Spring Cleaning

We're so grateful for the rain we've had this spring. However, it's created a challenge at the cabin. Rain means healthy grass and weeds.

Even pretty weeds.

I regret that I sold my lawn tractor, gas weed eater, and even my little garden tractor, but when I moved back to Austin in 2011, I thought I would stay put in a condo. I'm really glad I didn't. I was overjoyed to find Tammy. She loves the country as much as I do! We have this great piece of property, but we have to maintain the part of that we've cleared. These days, we mow with our push mower. It's not so bad because truly, there's not that much to mow. Cows take care of most of it.

We only have to maintain our little yard and a few feet surrounding it.

Weed eating around those logs is not fun. One day, I'll pull a sneaky stunt and have someone come move those things out of the way. They need to be stacked neatly until we use them. The driveway has gotten grassy because we're just not out there enough to drive down the green.

So that requires a little push mowing, too. We don't see any point in getting the proper shredding equipment until we have the next acre cleared, and we can put a secure barn on it. So for now, we're those stupid city people who try to maintain land with a suburban tool set - although Tammy did break down and buy a stupidly expensive Stihl weed eater. 

It's a good brand. The thing should last forever. 

I need to get some brush blades for it, so that I can cut through the wild roses and other low brush that wants to fight its way back along the pond and fence line. Wild roses are pretty, but they are thorny evil winches who exist only to punish property owners.

Like their domestic counterparts, they have viscous thorns. Unlike their counterparts, nobody gives a crap about them until it's too late, and they've completely swallowed a fence, small trees, and maybe an entire pant leg. I want them gone. 

We'll just have to do hand battle until we get the next acre cleared. It's a dense, unkempt patch of nature, let me tell you. Our neighbor - who is Dutch and blunt - introduced herself by exclaiming in an incredulous tone, "You bought that place?! Well, I hope you didn't pay much for it."

She's happy with our first acre of effort, so maybe this next patch will soothe her sensible soul a little more.