A new mower

Our old mower had a loose belt. It turned out to be a tragic flaw which could not be fixed. Terry traded it in on a larger one. The new one has three blades instead of two and not only mows a wider path, but also cuts more uniformly. It is more comfortable to ride as well.

Before I used it for the first time, I read the instructions, beginning with mower safety. Here is the most horrifying safety icon I have ever seen: Do not mow over the baby in forward OR reverse.

Safety icon from the owner's manual. Note apparent severed leg in first illustration.

If you look closely, it seems that the baby’s severed leg is flying above the mower blade, especially in the first picture.

Here’s an icon that also appeared on my new weed trimmer. The weed trimmer did not have any explanation, so I assumed it meant “Deflect arrows with all parts of your body.”

Another safety icon 

The mower manual, however, said that it represented “Beware of flying objects.”

I was able to do some mowing in between torrential rain showers. I walked down to the creek Thursday morning. There had indeed been a flood in the night. The fence around one of Terry’s nursery beds was pushed in and lined with debris.

The fence pushed over by flooding at one of the nursery beds

My may apples had muddy leaves.

Poor, bedraggled may apples after the flood

The whole area by the fire circle was covered in silt.

Silt on the ground

The creek was high and muddy. The grass lay down on the banks.

The creek at the top of its banks with evidence that it had flattened the grass recently

We finally rescheduled Thanksgiving Observed. Normally, we have it in February because February is such a depressing month, and a turkey dinner perks everyone up. This year we had to postpone because my dad had just gotten out of the hospital and wasn’t up for company. We thought we had time….

Anyway, Pat, Nancy, and Jane were available Sunday, and I was eager to get the turkey out of the freezer. Another friend, Laura, came for a little while with her son, Noah. Years ago, Noah and his sister had helped Terry scatter grass seed by the creek. We took a walk back there so he could see the result. He’s a grown man now, halfway through college. My goodness.

On the way, I took pictures of phlox, Jacob’s ladder, and the white shooting stars by the fifth oak.

Native Phlox

Jacob's laddter

White shooting stars

The geraniums and the wild ginger are duking it out by the side of the garage. It will be interesting to see who wins.

Wild geraniums in bloom around the wild ginger

When Jane got to the house, she noticed a tiny Johnny jump-up in the lawn. I tried for years to get them going by the side of the house. I was pleased that this little guy lives on. Jane suggested transplanting it to a place where it wouldn’t get mowed over, but I wasn’t sure it would survive. If it’s done okay in that location so far, I’m not going to risk it.

A lone Johnny jump-up in the lawn. So cute!

Laura and Noah had to leave before dinner for another party. The rest of us sat down to the full turkey dinner. It was a fun day.

Roast turkey!