For two days I mowed grass in my spare time, racking up 19,780 steps one day, 18,989 steps the second day. Yeah, I've one of those step counting apps on my phone. I don't think they're accurate for counting actual steps taken, but it gives me a good idea of my walking activity from day to day. True to number or not, close to 20,000 steps a day equates into being satisfyingly tired at the end of the day......plus the bonus of two truckloads of grass clippings.
All that mowing gives the sheep and donkey a feast. They can consume 3 full trashcans of fresh clippings a day. If the grass is exceptionally to their liking, such as guinea grass, my sheep turn into pigs....oink, oink. 4 canfuls gone! All the sheep look like they're pregnant with triplets.....including the rams (just in case you wonder what a pregnant ram might look like).
What do I do with all the rest of the clippings? Oh, I have lots of uses. In fact, even with lots of mowing I never have enough for all the projects going on around here.
...the chickens appreciate a trashcanful or two a day.
...the garden mulch is mostly grass clippings, so I go through a lot....LOT
...clippings are one of the layers in constructing my hugelpits.
...the compost bins are greedy guzzlers of grass clippings, when I have extra available that is.
But mowing is not the only thing I do on these infrequent dry days. Walking the pasture fenceline in the dry sun becomes a pleasure. Yesterday morning when I checked the fences, I came armed with a machete. All this rain is causing vegetation to grow up against the fencing, a real no-no. Cover up the fencing and it rusts out faster. A machete also comes in handy for cleaning up the thriving banana patches as I walk past, and for harvesting armloads of greens for the livestock, whacking brush back from along the driveway. It feels good getting some clean up done without getting soaked to the skin.
Training Noodles is another dry-day activity. Since he's become a teenager, him & I have been spending more time together. Not only brushing up on those dull obedience commands, but learning to listen to me by practicing fun tricks and new commands. For two days now he's been happy as all get out, playing here on the farm and visiting doggy friends on other farms. Believe me, it's a real joy to have a dry, non-muddy puppy climbing into my truck. When he's wet he looks like a dirty spaghetti mop. Yuck, get those muddy feet off me!
Sun not only means that I get a lot of farm maintenance done, it also lifts my spirits. Sadly I could use more sunny days at the moment. News from some friends hasn't been good lately. At my age, this happens. No surprise, but still depressing.
So two good days, ended by 0.7 inches of rain. The only good thing is that I learned that the patch I made on the roof stopped the persistent leak I've been trying to defeat. A full can of silicone goo brushed here, there, everywhere as long as the can lasted finally plugged the leak, wherever it was.
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