Milestone! I mowed my lawn!

Why, you may ask, is this a big deal? Because this is the lawn of my new home and this is the first lawn mowing of the year. Not only that, but I was starting from scratch. In the home I rented, someone else always mowed the grass. I barely noticed when the yard was getting shaggy.

This year I was dealing with "everyone else's lawn looks nice and mine looks awful." I also looked at the yard and dreaded mowing. The grass had gotten over long and I worried that I might kill a lawn mower.

Of course the lawn mower was an issue too. As stated, someone else has mowed my lawn for several years now. I didn't own a mower and they are not a cheap purchase. So when my stimulus package money arrived, I decided to spring for the big bucks and purchase a new lawn mower to go with the "new" house.

I searched around and decided to go to the local Thiesen's store. Boy am I glad I did. Not only did the guy there help me carry the mower out to my car, he put the small engine motor oil in it. Motor oil? In all my years of mowing (a LONG time ago) I don't remember adding engine oil. Of course, in retrospect, that might have been part of my problem with the mowers. The man at Thiesen's was really nice and explained everything I needed to know to mow my lawn without doing myself an injury. I highly recommend visiting them if one is available locally.

So, with new gas can filled with plain old regular unleaded, I headed for home to break the mower out of it's box. Mower operator manuals are not very well written. I had a motor manual and a general manual, but it was trial and error which taught me the most about running the darn thing.

Then came the task of dragging the mower up hills and over grass and around bushes and through gates that wouldn't open. But I succeeded. I mowed. I conquered my lawn. Tomorrow I visit the chiropractor. Maybe my lawn conquered me, after all.

Happy Labor Day!

I had a three day weekend and I loved it. Not only that, but I got a ton of stuff done! A movie rental business in my town is going out of business (which is sad). A friend mentioned that they were not only selling dvds but the furniture too and they had shelves. Now I have been in need of bookshelves for I don't know how long. I was getting ready to go to Menards for the old college stand-by cinderblocks and wood planks.

I went into the store and most of the units were LONG. But I found one that I think will fit into my house. It's almost 12 feet long and made from sturdy wood. It was $30 dollars. I wrote the check. I have some friends I may be able to bribe with large amounts of food to get the thing home.

So, I started to rearrange my living room space. I am really proud of myself because I got the wall cleared and ready for a long shelf unit. Not only that, but the house is so much tidier (well, mostly). It's still cluttered, but there is now a clear wide path through the mess that is my home. Hey, it's well lived in. Anyway, it really was Labor Day for me. I labored and did a lot of work and I'm pleased with the changes.

I also got a bit of writing done and completed the layout for the PI newsletter. Now I'm just waiting for a couple of incidentals from article authors (bios, etc). Then it will be ready to go out to the members...ON TIME! Wooo Hoooo! Smokin'

I hope you all had an equally productive or utterly relaxing holiday!