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For in the northeast summer has pretty much run its course. Oh, we'll have a few more hot days before the cold north winds begin to blow, but summer has left the building. The calendar says one thing, the weather says another. Fall has a peculiar, muted light to it, and that's here.
Something else which approaches is the end of the season for mowing the lawn. It's not a task I enjoy, far from it, but it is, so to speak, a "necessary evil." I'm a big believer in quiet fields with native grasses and flowers, then again, so is the ubiquitous tick. Little bastards love that long grass.
So I put my shoulder to the grindstone and cut the damned lawn. Which has taken a bit of a beating this summer. It's crunchy in spots, and brown, while in the shade the stuff grows long and lush.
Our lawn care company, I hired one to please The Missus Herself and so that I would not have to spread chemicals myself, comes out periodically. After their last treatment they left a note saying what they did, they also suggested I water the grass occasionally. My gut reaction was, "Why do that? The crap will grow if I water it. Besides which, that's nature's job. If nature wants me to have a green lawn, then nature better pony up the water to do so."
I mean, water costs money, right? (And why oh why does the government have a monopoly on that resource? Yet another reason to despise all forms of government.)
On that note, I mowed the backyard on Thursday, the North Lawn as I call it. It needed it more than the front (the South Lawn) which I knocked back a bit last week with the weed whacker. One of The Missus Herself's last commands to me on the way to the airport was, "The lawn needs to be mowed."
She wins a prize for stating the obvious, I win the prize for ignoring the obvious.
But to keep her happy, I'll mow the grass. Even though she can't see it, she knows damn it. Somehow she knows.
Life goes on!
In Scotland your land around your house is referred to as your "policies". So we can say "It's a bright morning, let's sally forth and inspect our policies." And then chortle.
ReplyDeleteHeh, I like that.
DeleteIn Law Enforcement, it is your "Curtalige ".
DeleteMakes sense, I suppose. LEOs drive "vehicles" and go to "locations," so why am I not surprised that they have their own jargon for this.
DeleteOne of the joys of being a homeowner with a yard-full of grass, somebody has to cut it. That falls to me, gets me out of the house, fresh air, exercise and sweating, no big deal Sarge, each to their own.
ReplyDeleteFor me, based on old memories, 'tis a burden.
DeleteAh! Lawn care in the Once Golden State: "Be it known that you may only water your lawn for half an hour, once a week. Violators will be fined $500 per incident for exceeding these regulations." Two weeks later, notice in the mail, "You are in violation of city codes on lawns and landscaping. You will be fined $100 per day if you do not water your lawn more."
ReplyDeleteHeavy propaganda campaign to "encourage" homeowners to rip out their lawns and replace with drought tolerant native vegetation. You comply at great expense and effort. A month later a notice in the mail, "You are in violation of city landscaping code. You will be fined $250/day until you are in compliance." Compliance being a lush green lawn such as is found on city and county property in spite of drought watering restrictions.
"Compliance being a lush green lawn such as is found on city and county property in spite of drought watering restrictions."
DeleteWhat matters if the king wastes half his cheese in parings; it is made of the people's milk - Benjamin Franklin
Joe - So California is pretty much just another overbearing HOA?
DeleteTB - Aye!
DeletePretty much, Sarge, pretty much. Although most HOAs could take lessons from our Legislature.
DeleteNo doubt.
DeleteSarge, I love gardening. I am an indifferent landscape care person at best.
ReplyDelete"Fall has a peculiar, muted light to it". I have always called it a slant of the light, but muted captures it perfectly as well.
It does feel like a slant though, a different angle most pleasing to the eye.
DeleteSmartest thing I did vis a vis lawn mowing was to buy a riding lawn mower. Mrs J loves to drive it and ny responsibility for mowing went down about 95%.
ReplyDeletejuvat
Wouldn't work for us. Even the pros who used to do our lawn would do the walking mower in the backyard. Too many obstacles. We did look at doing that, but came to our senses before spending that kind of money.
DeleteBased on Boron’s comment below, I looked into robotic mowers. Looked good until I saw the cutting size of the charge. The cheapest one cut about a tenth of an acre for $500. The largest cut about an acre for $2800. So… not in my budget. Just have to keep the Missus in my good graces and suck it up with the push mower.
Deletejuvat
Yeah, not economical at this point in time.
Deleteour condo purchased a "robotic" lawn mower. it's about 3-4" high and ~12-15" in diameter. It looks very much like one of those robotic vacuum cleaners and acts in a similar manner. it diesn't move quickly, but it sure gets the job done.
ReplyDeleteThose look interesting, might be something to consider if I ever get decrepit enough to not cut it myself.
DeleteBut Sarge, you're not paying the govt much for your water. You're just paying them a lot for the "delivery" of that water. Does that make you feel better? Yeah, I didn't think so. Here in CA we have reduced our water use across the state, we've shifted to solar, wind, and other cheaper forms of energy, but somehow our bills have gone up! Oh no, our poor power companies aren't making enough money- jack up the delivery charges and add on BS fees.
ReplyDeleteYup, it's a semi-sort of protection racket in my book. All governments are evil, really. But humankind would destroy itself without them.
DeleteYep. "You must reduce your water usage due to drought!" "Congratulations! We've met our water saving goals!" "Due to reductions in water usage we no longer have the revenue to support operations. Therefore we are raising the rates by 50%"
DeleteCriminals, all of 'em.
DeleteI too have been user of a lawn service to wage chemical warfare on ugliness, and likewise recipient of "water more" admonitions. I though I was watering plenty with our sprinkler system but had certain areas getting brown and ugly, and spreading more. I demanded the lawn folks send out an English speaker and one of their old geezer types came out and after politely listening to my rant about what a crappy job they were doing, proceeded to pocket knife dig into the bad areas, which were dry and dusty. Apparently my sprinkler coverage is not perfect and running them 20+ minutes daily worked great for 80% of the oasis, but failed to sate the thirst of the rest. So, I have been dutifully escaping the harangues of the boss by hand watering said drier areas religiously every night. Amazingly, the bad areas are turning green again. I guess it depends on how much you want to pay for water when Mother Nature frowns on you.
ReplyDeleteJB
I know it's dry in spots, but the bottom line is that I don't really care enough to waste water on those spots. I'll water the vegetable garden, that green stuff? Nah, thanks.
DeleteI mowed my lawn today. Over here in the south of England we're moving out of a proper drought, some places are reporting less than 2 inches of rain since April. My lawn was very brown and cracked but as one of our TV gardeners said 'can't kill grass'. A bit of rain and a couple of days later it's all green. As to water companies? Ours were privatised back in the 80's and the stunts they've pulled would make an avowed free marketer pull on a hat with a red star and sing the red flag. One trick they pulled was to borrow vast amounts of money to pay director bonuses and dividends to shareholders without spending anything on maintenance.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime infrastructure collapses and sewage is pumped into rivers and towns suffer water shortages. It is is an operating model for the company involved, don't get me wrong I've got investments in various companies and believe in the free market but sometimes people go too far
Retired
Try as I might, I haven't killed my grass.
DeleteEven though she can't see it, she knows damn it. Somehow she knows
ReplyDeleteDo you have "doorbell" or security cameras. Neighbors so equipped?
Nope. But she knows.
DeleteI generally mow mine sometime before it's long enough to bale. Good enough.
ReplyDelete--Tennessee Budd
Sounds familiar.
DeleteAfter having such a soaking wet spring that I was convinced I should have planted rice, or tried to raise guppies in the standing water that was my lawn, both front and back yards, there is NO WAY am I going to water the lawn. I have been encouraging the grandkiddo to play in his water garden thingy in the back yard, he sprays water all around for an hour or so once a week or so. And I have been dumping the bird bath water on top of the rose bush over the past couple of weeks...but the lawn is getting a bit crunchy in spots. In the past month we have had less that a half inch of rain according to my rain gauge.
ReplyDeleteI gave up mowing it myself about 3 years ago. It was 7 miles of walking and took 4 hours to mow using my walk behind mower. So I have a lawn crew. They come in once a week, bright and early, usually about 7:30 or so, do my lawn, the next-door neighbor's lawn and the folks 3 doors down. They mow, trim, and blow all the grass off the driveway and are gone in about forty minutes. They have been good enough to knock down the far back close to the property line after the swamp dried out in July finally. After I had trimmed out a path to my garden as the ticks can be fierce if not kept sternly under control.
Some days, like when it is 100 degrees with humidity the consistency of soup, or when it is snowing like crazy with a north wind blowing like mad, I am perfectly happy to pay out some money to support the local economy, and provide jobs for the next generation. I spent plenty of time working on a hay wagon as a teenager, and then running my own snowblower up until a couple of years ago.
I am happy to farm out some jobs, and am willing to squeeze the budget to be able to afford to do so.
Suz
Everything in this town is "organized," everybody is a damned "landscaper" and expects to paid commensurate with that title. Kids don't want to do odd jobs anymore.
DeleteIt is a very cool September here in WI. High of 62 here today.
ReplyDeleteWe've been in the 60s at night, 70s by day. Most pleasant.
DeleteWe had a daytime high that dipped down into the 70s; it was 79 that day, I think. Fall approaches in Tennessee.
Delete--Tennessee Budd
And we got into the 80s today!
DeleteWeather, never a dull moment in these parts.