Flip A Coin

Life is all about choices.  Yesterday was another golden day.  Hmmm...stay inside and do housework or go outside and do some mowing?  Difficult as the choice was (not!), I opted for sunshine and enough breeze to blow away the dust and chaff.  I gassed up John and off we went.  Another choice...side yard under the clothesline first or the west field?  I'd mowed the field not long ago but the weeds were tall again.  I hadn't approached the side yard yet, so side yard it was.  The Cecile Brunner rose in the side yard is a stunning bouquet of tiny, delicate pink blossoms now, an added bonus to the day. 

I don't think one ever forgets one's first love.  I still miss funny old Fu Manchu, but John and I are becoming more comfortable with each other.  He's big and manly, but somewhat top heavy and that makes mowing on a sideways slope or on the edge of a drop-off feel dangerous.  As we worked our way through two-foot high weeds, I'm sure John was wondering what chlorophyll hell he'd fallen into.  He probably came from a suburban backyard with a dichondra lawn.  Fu, on the other hand, has gone to a lawnmower's retirement heaven.

It was still fairly early when we finished the side yard.  Should we carry on, or should I go in?  No contest.  I can see that mowing is going to be a weekly chore for the duration.  Weeds had grown up as if I'd never mowed the field.  John cuts a wide swath, but when the stuff is thick and lush we can only take half-bites and it takes longer.  Patches of California poppies have sprung up near the garden (what used to be a garden), nearly hidden in the weeds.  Mow them down or go around?  We went around.  The machines are called riding lawnmowers, but in John's case, he is a driving mower.  I'm becoming more used to the gas peddle and he doesn't take off like a racehorse getting out of the gate as he did.  It's like learning to drive all over again.  (I can remember my dad clinging to the door and yelling, "Slow down when you're turning!")

Two yards are about all I can handle on John before my wrists give out and he is ready for a rest.  Like a horse, when I turn off the blades John knows it's time to head for the barn and he nearly flies.

Later, Arden came for a visit and brought fresh cherries!  We talked and spit seeds in our most ladylike fashion.

I have no choice today.  Dust waits for no man (or woman).

It was a good day.