Tuesday brought the first mowing for 2019

May 22, 2019 - Wednesday

46 degrees/cloudy/very windy

Pentoga Road

The first mowing of the year is always a sweet/bitter event. The sweet signals spring is here and the world has been born anew. The bitter means we'll be mowing almost weekly until next October. 

Sargie was on the mower all Monday afternoon. The mowing diva was seen wearing shorts, an old flannel shirt, and a pink ball cap with the words MAINE printed across. To top off this year's trend setting fashions, the queen of the lawn sported a set of bright red sound deadeners.

Just because the girl's a mowing diva doesn't mean she's can't multi task. Sargie began planting geraniums in the pots late Tuesday afternoon. Assuming all her flowers thrive, color will be in no short supply this summer.

Still too wet to work on the pond, I did a lot of odd jobs that have been put off. The first task was to sand and paint the broken railing on the east side of the deck.

The snow and ice certainly took their toll this winter and the handrail has been dangling for two months.

I purchased regular exterior deck handrail brackets and hopefully, these will work better than the interior set previously used.



Next came working on the trim and finishing the lattice around the underside of the living room. 

The air nailer works well for attaching almost anything, but my poor, old, body didn't feel like hauling it from the shop to the back of the house. 



Mama didn't have no dummy. I spotted the dump wagon and pulled the nailer, tank and all, to where it was needed. Oh, the battery? It's part of the bank that is used with the solar panels. Why not pull, rather than carry, it too?

I reattached the chicken wire to the bottom of the deck to keep the skunks at bay and by afternoon's end, called the back of the house finished.



My good friend, Eileen, a former band parent and educator, sent me a couple of pictures from her fiftieth year college graduation reunion. I taught with Eileen and her husband, Bert, in northern Maine for many years.



I can't see that Eileen's changed at all and I now know why Uncle Bert smiles so much.

Sargie's working this afternoon and evening. I'm going for my usual walk then plan to be in the shop for the rest of the day. I've got bails to lift, barges to tote, and projects to finish.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sargie has the yard looking like a golf course.