I AM A HOMEOWNER....... Blah!

When I'm not so tired and harrassed, I have to admit that I would rather OWN my own home and do my own house and yard work than RENT ANYTHING from what usually ends up being the world's worst excuse for a slum landlord.

I know, I know, I spread myself too thin to keep housework and yardwork on a schedule, but I do get most things done, eventually, and when the yard is done, it looks spectacular! I ran away from all other responsibilities yesterday (no, I didn't leave my Mother sitting at the dentist office or anything like that), but I just ignored the phone, cut my relaxing cups of coffee short, put on my grubbies, and started out by trolling the property for loose sticks that would act as projectiles if hit by the lawn tractor. Then I pooper-scooped the yard -- broke a good pooper-scooper in the process -- I guess it was inevitable -- I think it was about 8 years old.... Then because the grass was so wet -- what is it with such heavy dew, lately???? Because the main grass was so wet, I got the push mower out and did the trimming FIRST. That worked okay, but I swear that push-mower has a gas tank capacity of a half-cup. Once I'd filled the thing about 3 times, an hour and a half had passed, and the grass was a little more dry.

I oiled and gassed the tractor, then I fired up the old thing -- was warned this past spring that I need to get rid of this puppy. The pin that holds the blades to the mower deck is starting to give and there is nothing that can be done to fix it. The tractor is over 30 years old, and despite this obvious wear and that it looks like it went through a war, it still has a pretty strong heart. I'll hate to see it go!!!

Okay, so I started mowing. Right or wrong, I have the same route every time I mow. When I got to the far side of the yard, I felt a fire-hot stinging on my ankle. Several people I know have been chased and stung by ground bees this season, and I figured I was the new kid on the block. I ducked my head, swerved sharply to the right, and kept going. My ankle was on fire, and for a few moments, I didn't think I could stand it much longer, but once I'd turned and was heading toward the house, the burning sensation eased a bit. I have a HUGE yard, and by the time I was back to the starting gate, the stinging had eased up enough, I figured, what the heck, and continued to mow. I DID avoid that spot of the lawn, however. There are two long spots in the lawn today, the spot where I encountered the bees, and one spot where I had overlooked some rather large tree limbs that had fallen.

Because of the rain lately, it's been about 2, 2-1/2 weeks since I'd last mowed. It was long, but not too bad. I took it slow, and didn't bog down the mower, even in the thickest areas. It still took me nearly two hours to mow the entire thing. I had a high energy thing going, so I did some weeding, extra trimming on some of the smaller trees and shrubs. I went past the front bushes a couple times, knowing full well that they needed trimming, as well. I sorely wanted to get the trimmer out, but I currently have two different garden spiders displaying beautifully intricate webs, over the front bushes. I would have to completely displace them both to trim them down. Am I crazy, or what? Would I redeem myself if I say I've been practicing my photo skills on them?

Well, seven hours later, I am once again proud of the outside of my house -- well most of it -- if I go crazy with a paintbrush, it would only help. I took some needed relaxation time last evening, and this morning I had a meeting. Played hooky some more, just because I could. Nope, didn't do much inside. Intended to this evening, but the Sunday paper had the promise of a beefed-up Help Wanted section. Whew!!!! When are the days going to get longer than 24 hours??????