tighten the hose against the faucet properly. I have a picture somewhere, but it is identical to soil erosion caused by water leakage under pressure. I knew it could happen, but I've never seen it happen in 30 minutes. Once that happens you will forever and always have a leak there. So I am absolutely not hesitant to replace hose ends with PLASTIC end pieces. Why plastic? Because then I don't have to dread the inevitable heartbreak of eroding another brass fitting. The good plastic ones have a flat face. Flat faces can be a problem with flat hose washers, so I replace all my flat hose washers with #15 O-Rings (smaller size than 1/8-inch thick). I realize that sounds a little overboard, but I hate leaking hoses. And with O-Rings you don't need to screw them together so tightly. Also cheap hoses have stamped brass fittings. Those should be cut off at the store and replaced with plastic before you use them. I leave them on my soaker hoses, because those are supposed to leak anyway. Brass faucets can also erode. When that happens I break out a flat file and flatten the face of the faucet. You can see the eroded part immediately when you begin to file. So you can also tell when you've filed enough brass away to go beyond the erosion. Then use O-Rings and you should not have the problem again. And all that was to say, if you are going to cut off the end of the hose, use plastic fittings. By the way, WD-40 is not a penetrating oil. It might work, but another product might work better. I'd just cut it off, though.