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Sunday, August 13, 2023

Small but Surprisingly Satisfactory Victory


One of the recurring themes on this blog is lawnmower woes. No woes today. The wonderful (OK, it may seem small to you, but it feels huge to me) victory is that all of the lawn is mowed at one time (defined as within just a few days so that it's more or less all the same length).
mowed lawn


That has not happened since 2021, and before that... I'm not sure. Keeping the grass mowed here is a major task. Mostly because there are continuous lawnmower problems, but also because I go away a lot. And if it goes even half a season without mowing, I have to dig out autumn olive shrubs before I can mow again.

Here's the back yard.
mowed grass


And the part down by the road.
mowed grass


The truth is this mower isn't quite heavy-duty enough for this rough yard, but the one I'd like costs $2500. That's not happening. This one will probably be beaten to a pulp in a couple more years, though.

These pictures make the space mowed look vast. It's pretty big, but not quite the expanse the pictures imply. People have said I should stop mowing and let it grow up in native plants. It's an appealing idea, but I'd never keep up with it. The autumn olive and the spotted knapweed would require constant attention. Actually, there is a large patch out back of big bluestem, and that is native and would probably be happy to spread, but it forms clumps so thick and tall it would obscure everything.

I spent the day working on the program for tomorrow night. In between hours of that, I mowed. I'll have to work on it more tomorrow, maybe a little this evening, but I'm in good shape to have it ready.

See When I got this Mower

3 comments:

Ann said...

It's the little things that make our day. I don't know if that big of an area to mow really qualifies as little though...lol Glad you were able to get it all done.

The Oceanside Animals said...

Lulu: "Ooh, our Dada used to have to mow a big lawn like that back in New York. He did it on a tractor. Rumor has it he still misses that tractor, even though he probably wouldn't even be able to turn it around in the yard we have here ..."

Sharkbytes said...

Ann- the little victories sometimes mean a LOT

Lulu- I think your current yard sounds like a manageable size. Except it wouldn't fell much like the great outdoors.