Dust bowl!

i went out this evening after dinner to cut the sparse grass that surrounds the Aerie. have to say it was not a terribly pleasant task. See, I had taken some of that dirt pile and sort of used it to top dress much of the lawn. I had scattered 10 or so wheelbarrow loads of that dirt using the shovel to broadcast it around.

Now, we haven't had but about 10 drops of rain here in the last week and the wind has been blowing pretty steadily so that dirt has dried up something fierce. When the power mower hit a patch where the dirt was deep or greatly outnumbered the blades of grass like where the dirt pile had been in front of the house, well, hoo-eee! You would have thought it was 1930 Oklahoma!

Fine powdery soil was tossed into the air and I got lost in the suspended dust. This was, of course, one of the calmer hours of the day so there was no breeze to blow that dust away.

I was walking back and forth in that dust cloud as I cut what grass there was and By the time I was finished, I could feel the grit on my teeth and in my eyes. I was careful to rinse my glasses off before trying to wipe them clean. Made that mistake once before when working at Boy Scout camp about 10 years ago and had frosted lenses I could hardly see through.

Anyway, all the chores are done outside. Could sure use some rain though. Meanwhile, I'm going to go take a shower and head to bed. No way I can stay up to see how the Mets fair in San Francisco.