Sunday, August 15, 2021

Plans

The best laid plans o' mice and men/ gang aft a-gley. ~Robert Burns.
From the poem: To a Mouse

These words came to me Friday for so many reasons. I decided to look up the 'quote' and read the poem. The words were used by John Steinbeck, but he took them from the poem written in 1785. 

We humans look forward and back while the mouse only lives in the present. 

My plans took a turn and I was really not happy about it. But then I decided to not walk around the house and be a Grumpy Grouch. I made use of my time by getting appointments [for myself and the 'Ru] done and so much more.

Things worked out just fine and our day was enjoyable. I even got to go out for a bit to hunt slime molds and strange fungi.

I know my time was limited because the forecast is for dry weather coming up. Find the slime mold before it dries up!

Red Raspberry Slime Mold!
Kisses with a Slug



Rich mowed Friday like the dickens and I did the hillside slowly. I think it would have been worse if I let Rich do it and tip the mower. As it was, when he started it up on Saturday he had a melt down. There was a puddle of 'something' under where he parked it.

After an investigation I showed him that he'd obviously run over something he shouldn't have with the mower and busted up the filter for the hyrostatic...something or another. He got upset and angry and blamed it on the shop. I walked around the yard and found the protective cover to the filter and showed him wear he had backed up into some angle iron and pipe in his 'junk' pile and sheared off the cover....and dented the filter putting a hole in it.

I asked him why he mowed so close and his reply was that he didn't know it was there. I went around to the other side and spray painted other pipes white and blue.

Is his 'driving' and memory worse? Um, maybe. But for me to take away his mowing privileges certainly would be a slap in the face. He just plain forgot he had stuff there. And he really likes to mow.

I was proud of me for not playing the blame game and yelling at him. Instead, I'll make another trip to the shop and see how we can get the machine fixed again.

I filled Ol' Smokey up with gas [my Crappy Lawn old semi self propelled mower], checked the oil and fired her up. I tackled a section that Rich had been telling me he would do. It was knee deep and quite the adventure! 

I ran Ol' Smokey out of gas and stuck her away for the next crappy project. I have one more tough and rough section to do but decided to go with plan B. Pony Mowing.

I use Sven first who eats the icky weeds and then Lil' Richard comes through and eats the grasses. If I give him 24 hours there he will crop it all close to the ground. This is a spot that has to be hand mowed because it has not yet been graded out. I've got to get the trees cut down first and then hire someone to come in and grade it.

I dropped my plans for KVR but ...

YES!

Charlie and I went this Sunday morning. We found some radically cool fungi and slime mold both at KVR and in our woods. 






6 comments:

  1. Cool Color on the slime mold! I love finding the yellow jelly stuff ( don't know the name, but it sure is pretty when we find it.) looks like that slug was going to have a good treat.
    Sure glad I no longer have to mow anything. I can't remember the last time I fired up a lawn mower. ( possibly when I worked for the DNR in Michigan.) Have not had a yard to mow since we got married ( 25 years ago!) but the neighbors mow enough for three families here in Iowa. ( Three times a week... at least!)

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    1. Eventually I may not have a yard to mow or I will make things much simpler by ridding the yard of many hazards. But to have a garden, I sort of need a yard.
      I found a lot of the brown jelly fungi and yellow fungi in the woods last week too and some fairy cup fungi that is bright yellow. Still working on the things I found trying to ID them!

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  2. That color, seems too pretty to be mold. Looks like a jelly type gum drop. I wonder what makes it such a vibrant color? Interesting that you found mold on Sunday. Kinda makes sense tho, takes time for mold to grow. Thursday, I saw tons of fungi. By Friday (my last hike) very few remained. I didn't spot any mold. As for the lawn mowing, I also would find ways to make it safer vs forbidding. Rich reminds me so much of our trainers hubby. Glad you got out and about with Charles in Charge <3

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    1. The log was still quite wet. I think the red mold was a Saturday discovery. I went out twice a day to search in damp areas. I have a huge pile of cool stuff I found. Still sorting through it and trying to ID it. Some are hopeless!

      Charlie and I had a great time. Thanks 👍!

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  3. That is a way cool slime mold! We are too dry here for anything! Goat and Pony mowing is a good thing! Hope you get the mower fixed, it should be a quick fix. Good to hear that Rich likes to mow....that gets him outside doing something! How is the eye...can you still see the brown stuff?

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    1. Yes a little bit. But aside from the one time of mowing weeds by the push mower, I have been behaving.

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