On Wednesday morning, I was up just before 6AM, got the cat fed and my post up. Then I started on the bills/budget while I waited for the grass to dry. I had finished the amendment project, so I put all that away along with the finished bills/budget mess. I was finally able to close up the old desk after months of projects piled on it.
Next I got started transcribing the inventories I’d done weeks/months ago.
At 10AM I headed out to start the dreaded mowing. I had to pick up all the “cordwood” that had fallen over the winter and since we’d raked the backyard. I had to move the lawn chairs to the driveway and make sure everything else was out of the grass.
The Poet’s Eye is the only one in this garden. There’s lots of foliage, but only 1 flower this year. Some years there are none. I seldom get to this garden in a timely way so they don’t get fed.
I was surprised to find all 6 santolinas alive. They are definitely not for this zone and we had a tough winter.
Back prepping, I realized we’d never raked in front of the woodshed, because the wood that never arrived was coming. So I had to do that.
When I got to the barn, the rider didn’t want to move. It started doing that last autumn when it was cold. The mower guy says he thinks the oil leak he fixed dripped onto the belts. It does eventually move, just takes a while to warm up enough to do so.
I had to put the bags on the bagger, as the mower guy takes them off to transport the mowers. So I headed to the house, put gas in the mowers and went to start mowing with the push mower. I’d forgotten to put its bag back on. Sigh… So back to the barn on the rider to get it.
Baby fruit!
They both worked excellently after that and I was able to mow the tall wet heavy grass with little problem. I did have to clean out the chute to the bagger a few times, but it wasn’t bad.
I finished at 2PM after doing at the barn also. I sat down for a few minutes and realized I’d have to get a shower right away as the contractor was coming just after 3PM to fix the washer.
He arrived about 3:15PM and went in and spent 45 minutes trying to make the washer leak. No dice. Sigh… He’d gotten new water hoses for it so he put them on.
The next job was to tighten up the railings on the back steps. The design is poor and the metal tubes collapse when the set screws are tightened. So he cut wood blocks and hammered them into the ends.
The set screws and lag bolts were pretty rusted and took a bit to get out. Three of the lag bolts broke and one of the set screw holes stripped out. The reason was the rust puddle you can see on the right side.
He drilled 2 holes through the wood in hopes the water will drain off. Then he got them all together again. He’s going to bring stainless screws to replace the ones he put back.
So both railings are sturdy again. I use them at least daily and often more. It’s nice to have them to get up the stairs.
Once he left, I made supper and went to bed.
On Thursday I plan to sit and transcribe inventory until my helper friend arrives at noon. I’d much rather be planting the flowers I got, but I have 5 hours of garden work in the afternoon, and can’t do both.
The rain returns during the afternoon and continues well into Saturday, so no more garden work until Monday. Sunday is to be nice, but my brothers and I are doing Mother’s Day stuff and making a meal.