Favorite Sweatshirt, Nutcrackers, Girls and Mowing

 I was all dressed in 

my thick Oz sweatshirt

and jacket, with ear coverings

and gloves for B's ballgame the 

other night. Oh yes, I blanket to 

throw on when I sat down.

That sun behind me was doing

NOTHING to warm 

me up!

lol

It was a cold day all around

on Tuesday, not just the 

evening but the next day,

in the mid 70's. Old Man

Winter is still coming out

to play. Dogwoods are in bloom

so, I figured that is the winter

we were having.

If you are not aware of 

those five winters, I pulled

a list from the internet~

Redbud ~done

Dogwood ~ done

Locust

Blackberry 

Britches ~ have no clue where this

one jumped in at, don't fit in 

with the other three being 

plants.

I saw these on FB.

I would put these on my front 

porch for sure!

Check out the girly girls.

I striped the bed of the sheets

on Wed. morning, tossing

the bedspread back on the bed, 

and that is where Lily decided 

to take the first nap of the day.

At the same time, 

Misty was lounging on the 

dresser in a sun puddle. 

I have a Craftsman riding mower that

I brought from my brother.

Over the winter months it

stays parked and covered under

the deck, away from the weather.

After days and days of rain my yard

needed a good first time cut, but 

that became an issue.

Stop laughing cause this 

is basically a normal for me.

I went and got my gas, poured

it in the mower, and

I went to start the mower, it 

would not turn over. I checked 

to be sure the blade was not

engaged, tried again, nothing.

This went on for about ten

mins. I wiggled the battery

cables and tried again, 

nothing. Then it hit me, 

I thought I went through this

last yr. So, I looked at the 

off to run slide button and 

the turtle to rabbit slide

button. One was on full force,

and the other on rabbit. 

I knew that was not right.,

I moved them to where they

should have been and 

WOW, amazing how having

the settings right changes things. 

Pulled mower out and started driving it 

around front, that is when

I noticed to front flat tires.

CRAP, 

I was 1/2 way to the car, 

so, I went ahead and took 

the mower up to the car. 

Once there, I pulled out my

tire plumping thingy, and the 

first tire went up just fine.

When I got to the second one, 

I had a struggle. The tire 

was partly off the rim. I thought there

was a tube in there so I thought

if I put air in, it was straighten

out. NOPE....

there is no tube.

What now?

I put two stepping stones under

the front, wedged a piece of 

lumber under there and on top

of the stones and jacked up the 

front of the mower. I then had the 

tire off the ground so I wiggled it

back into place and once I had

it there, tire blew right up.

Off to cutting then, having to adjust the

blade due to more and more rocks from

the yard washing issue. Got a dried 

vine I cut out of the Dogwood

wrapped around the blade, that had

to be pulled out. 

Finally going to town, oops,

had to dodge the ant hill.

Proceeded to cut, another dodge,

which was a total of three.

Got off the mower, AGAIN,

to grab my bag of Terro

granules so when riding and cutting,

I would have it.

Braced that bag between my

feet so I could cut.

OOPS, did not see it 

when it slipped off and I 

ran over it.

All said and done, yard is 

cut, ant hills treated and I 

survived. Not only did I survive, 

I was able to rig up a 

jack and fix my tires!

A couple of the hills I treated

are up against the house so 

weed eating had to be 

put off. I prob need to get 

out there today and see if 

the ants have vacated the hills.

These suckers build in a no time.

Not there one evening and that

next day, there they are.

The day is getting away from 

me, so I am getting off here to 

go out and play with the weed eater,

and see how many issues I 

have with that!

Do you do your own yard work?

Hubs? Hire?

What part do you enjoy the best

about yard work and don't

say, "watching someone else do it"....

Pam