A Good Day's Work

I took advantage of an afternoon of glorious weather to mow down the yards.  After a winter of disuse, I was so pleased that the mower started (almost) right up.  Of course the tires were flat, but I'm brave enough now to start the air compressor and fix that problem.  I've always been sure that either the compressor or the tire was going to blow up, and I still approach both with caution.  Mowing comes right after hanging wash as one of my favorite chores.  It's a legitimate reason to be outdoors and, as a brother-in-law used to say about fishing,"When you're fishing [mowing], you can't be doing anything else."  It is so satisfying to make a higgledy-piggledy yard look neat and tidy, and unlike dusting, it won't have to be done again right away.  When the yards are green, as they are now, I can maintain the illusion that I have lawns.  The hundreds of pounds of grass seed I've put down over the years have fed many birds, I'm sure, because not one blade has grown.  The goats keep their distance, but follow along the fence line as I mow by their pen, always curious about what I'm doing.  It took over three hours to mow the west field, the back yard, just the higher stuff on the front and side yards, and down along the fence line on the road.  I will admit that I avoid the patches of Baby-blue-eyes and some unnamed bright magenta wild flower, wanting them to come back in following years.  I'd say that's a pretty good day's work.  It was the dinner hour when I finished, and the mountain was quiet as I sat on the front porch with a cold beer, Bessie Anne at my feet, enjoying the smell of new-mown "grass."  There is a bracken fern that grows in shady spots that has a strong peppery smell that spices the air with its aroma when mowed down.  A bird I haven't heard before sat in the front oak and cried, "Onetwothreefour-five, six."  It also has the counting compulsion, it seems, unlike the romantic the other day that called, "Rod-RI-go!  Rod-RI-go!"  A batch of chevre cheese was hanging in the kitchen, dinner was in the oven...yes, a good day's work.