Tuesday, July 7, 2009

A Busy Day

The first day back from a trip is always taken up by playing catch-up, especially in the growing season.

My grass didn't really need cutting when I left, but by the time I got back it did. I also had some sink holes in the rear dog pen that badly needed filling. So I spent my day driving the Rhino out onto the prairie to an old dump area about a mile away that has good, clean "beach" sand and brought back two big loads to dump into the holes. (The dump-bed on the Rhino is a great help!)

Then the grass, of which I have about one and a half acres to mow. Then the dog pen areas, front and back, and weed-whacking the borders, and... Well, it seemed to go on and on and I still didn't get to weed the garden. Tomorrow for that I guess. But the place looks great and now, except for the garden, it's time for another rest. Oh, what a tension filled life I lead.

All this rain we have been having (more than our annual average rainfall in less than a month) has the prairie waist high and lush. Wildflowers are abloom everywhere and you could hide an elephant in the wild dock thickets. The deer have been lying low, fawning. But I did see a mom and a young'un today while hauling sand. A less pleasant result of all the moisture has been the 'skeeters. We are fortunate in that we usually have enough breeze to keep them off you. But if you are in the shade when the wind dies down to nothing you are gonna get et, for sure.

But this is such a glorious time of year, 'skeeters and all.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the things that concerns me is the immense amount of time and effort it takes to keep up a country place. What happens when you can't do it anymore? My dad had a place similar to mine, but eventually he just couldn't keep it in good shape and he moved to one of those retirement communities where everybody lives in a little block house and plays shuffleboard. I think that would kill me.

Mark B. said...

I know it'd kill me.

'Berg

Rio Arriba said...

I think I'll just wander out on the prairie, like an old Injun, and invite the coyotes to a picnic.