A Gardener I'm Not!

  A Gardener I'm Not! 

Just came in from mowing my back yard lawn for the first time.  My friend Darren did it four weeks ago, but today it was my turn.  It wasn't fun. I think I may have mowed lawns for extra money after school when I was eleven.  It was either too long ago or I have repressed the memory.  

It only got up to about 84 but I did start at 4:00 PM, so it was pretty hot out there despite the shade of the giant Cedar tree in my back yard.  I had to learn how to set the choke, pull the cord that sets the motor into action, release the brake and begin the job.  I made nice neat rows and it was going well until the motor stalled, or actually turned off.  The basket collecting the mowed grass was sufficiently blocked to kill the motor.  So I disengaged the basket and emptied it out. Still the mower, which once belonged to a friend's father, tended to spew some mowed grass onto the freshly mowed lawn.  This start-stop process went on for about an hour.  Then I grabbed a rake to pick up the expelled grass.  By now I was sweating as profusely as Niagra Falls.  This is hard work.  If I had a day job I detested, I'd think twice about quitting.  
I looked back over my handiwork.  Well...I missed a narrow spot here and there, and I've decided that next year that sod is going.  I'm putting down garden-edge to garden-edge concrete pavers in some decorator color and placing container pots for various flowers and shrubs.  I may have a small plot of earth for herbs and tomatoes. That's it.

 
Earlier this morning I went around to various spots in the front and back yards and pulled offensive looking weeds. The dandelions are the worst.  They set their roots in deep and everyone says, "make sure you get the root."  And of course, I never do.  This garden nonsense is for the birds.  Even watering is boring.

 
I bought a spiffy patio table and four chairs from a Craig's List ad.  Paid $100 for this very nice table and chairs so I can now serve dinner or lunch outside.  My buddy Sarah has a small truck, so she's been helping me with trips to pick up this table and chairs, dragging the last of the packing boxes to the dump and to a local furniture store where my dining room chairs were finally ready to be picked up.  You can't get a bag of groceries delivered here for under $50 and none of my local stores deliver or pick up a thing.

  
So here are a few new photos, including Friday's spectacular pre-sunset sky just outside my back door.