by Pa Rock
Grass Warrior
Yesterday I fired up the old Dixie Chopper and began what will eventually be six or seven months of mowing.
I write about mowing quite a bit in this space. That is because during the spring, summer, and fall of the year, mowing is a big part of what I do and who I am. I'm the wizened old man who is covered head-to-toe in long garments and topped off with a bucket hat - and who keeps his really big yard looking (as one of my son's friends puts it) "like a park." There are months-on-end each year when every big decision that I make is predicated on weather forecasts and mowing schedules.
I live on a paved rural road that is home to many other old farts, and most of them - but not all - fuss with keeping their yards looking nice. It is an unacknowledged competition to see whose lawn looks the nicest on any given day, and in the battle to have the best looking yard, I am always a contender and often reign supreme.
But, alas, I am getting older and tire more easily, and I am on the verge of changing my mowing habits. Two of my neighbors started mowing the weekend before last, and I made a conscious decision to ignore their provocation. Instead I began yesterday - and one of my neighbors who had already mowed two weeks ago, rushed out and fired up his mower when he saw me on mine! Now he has done two mowings to my one - but this morning my yard looks just as nice, or nicer, than his!
Grass wars, country style!
(One of my friends, a lady who has other friends who raise bees, gave me an excuse for the late start on mowing. She pointed out that the little wild violets and dandelions are still blooming, and that bees enjoy and need both of types of blossoms. My laziness was helping to save the planet!)
Alexa promised that if I mowed on Thursday, I would have a decent Friday and Saturday to finish. (I mow about six acres, and it normally takes two three-hour sessions on the mower to get it done, so I do that over two afternoons - and sometimes it even spills over onto a third afternoon.)
I only got in about two-and-a-half hours yesterday, but thought it would still be alright with two mowing days on the horizon. However, when I finished yesterday's mowing and came in the house, Alexa had an update. She had changed her forecast and was now saying that it would rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And this morning it looks as though the new forecast will be the correct one.
Oh, bother!
But I want to slow down on the mowing, and I have already begun by skipping the first mowing of the year and joining the great grass chase on the second go-round. I am also on the verge of deciding that this year will be my last of mowing six acres. When I first moved here eight years ago, I mowed about three acres, but each year I pushed the. "snake line" back further and further until now I have doubled what I originally mowed. I think its time to let the snakes and all of the other creatures of nature snuggle up closer to the house, and to give myself significantly less yard to worry about in the process.
That change will probably come at the end of this mowing season. My good neighbor, Rex, bush-hogs the rest of the ten acres twice a year, and I will let him add what I neglect to his portion. It will still look like a park, just a bit more compact.
And, on a mostly unrelated note, two young adults just walked down the country lane in front of my house - no doubt enjoying my beautifully trimmed front yard as they strolled along. The one in front was a woman. She was wearing a face mask, although there were no other people around other than her companion. The other, a male, followed about ten feet behind the woman. He was also wearing a face mask and carrying what appeared to be a wicker hat box. I will likely never know their story, but if it rains this afternoon and I cannot mow, I may sit at the computer in front of the big window that looks out on the country lane, and invent a story for them.
Never let a rainy day go to waste, that's my motto!
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