indiana territory

WELL, THE SIDEWALK DRIED

I decided this morning if the side walk dried, I would start mowing the lawn; well, it did. The grass remained moist in a lot of places, but I figured this might be my best chance to cut the grass. In fact, with this rain, everything seems green and growing and having watched "The Day of the Triffids" when I was a girl, I wanted to do something to take control of the vigorous greenery. Even if I did not succeed in taking control, at least I would be making a statement against the encroachment - I would have taken a stand.

It is done, and the sun even briefly came out while I was mowing - just enough so I could see my shadow and that of Sydney, my dog who follows me as I walk back and forth behind the mower. It - the sun - is back under overcast and I have downed a half bottle of GatorAde. Will it rain? I don't know, but I suspect so.

I have a small lawn, which is good when it comes to time spent mowing - not to mention effort, but not so good for croquet. When we lived in West Chester, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, we had a lawn that was not good for croquet either - but not because of its size. It was a huge hill sloping down to a ravine and creek on one side and to the road in front. It used to take me many hours to mow it with a regular push (but powered) mower and I didn't at that time realize the benefits of keeping hydrated while mowing. A bottle of water and a self-propelled mower seemed like Heaven to me.

We had some neighbors who had a much smaller lawn and mowed it with a rider; I thought the guy was a wimp. Well, I did and if that seems harsh, so be it.

Cincinnati could get really, really humid and hazy and the traditional blue of the sky was only seen on the rare occasions that a wind came through or on winter days.

We did manage, however, to play croquet on a small flat area in back between the woods and the house. Actually, the area wasn't that flat - one of the wickets was located up a pretty steep slope and we referred to it as "Dead Man's Wicket." It was also right at the very edge of the woods and close to the ravine and if you hit your ball too hard, it would be in the undergrowth - and no telling whatelse was in there.

All and all, if we still lived in West Chester, I would still be mowing now . . . but we don't, so I am inside, sitting down, looking at the gray sky. Thinking about it that way comforts me a little when I bemoan the lack of cheery sunny days.

posted by Jody @ 12:13 PM