Sheesh! Last Saturday I came back from our bird walk and realized that the lawn--which I had mowed on the previous Monday--looked like hell. Some of the grass had started to send up seed heads and all the dandelions that ducked beneath the blade on Monday were standing tall, proud and, in most cases, in seed. So I cut the lawn again. It looked like I succeeded in cutting off some 90% of the flowers and all the seed heads. (Some of the flowers still hugged the ground.)
Then we had some cool nights, a little rain and some sunny days and when I got back from taking another bird walk this morning (more on that in the next post), I looked at the lawn and saw that it was in pretty much the same shape as it was Saturday before I cut it: lots of dandelion flowers and seed heads. So I got out the lawn mower and cut it again before the predicted showers arrive this evening. This time I dropped the blade about half an inch before starting. Once more the lawn looks respectable with about 95% of the dandelions clipped off.
This time I spotted four snakes while working on the lawn. Two garter snakes were spooked from the stone wall that forms one of the raised garden beds and two red-bellied snakes--one of them the largest red-bellied I have ever seen was over a foot long--were on the edge of the driveway. Like the return of certain species of birds, the appearance of snakes on the stone walls and in the grass is a sure sign that summer has nearly arrived.
This is the third time I've had to cut the grass in a week and a half. I'll probably have to cut it again Sunday or Monday. I really do not mind cutting the grass. It's good exercise and a pretty mindless activity. I've already got a huge pile of grass clippings that should be worked into a compost heap by mixing in some soil. But that can wait fro another day.
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