Well, another month has gone by and as wet as it had been in April, we are super dry in May. On the positive side most farmers have gotten their first cut of hay baled and in storage. The trees are all green and everything looks alive! (Well, except for the ash that have been killed by the borer.)
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Terry had surgery on her spine mid-month. A partial laminectamy where the surgeon took out a bit of bone and cartilage that was pinching a couple of nerves. She now feels much better except for the weakness she had developed in the months prior to surgery. She complains of muscle aches and pains in her thighs after walking around Wally World for a bit. I can empathize as I have had similar but more extensive back surgery (2015) and two by-passes in my legs 2019 and 2021 that have left me feeling anything but A-OK. But she's getting better!
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Planted our veggie garden the other day. Pretty much the same as previous years with zucchini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Early Girl tomatoes, bell peppers, and string beans. I had planted lettuce and onions earlier in the month as they could tolerate cold better. Some of the lettuce didn't germinate so I reseeded those rows and a cut worm got one of our peppers so Terry bought a replacement. With the dry weather we're having, I need to water every day.
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I mowed the lawn again today. Third time this year. Most of the lawn is either flat (horizontal) or I can follow the contour of the land (also horizontal). I switched the mower to mulch and that meant I didn't have to stop every 10 minutes to empty the bag.
When I got done, I decided to mow the trail. Some of that is horizontal but a goodly portion is sloped in such a way that I had to go up and down. The grade is approximately 20 degrees Thank goodness, the mower is motorized and I just had to hold on--sorta. I did about 150 yards of trail.
Finished with the mowing I decided to take the ATV and chainsaws up the trail to the place I stopped mowing. Not much sun and very little weeds or grass in that spot but I had spotted some tree tops that had come down and they were solid enough to cut into firewood lengths but first I had to go up the slope to get them down to the trail. Walking on shale/slate covered hillside that angles about 40-45 degrees is no picnic. Especially going downhill. My toes push into the metal of my boots and are soon hurting like hell.
But I got them down to where I could work on them. Luckily, the chainsaw started right up and I cut two 15 foot poles into 18 inch lengths. While retrieving the two poles from the slope, I noticed that they had come from the tops of trees that were still standing but which must be dead as they had no branches. I'll have to go back and fell them and cut them into firewood lengths--another day.
My Fitbit says I did 19,200 steps for a distance of 8.5 miles. Good thing I road the ATV out to play lumberjack! I think I earned a nice hot shower this evening.
