Well, you live and learn...
Mowing the massive yards here has revealed something to me, I'm sure we often don't think enough about.
Let me set the scene before I explain...
The main front yard is half an acre, 2,000 M2 and is over twice as long as it is wide. In English that means, bloomin' big!
Now the paddock is groomed enough to resemble a lawn when freshly mowed, it is much easier to keep from being a jungle, as it was when first I arrived a few years ago.
BUT!
Nothing at all, is straight here, nothing lines up straight, as the original tracks were meandering horse and buggy trails...
As time went by, cottages sprung up along these tracks and soon a wider road was needed and so, they widened the roads inching closer to the homes dotting the widening tracks.
That created more problems when they put in the much wider tar roads with nature strips and concreted footpaths, a few years ago.
Everyone who had a tiny front yard, lost it. Over half, now have a half metre, like mine, some actually have the front end of the house becoming the "boundary fence".
Others who were set back from the road, ended up with nicely placed front yards.
Guess where I'm going with this?
Yup...where do you measure the first straight line mow from? 😅😅😃😄
Run it along the side front fence line? Back fence line? Where on earth to start?
You can tell I'm one of those people, who when wiping up the dishes at your place, rearranges the crockery and sorts all the knives and forks facing up the right way...
Well, I found just to do a first run and see how awful it looks and go from there.
That is basically how I started trying to get the mowing lines straight, even if it meant mowing over half of the first mow track again.
Then I noticed how hard it was to keep the next tracks straight.
Apart from the blessed mole holes and mounds of dirt they cause, creating too many bumps in the mowing track, it really annoyed me.
I wanted it to look nice and fairly straight, well mostly.
Then a few weeks ago I began focusing on a spot waaaay down at the end fence and lined up a place on the mower, a wheel, the petrol knob etc. to head towards it so I'd end up with that meeting the spot on the fence.
Easier said than done as over a fair distance like I have, you must look where you are going, right?
Then something struck me...I follow a group online and the saying is to "Trust the Plan"...we can't see or know what is happening behind the scenes, so we must trust...
So I thought, OK...what if I never looked at the ground as I was mowing and only looked at the spot on the fence?
I tell you what...it was/is the weirdest feeling ever., like driving a car blindfolded!
I lined up the R mower wheel with a spot on the bottom fence and went towards it, focusing only on the spot.
So I thought.
Somehow an inner sensor, took note of the wheel position and I headed off...knowing to trust the plan, but all the time, looking back to see if the line was straight. dohhhh!!!
It took a few weeks of trial, but eventually, am learning to trust the plan.
It is totally amazing that just by only looking ahead, on the spot on the fence, and pushing the really heavy mower...that the mowing lines were as straight as can be.(but only when I focused, mind you)
This made me wonder if we have an inner sensor, like radar or something, as I did not look at the ground, or look behind me, or look at the part of the mower I'd designated to line up, but only on that imaginary spot on the fence...
...and blow me down, each time the part of the mower I'd designated to line up with the imaginary spot on the fence...did!
How come???
This got me to wondering if we have more amazing abilities we are not using, not trained to use...or even perhaps, we are not to know about?
Of course, every mowing line is not always straight...as I hit the mole hole bumps and other things like dodging the growing trees in the fileld.
Somehow though, when I focus on that spot on the fence and head towards, looking neither left or right...or even down at the grass (in case something is there?) I feel a place in the front of my forehead that seems to be involved and it seems like an out of body experience or something going ahead of me.
Turmoil runs amok inside, as I surrender to the spot on the fence, after lining up a spot on the mower, that I never look at again.
With over 100 back and forths in the front paddock alone, there is plenty of practice available, but this inner censor/sensor possibility has set me really thinking.
So weird. A really spiritual experience.
Who'da thot, hey?
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| My 3 remaining babies playing nicely! |
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| Kissy time... |
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| Anyone for a cuddle? |
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| Freshly mowed...Looking good. |
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| A lovely hand embroidered linen bed sheet I received from Andy... |
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| Yee old home made ladder has seen its last day... |
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| Airing out the leaky wood shed. |
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| Kitty sleeping like a snow angel, until I moved for the camera |
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| The she vanished...Sprung, asleep on my bed! |
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| Golden rain tree at the bus stop... |
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| Baby storks are growing fast They fly out in about a month. |
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| A huge bee on the golden rain tree... |
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| See how long their body is? |
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| Hahaha...electric heated slippers! Heat it up and pop your feet into the velvety warm slippers |
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| Hahaha...boiled egg warmers... |
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| Well, I have sorted all my stuff gathered from the past 8 years of travel, into one final pile to clean up! |
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| A lovely antique blanket box to match the antique wardrobe.... |
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| Half an acre and the 3 of them squeeze into one 4 inch tiddly corner! |
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| See? I barely fit in here! |
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| Piggy back time... |
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| Kitty hangin' out with her bros'... |
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| Too funny... |
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| Patches decided to go to sleep... |
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| The 5 weeks of rain allowed my straw garden get out of hand more than a tad! |
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| It was pretty easy to pull out, thankfully. |
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| See how the moles burrow just under the surface and make tunnels everywhere after the big wet? You have to stomp on the mounds to flatten them out so I can mow. |
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| Gradually getting things back to normal after adding in the house load of Andy's stuff... |
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| Nice flowers at the markets last week... |
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| Kitten torments the poor puppies... |
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| They had their first injections and had a chip planted in their necks last week and have to wait another 2 weeks for the final injection and their passports...before waiting for another 2 weeks until they are old enough to cross the borders into Germany for their new homes! |
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| Such happy little puppies... |
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| Kitten never gives up! |
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| Thank goodness she has gone at last, both heave a sigh of relief! |
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| Actually found some gym pants that fit OK... |
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| I found some old pics, just at the same time my son, on the right, in this picture, took his son and a friend down to the same place, a mere 35 years later!! Coincidence? |
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| Kitten doesn't stop annoying anything that moves! |
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| I don't know what the stretching thing with both these cats is all about... |
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| Such a surprise. 3 luscious big, juicy apricots... |
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| The last of the scraggly cherries. Lots of cherry grubs this year... |
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| Black currants growing too, on the gooseberry bush! |
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| Self sown petunias took over after the pansies drowned in the big wet! |
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| Red currants. I can't believe it at they actually grew! |
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| Tomatoes filling out. A neighbour gave me a dozen plants last month and with the rain, they took off. |
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| Plums starting to weigh down the branches again. A big crop this year after a small crop last year. But, not one apple blossom this year on the tree after a blowout year last year.. |
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| Loving my almost straight mowing lines... |
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| Still can't get the petunias to show up in the pics... |
All good here...the weather is hot, but inside I forget about it. There has been a lovely cool breeze blowing all week, which has been wonderful. I was even able to mow in the middle of the day yesterday!
Speaking of which, the nature strips outside need mowing and the mower is calling...
Take care everyone and stay warm...or cool...whichever end of the globe you live in.
Lots of love until next time...
Cheers,
M xxxx
