Needs Must

My mother used to say "needs must" quite often, and the phrase was added to my vocabulary as I grew older.

This morning was a 'needs must' morning.  While there's been some improvement, I'm still hobbling around with a really sore back. Be that as it may, both front and rear yards had to be mowed; I don't need any more notes from the City Fathers.  I had hoped that my Coast Guard grandson, who was here for a few days this past week, might have done that for me, but he spent most of his time with his sweet girlfriend.  I don't blame him at all; given the choice, I'd much rather sit in a cool room and watch movies with my sweetie than to push a lawnmower in the heat.

I'm happy to say that it took me only 45 minutes to mow both front and back yards.  Thank goodness for a self-propelled mower!  The discomfort in my back doesn't seem any worse. Perhaps the heat and exercise was good for it.

After I've cooled down a bit, I will water the flower beds then put out the sprinklers. The ground is, again, incredibly dry. Our rainfall seems to be either feast or famine.

I've still to do the trimming around the edges, but ...

...tomorrow is also a day.

Consider the lilies of the field...

"... how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matthew 6:28b - 29 (KJV)


I ventured into the back yard this morning, thinking that I would mow before the thunderstorms anticipated for later today.  Sorry to say, I didn't have enough "oomph" in my muscles to start the mower.  I think it's about time to invest in one that will start at the push of a button. The lawn will go un-mowed for a few days until I can make the purchase or (more cost-effective) get someone with more muscle power to get it started for me.

Just under my bedroom window, this day lily had opened this morning, the first to bloom in the long row next to house.  How do I know it opened this morning?  Because that's what day lilies do; open for a day, then wither and die.

This particular lily, whose name I no longer recall, was gifted to me by my youngest sister.  I always think of her when it blooms.

Tomorrow is also a day (and there are many lily buds waiting to open.)

Post-publication P.S. Happy Birthday, Baba.  My father would have been 125 years old today. My granddaughter observes her 30th birthday today.



Do I Need to Mow?

A brief excursion to the back yard this afternoon reminded me that I need to do some yard work!   At least in this section. The area under the bird feeder has been visited again by whatever critters are finding it so attractive.  I raked up another batch of grass clumps, fifteen or more, while I was out. Methinks I need to stay up one night and peer out the window to see if I can spy the culprit(s).  

Sunshine today and through Saturday, then more rain.  Ah, well. It's coming on Spring!  

Tomorrow is also a day.

76 and Dry

You think I'm referencing my age and a lack of alcoholic beverages don't you?

If so, shame on you! The former was the temperature at 7:15 this evening, and the latter the state of the weather. 

"So what?" you may ask.

It was a good afternoon to mow down the weeds, that's what!  What grass I have is still tan and crunchy, but the henbit, ground ivy, Spring Beauties, chickweed and the like have been growing like, dare I say, "weeds," giving both my front and back yards a very unkempt look. 

My hand-me-down lawnmower which, unfortunately, spent both summer and winter, rain, sleet, snow and gloom of night sitting outside next to the shed with a cover over the motor, started on the first pull and ran like a champ!  I probably need to take it to the service place to have the blades sharpened but I have no complaints about the way it runs.  I ran out of steam before it ran out of gasoline; there is a small patch under a yard swing which still needs to be mowed, but I had not the energy to move the swing.

While mowing, I found two well developed Sweet Autumn Clematis (SAC)  plants under my Japanese Maple tree. I dug these with a trowel and moved them next to two of the columns on my front porch. I already have a three or four year old SAC on one of the three columns. I hope these two do as well.  SAC, which bloom in late July/early August, have very small, very fragrant white blooms; to me, they smell like the best grade of honey.

 There is much weed eating around the edges remaining, but that's a task for another day. I did get one lily bed cleaned out, as well; it needs a good watering and an application of mulch to keep the weeds down.


More, later.

A Welcome Break in the Weather

It is sixty (60) degrees outside!!! What a wonderful change! I was in the yard at 6:30 this morning, to do the weekly mowing, even if the grass was still damp. I don't like to cut wet grass, but the temperature was so right! A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! It's the first time in weeks that the temperature hasn't already reached the 80's by that time of day.

I "broke a sweat" anyway, even at 60 degrees, but I did get all the front and back yard mowed without having a near heat-stroke. The bug-eating birds are happy to have their breakfasts stirred up. The feeder birds could hardly wait for me to leave the yard.

Mowing at such an early hour presented an interesting (for me) problem: how to mow all the nooks and crannies of the yard by walking only north-south/south-north, and east to west only. Otherwise, the rising sun was blinding!! There are some pretty convoluted mower-tracks in the grass; looks like I was under the influence while mowing. But... it's done. Yay!

I have a few chores to do at the church this morning, but this afternoon I'm going to play. The Little Rock rubber stamping group to which I belong will have it's monthly meeting this afternoon, an event to which I always look forward.

More, later.

Five Feet High and Rising

With apologies to Johnny Cash, it's not water I'm talking about, but the grass and weeds in my yard!

We had sunshine all day yesterday -- hurrah!-- and my water-logged yard dried out a bit. This morning's sky, however, showed clouds containing the threat of rain AGAIN! Looking at the weather map and reading the forecast is just down right depressing!

Therefore, with forehead bound up with a bandana to keep the sweat out of my eyes, and a day's water and rations dangling from my belt loops lest I be lost in the jungle between my back door and the garden shed, I got out the lawnmower, mowed a track to enable me to reach the front yard, and made hay (but not while the sun was shining.) Since we're also under a wind-advisory, I didn't take time to sweep the cuttings off the walk. Mother Nature sometimes comes to the aid of lazy folk.

Of course, I exaggerate the height of the weeds and grass, but some clumps of what looks like wild oats (who's been cavorting in my yard when I'm not looking?) were a good 10-12 inches tall. However, I have seen grass five feet high, and rising; a remnant of the tall grass prairie which used to cover huge sections of the plains states. This particular batch was in Chase County, Kansas, the setting for a wonderful book, PrairieErth, by William Least Heat Moon, who is also the author of Blue Highways. I recommend both for your reading enjoyment.

Wikipedia (I love it!) has a wonderful article on Tall Grass Prairies here. Conservation efforts are alive and well in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and elsewhere (including parts of Canada). A bit of Googling on "tall grass prairie" will take you to some very interesting sites, should you be tempted to take a look.

Note to Jeannelle of Iowa: Prairie City, IA has a tall grass prairie preserve. I don't know how close that is to your home, but I know you would find it interesting, chock full of photo ops!

Where Did Spring Go?

I spent the first part of this week working inside, in the church office on Monday, then keeping an eagle eye on my 4 year old granddaughter at her home on Tuesday and Wednesday while her mother was elsewhere. I had hoped to work in my trashy uh, beginning-to-be-overgrown, abandoned-looking must-soon-be-mowed-and-edged yard today and tomorrow, but...

...good grief! Where did Spring go? It's after 7 p.m. as I write this, and it's 86 degrees outside -- in the shade! When I engage in physical exertion, which working in the yard certainly entails, I tend to melt into a puddle, i.e., sweat like a horse! My northern European genes don't like the heat -- not one bit!

I can see right now that I'll have to be in the yard at first light tomorrow or I'm going to have to rent some goats!

Image: Wikipedia