Mowing in the rain

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Kirk M

I checked the weather online last night just to make sure I could mow the lawn today without getting rained on. Partly sunny with 10% chance of precipitation it said and 67 degrees for a high. Sounds good to me I said. So comes the day, dawning bright, cold and cloudy which is normal for this time of year but the bright part of it told me it would probably clear off later on.

Now we live in a very small, very wet valley which means that it takes a bit for the grass to dry off from the previous evening’s dew fall, a dew that tends fall with a solid thump, so I usually wait until after lunch to mow the lawn as things tend to be dried off by then. I also figured the partly sunny (10% chance of rain) and 67 degrees should be around the neighborhood by then as well.

So, with a lovely bowl of clam chowder secured snugly behind the belt, I ventured out the door into the partly sunny (10% chance of rain) and 67 degrees afternoon only to quickly realize that it wasn’t partly sunny (10% chance of rain) and 67 degrees after all. It was even grayer and darker than it was this morning and it was also not 67 degrees. Not even close.

Well, seeing as I’m going to be away to the Boston VA tomorrow I decided that partly sunny (10% chance of rain) and 67 degrees had to be right around the corner getting a cup of coffee and finishing up a sandwich and would be showing up any time now. So I pulled the pusher mower out of the shed for the trimming part of the operation and no sooner had I gassed the thing up and started on the first trimming pass around the old apple tree and past the clothes line, it started to splatter. And a cold splatter it was too.

By this time though, I was committed and the rain be damned. I mean, partly sunny (10% chance of rain) and 67 degrees couldn’t be that far off now could it? This was just a bit of a tease, I was sure of it.

I had emptied the last bag of clippings of the trimming portion of the mowing ordeal and it was a wet bunch of clippings indeed. It was fairly obvious by now that partly sunny (10% chance of rain) and 67 degrees had found a cute little cumulus cloud to talk to and had gotten sidetracked by her, umm, well stacked features. So with the trimming complete it was now time to haul out my beloved old ’68 Cub Cadet lawn tractor to tackle the main body of the lawn.

By this time the splatter had turned into light rain which wasn’t any warmer than the splatter had been and besides that, the wind had picked up. I’ll admit I nearly faltered at this point but the obvious difference between the trimmed areas and the rest of the lawn was so apparent that I shoved my ball cap forwards and turned the old lawn tractor over. It started right up of course and I did consider using an umbrella at first but I quickly discarded that idea as I needed my left hand to shift.

It never let really let loose with a full blown rain as I had feared although it threatened several times to do just that. It just kept on with the annoying splattery/light rain that thoroughly soaked the grass which pretty much guarantees I’ll have to scrap the underside of the mowing deck before I put the tractor up for the winter.

And, of course, as soon as I put the tractor back in the shed, lawn mowing chores done for another week or so, the partly sunny (10% chance of rain) and 67 degrees arrived with a satisfied look on it’s face and a cute little cumulus cloud scudding along beside it.

Something about the luck of the Irish comes to mind except for the wee fact that I’m not Irish.

So what about Flight 93?

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Kirk M

Pieces of what was left of Flight 93 Unlike the last anniversary, I didn’t write anything about 9/11 this year. Why you may ask? Actually the reason is rather simple–I was busy being very sick at the time. However, while I was busy being very sick I was thinking about what I might write after I was through being sick when a little voice inside my head started asking, “So what about Flight 93, then?”. And after listening to this little voice repeating itself over and over again, my sick brain perked up and asked yeah, what about Flight 93?

Then, just to add fuel to this mental smoldering going on in my head, my lovely wife brought up the exact same question during supper the next evening. What about Flight 93? Does anyone even remember what happened on that flight?

So comes the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States of America and what do you see and hear about? On the TV, in the newspapers, on the WWW, in the magazines? The attack on the Twin Towers of the Word Trade Center (American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175) and the resulting devastation, that’s what. And rightly so as this was the most tragic and devastating of the total of 4 attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. That plus the complete destruction of such important icons and landmarks along with the tremendous loss of life completely shocked the entire country, not to mention the rest of the world as well.

But what about the others? Compared to the attack on the WTC, you barely hear about United Airlines Flight 77 that slammed into into the Pentagon shortly after the second plane hit the South Tower of the WTC. And that’s a loud shout when compared to the coverage of the crew and passengers who struggled to take control of United Airlines Flight 93 in order to keep the terrorists from driving the plane into our nations’ Capitol or the White House and ended up crashing it into a field in Stonycreek Township, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Are these brave souls just the forgotten heros of 9/11?

I understand that big events like the attacks on the World Trade Center draw a larger viewership but I can’t subscribe to the fact that only 2 out of the 4 different attacks that occurred that sad day should receive the majority of attention.

Perhaps I’m wrong about feeling this way, but I doubt it. And perhaps those 2 latter events of 9/11 received equal coverage, but I didn’t see it anywhere. All I can say about this is when the anniversary of 9/11 comes around again, I’m going to do my best to recall all of what happened, not just what happened in New York City.

New Long Meadow Farms Quilts Video

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Kirk M

Yes, it’s finally happened. My lovely wife’s business, Long Meadow Farms Quilts, has a new video. Her first one no less. And speaking as the totally objective professional that I am (cough-cough), I must say it’s not a bad job at all. Personally, I think it’s great.

Take a look for yourself.

Taking a peek outside

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Kirk M

Just wanted to stick my head out the door just to say I’m still alive. Not that there was any real chance I wasn’t going to be, only that there were times over the last week that I almost wished I was.

It was a combination of two things that took me out. The first one being I ran out of the pain killers that I take once every evening to help me cope with chronic pain issues I deal with every day. And right before the Labor day weekend no less. Just a minimum dose mind you but it does help quite a bit. Actually it helps a lot.

The second thing was a stomach bug I caught at the same time and anyone who has ever caught a stomach bug knows that it often causes one to head to the bathroom to pray to the porcelain god now and then which, at the very least, provides some temporary relief. This is something I cannot do since I had that fundoplication surgery last year. In short…I can’t puke.

Oh, I head to the bathroom and go through all the praying motions to be sure but to put it succinctly, nothing comes up. Therefor, I have to wait until it…well…runs through me so to speak. An experience best left not to be described.

The pain killers arrived yesterday and the stomach bug seems to be easing a bit so hopefully I’ll be back on my feet in the next couple of days. I sincerely hope so–the lawn needs mowing.

Things ain’t looking so good

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Kirk M

Nope, things just ain’t looking so good these days for the old U S of A. In fact things are looking a might dark and dismal. I mean, just look at this mess.

The economy has stalled out and it’s looking like 1938 all over again, they say defeatism is running rampant, a large portion of a top news site is dedicated solely to blasting the President as well as providing a haven for Obama hate mongers as well as a professional FUD spreader who has become much too popular for our own good.

Looks like the political party that got us into this mess in the first place and then did their absolute best attempting to block anything that might have helped us out of it, may well get the keys back to the executive washroom.

Iran’s going to get the bomb here any day now and probably won’t wait to start throwing it around it’s neighbors back yards. Either that or the neighbors will try to squash the project in a rather blunt manner which will cause all sorts of fun and hell raising in and around the Middle East.

Then there’s that damn mosque going up near ground zero where the World Trade Center used to stand, with all those aforementioned hate mongers crying and bellyaching because the President of the United States won’t do anything about it. Of course the President of the United States can’t do anything about it but that’s besides the point.

And murder and rape and abuse…

*sigh*

I should never read the news when I’m tired.