Yard Work
Mowing around an unfinished kiln.
Today was a beautiful summer day and I spent most of it outside, which is exactly where a day like that deserves to be spent.
I checked the garden first. Things are coming in nicely and the deer haven’t touched a single plant yet, which feels like a small miracle given what’s been bedding down in the lawn. Speaking of the lawn, my friend who was supposed to come mow called to say he’d taken his kids fishing instead. I understood completely. I would have done the same thing without a second thought. I’ve lived with high grass before. One more week wasn’t going to hurt anything except appearances, and appearances can wait.
The new lawn tractor was delivered today. A zero turn, which I had never driven in my life. I had the delivery driver back it off the trailer for me, which felt like the right call. I waited until he pulled out of the driveway before I tried it myself. Opened the cap. Needed gas. Filled the zero turn, topped off the car while I was at it, came back, started it up, and nearly took the side mirror off the car on my first attempt at a turn. Once I worked a few things out I went slow and got the whole lawn done. Came inside with a sunburn and a sense of accomplishment that was probably a little out of proportion to mowing a lawn, but there it is.
The hard part was mowing around the wood kiln. It’s sitting there in the yard, still unfinished, in weather that would be perfect for stacking. I’ve had enough going on with the smaller things that the kiln keeps getting pushed, and pushing past it on a zero turn in the sunshine felt like a conversation I wasn’t ready to have. The bad times are coming, or something like them, and I’ve been preparing so that when they arrive the landing is softer. The kiln is part of that preparation. It’ll get its turn.
The solar project is still on the list and moving closer. My plan is to get the controller next week, then the panels and batteries in the weeks after that so I can at least start storing energy. For reasons I can’t fully explain, my mind has locked onto the end of July as the target. Something about getting at least a partial offset in place before summer peaks feels important. I also signed up for the budget plan with the power company to even out the monthly bill while the bigger solution comes together. Two old electric kilns are waiting to be converted to wood-fired rocket kilns. That’s still ahead too.
A lot is still ahead. But the lawn is mowed, the garden is growing, the deer stayed out, and the zero turn and I came to an understanding. Today that’s enough.
If I were living yesterday a second time: I would have put sunscreen on before getting on the zero turn and not after. The sun doesn’t care how much you’re enjoying yourself.
Things I am grateful for: A summer day that asked to be spent outside and delivered. Garden plants doing their quiet work without interference from the deer. A friend who took his kids fishing instead of mowing my lawn, which was absolutely the right call. A zero turn that forgave me for the first few turns. The solar project getting close enough to feel real.
If I get to live to be 86, I might only have: 12,675 days left. One of them went toward a sunburn, a mowed lawn, and a garden that’s holding its own. Not a bad way to spend a summer day.
Originally published at Creek Road Pottery
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