The plan for today was to get at least the south yards mowed this morning, before things got too hot.
It almost happened.
Things started out awesome. It was 14C/57F when I got up this morning! What a relief that was!
The expected high was 27C, though. With the high humidity, everything was soaking wet with dew, but the garden still needed to be watered.
While watering the luffa, I saw the dew had condensed and was collecting on the very edges of each leaf. Very pretty!
Once the watering was done, I headed in for a quick breakfast, then headed back out. The grass was still so very wet, but I wanted to get at least some of it done.
I had brought over the lawn mower and getting it ready when I spotted the new kittens.
The orange kitten and the baby Hypotenose I’d found in the outer yard were in the inner yard! I’m hoping that meant they found the kibble.
Unfortunately, I had to scare them off once I started mowing.
I kept the bag on the mower to collect the clippings, emptying into the wagon as I worked on a section of the south yards. The grass was so wet, the opening into the bag kept getting jammed, so I was having to empty it a lot more often. One wagon load of clippings went into the compost heap, around the opportunistic tomatoes, potatoes and onions growing in there. The summer squash in pots got their mulch topped up, which was just a few handfuls of clippings. The rest of the clippings got spread out on the black landscape cloth/tarp in the main garden area to dry in the sun.
The other side of the south yard has a lot of creeping Charlie in it, so I won’t be able to use most of the clippings for mulch. That will just get piled somewhere else. Fresh green grass clippings – especially when they are wet like this – get insanely hot very quickly, and the middle of a pile starts to turn black and slimy in short order. That should kill off any creeping Charlie. I’ll probably dump it on top of the litter pellet compost pile. Normally, in the summer, we’d be burning the litter pellets together with any burnable garbage we have, but first the area was too wet, and not it’s just too hot to stand outside, tending a fire! So we’re still dumping the litter behind the outhouse, as it normally reserved for the winter. It’ll break down, but won’t be anything we’ll use as compost in the garden. The damp, creeping Charlie infested grass clippings should help it break down faster.
But that will be for tomorrow!
By the time I finished the section of yard, it was already 25C/77F. I wanted to go into town today, so I called it for mowing, and will continue tomorrow, when it’s supposed to be a bit cooler.
My trip into town ended up being an unexpected stock up trip, though! I’ll do another post about that, later.
Among my stops in town was a lumber and hardware store I tend to forget exists. It’s near the edge of town, and I don’t usually go that way. I had completely forgotten there is a huge festival in town, starting tonight, though I think some events have been already on for awhile. It’s a long weekend with Terry Fox Day on Monday, though this festival has been around far longer than that. I used to enjoy going to it when I was a kid, and it was still rather small. Now, it’s gotten much bigger. Enough people come out for it that this one traffic light town sets up temporary traffic lights at the intersection next to the hardware store I went to. It wasn’t until I was on my way home that I found they’d set up another set of temporary lights at the other end of town. That’s a first.
I no longer try to go to this festival. I just don’t have the patience for the crowds.
Anyhow; I ended up getting some replacement hose connectors, as I’ve got a couple that I’ve replaced that are leaking, then ended up getting some 4′ lengths of wood lath. I had to ask about it, as I didn’t remember the name of them. It’s basically just some cheap lumber that might be handy with some of our smaller building projects.
From there, I went to the dollar store and found a number of odds and ends we needed, then headed to the grocery store. I had only three items on my list, but found there were some really good sales and ended up getting stuff I’d intended to pick up later in the month, plus some treats.
So I guess it was a sort of productive day, even if I didn’t get as much of the mowing done as I’d hoped. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish it off, tomorrow, except…
I came home to a message from my mother. She just said “this is your mama” and that’s pretty much it. I called her back, but got her answering machine. My guess is, she’s going to want me to go over tomorrow and help her with grocery shopping.
We shall see, once I finally connect with her!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 