More Adventures in Mowing

 

by Pa Rock

Lawn Ornament

I know that I write about mowing my yard too much in this blog, but when something defines your life the way that mowing does mine, it becomes a difficult subject to avoid.   During a normal mowing season I usually cut the grass at least fourteen times between April and November, usually at about two week intervals.  A normal mowing takes around six hours spread out over two days.
 
This summer, with the drought, things have been different.  I had last mowed on June 18-19, after the drought had begun to set in – and then I was able to take a long hiatus from mowing.  Of course, during that t time I carried a ton of water to the plants in the yard, flowers in pots, things like begonias, marigolds and coleuses, as well as rose bushes and young trees.  I’m happy to report that all of the outdoor flowers, bushes, and trees survived the awful dry spell and are still blooming sprightly and brightly.
 
We finally had some rain a couple of weeks ago, quite a bit actually, and the grass began to green and grow.  I put off mowing for several days out of laziness, and then started to get ready to get back on the Dixie Chopper, my 54-inch, zero-turn-radius, miracle mowing machine.  But then we had a couple of showers and one 5” rainstorm, and for about a week or so we were under the threat of even more rain, though none developed, but I used those forecasts to put off the inevitable for just a few more days.
 
During those few days the grass really grew – and by the time I finally did get on the mower after a fifty-three break in mowing, parts of my yard had tall, wavy grass that was almost impenetrable.  Quite a bit of it was taller than the front bumper of my riding mower.  The six-hour mowing took eight-and-a-half hours to complete!
 
But I persisted and ultimately prevailed.  The mower choked out several times on the tall grass, and I soon learned a routine for getting it restarted quickly.  Now the area that I mow (six acres) looks much nicer, but there are many “lumps” of cut grass lying around that did not get completely digested by the mower, and I will probably be back at it sooner rather than later.
 
I did see some interesting wildlife during this mowing.  One surprisingly skinny toad hopped out in front of the mower, and I stopped and waited until he moved on.   A young bullfrog crossed my path up near the pond, but he was much more agile and quicker than the toad - and did not require a stop in the mowing.  (During the last mowing I had encountered a very large bullfrog sitting by the pond, but he seemed to be in charge and did not move or get flustered when I mowed close to him on two separate sweeps.)
 
A couple of years ago the pond was empty, but then we did some work on it and now it collects water and normally holds a good amount – except when a major drought happens.  This pond has an abundance of bullfrogs, and I am not sure why since neither my son nor myself brought in any frogs or tadpoles.  But they are here.   Nick says that frogs will find a pond, regardless of how far they have to travel, but I have also heard stories that frogs sometime come down with the rain.
 
Who knows?  Perhaps Ranger Bob does.
 
I also encountered three small furries in three different locations during the mowing.  They looked somewhat like field mice, but were a little larger and thicker, with thicker coats.  They were too small to be rats, and did not necessarily look like rats, anyway -  nor were they moles.  (As a lad I actually captured several moles with my bare hands, and I know exactly what they look like!)
 
So, after a bit of on-line research I believe that my three close encounters were with voles.  These looked like those that I found pictured on the internet, and the article accompanying the photos said they can be found across the United States and like areas with tall, wavy grass – and boy was my grass tall and wavy a few days ago!

Out in one of the hard areas of the yard that gets no shade, I also came across a solitary large red ant who seemed to be in too much of a hurry to stop and study me.  He was about three-quarters of an inch long with orange and black stripes, and his body appeared to be covered with a velvety type of texture.  Ants have always fascinated me, and I took a break for a few moments to watch this one as he hurried along.  (Years ago I was at a site of Mayan ruins in the jungles of Guatemala when I came across a trail of busy ants that must have extended at least a couple of miles in length.  Some other yankee tourists and I spent more time watching them march through the jungle that we die poking through the Mayan ruins.)
 
I think that it would probably be worthwhile to purchase a sidecar for my mower and take Ranger Bob along the next time I spend six or eight hours exploring my yard.  He could identify and chart the creatures that I stir up.
 
Mowing is such an adventure!