It’s a jungle out there.

Pulled in the driveway around 5:30 pm with mowing on my mind. It’s a beautiful day to be outside—upper 70s and sunny. I parked the truck, opened up the pole barn, and fired up the mower. I thought it might be smart to try to mulch instead of using the side discharge chute, so I made a very quick and basic mulch plug out of a small board and a bunch of duct tape. This bogged down the deck almost immediately, and the idea was quickly abandoned.

The grass is thigh-high in some places and looks a lot fuller and greener than it has in years. The last year’s worth of effort in collecting leaves early and often is really starting to pay off. Things have finally dried up after our very soggy spring, so I can finally mow the back yard toward the marsh entrance this trip.

Hello, new clearing!

While cutting around the driveway, I took a few passes back where the wood piles used to be. I was surprised by just how much new yard I was able to open up. This area is going to look amazing once the rest of the wood shed foundation is cleared out.

I had everything cut by 8:30 except for the south lawn where I hadn’t been able to collect leaves yet. I cut this part of the yard by moonlight and the anemic glow from the mower’s sad little headlight bulbs. I still want to clear all the mulched leaves from here, but at least now they’re much more finely shredded.

I put the mower away and unloaded the boys’ Power Wheels from the back of the truck. We’re all coming up for the weekend to catch the June Dairy Days parade and I wanted to make sure Jake and Josh had some vehicles waiting for them. Dusty, tired, and hungry, I closed up the pole barn and headed to the keep.

On the way, I got the pump running to top off the keep’s water supply. It’s supposed to be a scorcher this weekend and I don’t want to have to choose between AC and running the pump. While this was filling, I microwaved some cheddar sausages and watched Friends on Netflix. I also grabbed the 4TB hard drive so I could re-sync it with my home collection before we come back up on Friday.

Once the “water tower” was full again, I packed up the pump and closed up the keep. I was on the road by 10:30, leaving the place much tidier than I found it.