5, September 2024 Looks Like I Have to Mow Again

 I mowed the yard just a couple days ago for what my wife estimates the 30th time this year. I mow every four days just to keep ahead of it. We only got a little over 3-inches of rain in all of August, so it must be just the dew that keeps it popping up through the ground so regularly. ARGH!

 

I'm fortunate that our Husqvarna 24-hp mower is so great on gas because I estimate our yard must be darn close to an acre. Hmmm, let's see. I'll go measure it using my rangefinder.

 

Looks like it's ... Ulp! 4.37 acres? C'mon! FOUR-plus ACRES? 

 

(I'll do it again, Joe McD. You have that classic skeptical look on your face.)

The Range finder sez it's 109 yards (327 feet) east to west and 194 yards (582 feet) north to south.

Multiply 327 by 582 and ya get 190,314 square feet. Divide that by 43,560 sq ft (an acre) and that equals 4.37 acres. 

 

Now it's true that within this undulating asymmetrical four-some acres are many good-sized trees that take up a good portion of this area. We have to also exclude the house, the propane tank, and our four vehicles too. Nor does it does include the creek itself or any portions thereof. No wonder mowing takes me a few hours even with a 48-inch rider mower, fortunately not all the yard grows as fast as other parts, so I don't have to mow the thinner areas as often.

We could contemplate using sheep or goats too; it might come to that. We like to keep the grass mowed so to keep the mosquitoes and gnats at bay. I found an organization called Goats On The Go on-line, in Minnesota, https://www.goatsonthego.com/centralmn but nothing appears near us up here in northwestern Minnesota. 

 

A couple of my neighbors talked about when they were kids, their folks just tied a horse or a few cows in the yard to shorten the grass. Of course, the animals fertilized the yard too until, likely their mother, would tell them to shovel the manure piles up and out of there before they attracted flies, thus proving you can have too much of a good thing sometimes.

I heard someone near Badger has goats, but I hear goats aren't as fussy about what they eat as are sheep, so I wouldn't care much for that tree-eating possibility. Yes, I could build a fence and get a couple calves to keep the grass down, they're not quite as destructive, but it isn't as cost-saving as it sounds by the time you purchase everything; and consider vet services too, so I'll just mow until I can't; and when that happens, I'll just hire 'Mower Mike' from Badger; I've got his phone number around here someplace. (Chairman Joe says he does great work on their vast estate.)

I foresee another dozen or more yard mowings before the year is out for excitement knows no bounds here in Palmville. Yah shure, you betcha.