TheBanyanTree: Powered vs Push Mowers & Clean up the yard day

[Kathleen]

Yesterday, my cousin George and his wife purchased a new "John Deere" mower yesterday...only it's too wide to fit through the regular yard gates.  Which means that I had to figure out another way to mow my dogs' yard where the grass is now almost as tall as my knees.  I got so frustrated with the constant repairs to the "DR Mower" that I called up the local Ace Hardware store and ordered a "Push Mower".

Yep, an old fashioned push mower!  Doesn't have any motor to go out; doesn't have any chain to slip off it's gear to make the wheels turn; doesn't need gas or electricity to power it...just old fashioned pushing.  I'll go and pick it up on Monday and then tackle my dogs' yard - that way when my Beagles explore the yard, I can see something other than grass waving as they pass by.

Today was clean-up the yard day.  George's wife raked leaves while George toured around the yard on his new green and yellow toy and cut the grass.  I joined in and helped gather up leaves.  Then "The Head Chief" (George's wife) decided that it was time to put a tarp over the kennels.

First...we had to get the longest lengths of 2x4's and 4x4's to go across three kennels (from north to south), followed by some shorter 2x4's to go across in the other direction (from east to west).  Such fun hoisting 8' and 10' boards on top of the kennel :D

Next we gathered every 4'x 8' plywood board we could find - including one that had a triangular section cut out and two that were almost 4'x 5' long.  These were hoisted to rest on top of the 2x4's and 4x4's.  "The Head Chief" wasn't satisfied with the way we - "the worker bees" (George & I) were placing the plywood, so she got on top of the kennels - trying not to step on the chain link covering the top of each kennel - which would have given way and dropped her to the concrete kennel floor.

Because we didn't have enough plywood, we cannibalized two 'dead' screen doors - dead cause we had left them out in the weather too long - and placed them on top of the kennel as well.  It took about two hours to collect and properly place the boards and plywood with lots of 'expert' advice from "The Head Chief".

Then came the bringing in of the tarp.  This particular tarp was 20' by 30' - double the length we needed to cover the kennels.  I attempted to suggest that it might be easier to fold the tarp up; put it on top of the kennels and then unfold it.  After "The Head Chief" tried to bring the crumpled tarp in through a small 3' gate, she decided that folding the tarp was a better idea.

Once the tarp was folded, "The Head Chief" climbed up the ladder on the east side of the kennel and began unfolding the tarp.  Despite almost falling through the plywood and screen doors, we managed to get the tarp unfolded and in place.  Then "The Head Chief" discovered that since the tarp covered the plywood, she didn't know where to walk and being fearful of dropping through down to the concrete floor I asked George to bring the ladder around to the west side of the kennel so she could get down without mishap.

Once the tarp was in place, "the worker bees" went and found shorter lengths of 2x4's,  4x4's and anything else that was heavy to put on top of the tarp to keep it from blowing off - none of use wanted to redo any of the work!

By the time we had finished, it was time to feed the horde - 8 Siberian Huskies and 2 Beagles.  Our 'clean up the yard day & put the tarp on the kennels' had taken almost five hours and the humans were tired puppies with aching muscles but the leaves won't gather in the kennels, the Sibes will have shade during the hot afternoons and be protected from the rain.  

Tomorrow I plan to sit inside and read a book - not do a d**m thing at all - while I pamper my aching muscles!

Kathleen

The Mountain Wolf Den (www.mountainwolfden.com)
"Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.  I think I've forgotten this before."
Proverbs: If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.remsset.com/pipermail/thebanyantree-remsset.com/attachments/20030919/45a10c3f/attachment.htm>