Last Time this Year?

 Remember that I picked up the mower on Friday? Gone Saturday, too wet yesterday. Nice weather today! My goal was to try to get everything mowed once before snow comes.

I got everything around the house.

And most of what we would like to keep mowed down by the road. At any rate, I did everything I could without cutting and chopping out more autumn olive.

I know this looks like a lot of space, and many people ask why I don't let it go to native plants. So I will state again, for those who may not have seen my answer, it goes to autumn olive, spotted knapweed, and sweet pea. There is plenty of native milkweed in the field next door, and I encourage it to grow there. I wage constant war on the autumn olive. We feel like this is minimum space to mow to keep the deer, mice, woodchucks, mosquitoes, etc somewhat away from the house, and hold those invasive plants in check.

I rarely mow it ALL in one day, but today was the good weather window, so...

This was only the second mowing of the whole season. Constant lawnmower troubles (not my laxity this year), and I have a hard time paying for repairs. I may have to get a sturdier mower.

I also managed to dry laundry outside. Yeah, I know the lines are sagging. Not much point in tightening them until spring, at this point.

Also got in some time editing.

See Climbing the Stupidity Ladder

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).

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.

And the part down by the road.

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

Happy Birthday to Me!

  We started right out on a hike on my favorite trail with two friends, Marie and Cathy! We did 6 miles, going across the Big Sable River on the Vince Smith Bridge and back.

The hole in the ground from yesterday? We recovered my old fire pit, which was new for my 50th birthday. Built a fire and cooked up a batch of hamburgers to enjoy now and later.

Instead of cake, I made a cherry pie! Yum, yum.

Then Marie and I played a new card game she just learned this year.

The trees in back of my house are in full spring coler. I love them at this stage!

A very, very nice birthday. Thanks to everyone who sent me wishes on Facebook or in email.

Miles on the North Country Trail in 2021 is at 220.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI, 5 Mile Rd south 3 miles and back

See Cherry Pie II

Back on Track?

 
Maybe I'm back in the groove. First, the damage assessment here. It doesn't amount to much. One of the quaking aspens, which had already partly broken, snapped. Not a big deal. I'll see if I can clear it out alone when things dry out a little. That's it. I'm very fortunate compared to many in the county.



Walked 3 miles with 33 pounds in 54 minutes. Not bad. One hip was a little sore. Again, not a big deal.

I finished my hike menu plans and made an initial shopping list to get started. Here are my hot meal menus. It's a lot of bother to make meals for one, so I'm making each of these menus for two and splitting them. I'll have each meal twice, divided between the first and second half of the hike. (with comments)

gravy bacospuds olive salad tootsie rolls	not fancy but very fast to fix and very light weight
cheesy bacospuds broccoli salad granola bar	not fancy but very fast to fix and very light weight
buttermilk dill soup crackers fruit mix	very yummy, very fast to fix and very light weight
tuna curry w/rice peanuts pistachio pudding	a little heavier but very filling and a nice comfort meal
beans & vegs couscous spotted applesauce	a new main dish I want to try, looks like it will be filling and light weight
pizza bowl macaroni peach yogurt	a new main dish I want to try, looks like it will be filling and medium weight
turkey tetrazzini spaghetti veggie plops	a comfort food favorite, medium weight
maple acorn sausage rice cakes tootsie rolls	a nice autumn hot meal, medium weight

In other news: No writing happened today. Need to get back into that groove, too.

	See Excitement and Apathy
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Half Moon a Yard Wide

 
Remember the Half Moon Cookies? If I'd had a big cookie cutter, the frosting was already in place today. I totally jinxed the snow by buying skis, I guess.



After the pump guys came again this morning, pulled the whole pump and took it away... I spent the rest of the day working on getting the sample copies of The Secret Cellar ready to send to my test reader families. I have seven families with a total of 22 kids. (That leaves one sample copy for me.) A few of them are too young to provide feedback, but I think 19 of them can either read the book or understand the story if it's read to them. I'm eager to hear their reactions. Hopefully, I can make changes to make the books better based on their comments.

The interiors are all printed and collated. I should have a sample cover (a step better than my concept covers) in the next day from my cover artist, to go on these. I have a heavy duty stapler to finish the project. This will put something close to a real book in the kids' hands, so they don't have to try to imagine what it will look like.



Questions for kids and parents are ready to print. I will buy padded envelopes tomorrow and get them addressed.

The other major project of the day was also for this book, which is the rustic-looking (on purpose) directions for making a willow whistle.



Things have been so slow at work all month, I have not worked any Tuesday since Christmas. And this week is no exception, so I'll have tomorrow also to work on books.

You might remember that I did a final draft of the map a couple of days ago, so I think I can actually get back to writing the next book in the series, The Hitchhiker.

	See draft of the map that's going in this book
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Light After the Storm

 
It rained most of the day yesterday, cooling things down nicely.

After I had done my blog post, as the sun was nearing the horizon, the far row of trees beyond my backyard was catching the light.



Every time I start to think there aren't going to be any new moods of my backyard, I have another delightful surprise like this one.

Some of the wind turbines (5 miles away) stand out in contrast to the dark sky.



The sunset wasn't spectacular, but there were a lot of interesting clouds. I was watching them as I drove to work. I'll bet if I'd been on the beach with a view unimpeded by wires and signs and trees, there were some interesting pictures to be had.

	See Moods of My Backyard
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Night or Day, Trailer or Tent

 
Full moon last night. Wonderful!



More sun and loveliness today. Wonderful!



The big decision of the week is: should Marie and I take the trailer on our basecamping hike, or the tent? Weather forecast for the area is wet. Campsites are close together. Maybe trailer.

Did I ever show you the curtains I made last year? I actually have one more to make to finish them.



Today, I removed a stove burner unit that I'll never use- way too big for my needs. Now I have useful counter space. Also vacuumed everything to remove all the dead bugs and clean up the cushions. And I removed the exterior battery which supposedly could supply interior power, but I suspect it's dead and I won't use it anyway.



The other big choice in the works, but we will wait a couple of days to decide, is if we should postpone the whole adventure by week. Marie has been sick.

Oh, in other not so quality news, the lawnmower transmission decided to give up the ghost. That repair is beyond me. Will call service guy tomorrow.

I know I missed a couple of days here on the blog. Nothing awful except work was long and difficult and I was just too tired.

	See Trailer-ing
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I Love My Backyard

 
Took a little walk out back today. I really love "my kingdom." The large orange tree has been featured before, several times, including Robert Tackles the Mystery Tree. It's still a mystery, but always beautiful.



I always feel fortunate to have such layers of colors just a short walk from my door.



Some single trees really stand out.



And the railroad tracks offer their own beauty at dusk.



And just for a giggle, one little flower decided to bloom among the grass.

	See (Not an) Ash- Left and Right Brain
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Blue Skies

 
It was cold today, but sunny. Feeling much better. I did very little that required any physical effort. Worked on editing Bury the Hatchet in Dead Mule Swamp and made good progress.

Even though I didn't go outside except to take a couple of pictures, the blue skies and sunshine were a definite mood brightener. Thanks for all the well wishes. It was only a cold, but not a fun one.

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Today in My Backyard

 
I finished the mowing today... until the next time, which I'm sure will be coming right up. Meanwhile, the yard (and field beyond) was a busy place.

Today the light and clouds made it easy to see the wind turbines that are visible from my house. I can see 7 of the 56 in this wind farm. With the trees fully leafed out, they aren't too visible. Fine with me.



This little buck is determined to own my space. Tonight, at least, he didn't come right up to the house. He faces off and stamps at us. Very cheeky! I've never thought you could tell one deer from another, but I'm thinking this might be one of the twins that were born late 2011. The shape of his nose is odd- sort of curved down- Roman. You can compare with the second picture at Twin Trouble if you want to form an opinion. The black spot over the fawn's eye is not there, but that could have been anything, and not permanent.



Late in the day, there were storms south of us, and then the sun came out. It's always nice to see a rainbow.



And, the piece de resitance... a new activity, never performed in this yard before...



Loretta is playing in a small charity tournament on Friday, and she wanted to get in some practice!

And, if you'd like to see what I did yesterday... Filling Two Deck Planters with Succulents

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The Winds

The winds blew really hard here for a couple of days. Gusts up to 60 mph just south of me. Not quite so strong here. Nevertheless, I have some work to do on my little trails out back.





Maggie says, "I'll help clean up, Mom, but I think you're going to need the saw!"

	See One Job Done
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