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torquillFor a day where I expected to be fuzzy-brained and lethargic, I've been pretty darned active. I also feel awesome. Let's hope my little brush with ether-based cleaners on Sunday blows over painlessly... I've always known that one of the best things for me to do after an exposure like that is to exercise as vigorously as I can in fresh air until the detox wave hits, and I've certainly been doing that.
What I did today:
- Hauled home this week's horse-manure bin
- Stole about 18 bags of leaves from a curb along the way
- Transferred the bags to the garden
- Bought oil and a filter for the car
- Changed the oil and rotated the tires
- Bought a bunch of irrigation supplies
- Ordered some tomato seeds online
- Unpacked my shiny new scythe and assembled it
- Cut the grass on about a third of the back lot, until I got the hang of it
- Nursed my blisters
- Spliced three branches into the front irrigation system, ready for bubblers
- Loosened the soil around the bubblers-to-be
- Bought proper gloves (these "Framing Gloves" rock the house down) and more PVC glue
That's in addition to completely finishing the initial clearing of the garden plot yesterday, which is record time for weeding out there. I'm letting some of the wild geranium go to seed, the mustard blossoms are a bee haven, and I always allow the miner's lettuce to drop seed before I yank that out; all the rest is clear. I also weeded the winter garden area, pruned the rampant citronella geranium, and potted up another eight rosemary starts while I was at it. (Anybody want a "Tuscan Blue" rosemary? I have lots of 1-gallons.)
Tomorrow I'm set to dump a bunch of horse manure in the front-strip bed and transplant the rhubarb crowns before they really, really break dormancy. I've missed bare-root season this year, but at least I can move those into their proper home at last. Then perhaps I can focus on shopping and cooking for my Thursday night dinner, which is sneaking up on me.
I like the new scythe... it's an American aluminum snath, rather than the Austrian wooden variety, and the blade is thicker and harder than European ones. I like the idea of a tool that gets the job done efficiently with a minimum of care, a typical American view I suspect. :) It needs adjustment, mainly on the positions of the handles, and there's no obvious way to do that; I wrote the manufacturer. If they say it can't be done, it's time to hack it. It's amazing what you can do with a machine shop...
Meanwhile, the balance is pretty dramatically off, but I can still mow with it. It's light aerobic exercise, reasonably efficient, and the result is getting neater as I practice. I should have gotten one of these years ago. I'll hone the blade tomorrow, then wait until the grass matures a little before finishing off the back lot... it cuts through toughened seed stalks best, and we're not to that point in the season yet in most spots. Unlike the mower, it laughs at wet grass, though it doesn't like lodging (where the grass is lying down flat) unless I take it against the grain. It's an interesting learning curve. I've also found a bunch of rocks, though they don't do anything more than make noise most of the time.
Amusement value: When I tell people what I just bought, the conversation goes something like this: "I bought a scythe." "Oh. A what?" "A scythe." "...What?" "A scythe" (pronouncing it quite distinctly). They nod in understanding: "Wait, a what?" "You know, the Grim Reaper?" I make hand gestures. "Oh! Okay."
I've run through that about three times now. I know I'm pronouncing it right; either it's not part of the average American vocabulary at all, or the sound simply isn't mapped to the actual word in their brains. Cognitive dissonance, perhaps -- no one has scythes in this day and age.
What I did today:
- Hauled home this week's horse-manure bin
- Stole about 18 bags of leaves from a curb along the way
- Transferred the bags to the garden
- Bought oil and a filter for the car
- Changed the oil and rotated the tires
- Bought a bunch of irrigation supplies
- Ordered some tomato seeds online
- Unpacked my shiny new scythe and assembled it
- Cut the grass on about a third of the back lot, until I got the hang of it
- Nursed my blisters
- Spliced three branches into the front irrigation system, ready for bubblers
- Loosened the soil around the bubblers-to-be
- Bought proper gloves (these "Framing Gloves" rock the house down) and more PVC glue
That's in addition to completely finishing the initial clearing of the garden plot yesterday, which is record time for weeding out there. I'm letting some of the wild geranium go to seed, the mustard blossoms are a bee haven, and I always allow the miner's lettuce to drop seed before I yank that out; all the rest is clear. I also weeded the winter garden area, pruned the rampant citronella geranium, and potted up another eight rosemary starts while I was at it. (Anybody want a "Tuscan Blue" rosemary? I have lots of 1-gallons.)
Tomorrow I'm set to dump a bunch of horse manure in the front-strip bed and transplant the rhubarb crowns before they really, really break dormancy. I've missed bare-root season this year, but at least I can move those into their proper home at last. Then perhaps I can focus on shopping and cooking for my Thursday night dinner, which is sneaking up on me.
I like the new scythe... it's an American aluminum snath, rather than the Austrian wooden variety, and the blade is thicker and harder than European ones. I like the idea of a tool that gets the job done efficiently with a minimum of care, a typical American view I suspect. :) It needs adjustment, mainly on the positions of the handles, and there's no obvious way to do that; I wrote the manufacturer. If they say it can't be done, it's time to hack it. It's amazing what you can do with a machine shop...
Meanwhile, the balance is pretty dramatically off, but I can still mow with it. It's light aerobic exercise, reasonably efficient, and the result is getting neater as I practice. I should have gotten one of these years ago. I'll hone the blade tomorrow, then wait until the grass matures a little before finishing off the back lot... it cuts through toughened seed stalks best, and we're not to that point in the season yet in most spots. Unlike the mower, it laughs at wet grass, though it doesn't like lodging (where the grass is lying down flat) unless I take it against the grain. It's an interesting learning curve. I've also found a bunch of rocks, though they don't do anything more than make noise most of the time.
Amusement value: When I tell people what I just bought, the conversation goes something like this: "I bought a scythe." "Oh. A what?" "A scythe." "...What?" "A scythe" (pronouncing it quite distinctly). They nod in understanding: "Wait, a what?" "You know, the Grim Reaper?" I make hand gestures. "Oh! Okay."
I've run through that about three times now. I know I'm pronouncing it right; either it's not part of the average American vocabulary at all, or the sound simply isn't mapped to the actual word in their brains. Cognitive dissonance, perhaps -- no one has scythes in this day and age.
