I love our views of the river. Since I am rather disabled right now due to an arthritic hip, I don't get out into the yard to work as often as I used to. So I have more time to sit and muse and survey the weather and the wild, rampant growth of the grass!
Lots of rain fell this past winter. Lots of rain has fallen this spring. We are lucky to be high above any flooding problems, and as I sit on the front porch I remember back to other homes and other yards, other wet winters and springs.
I first remember noticing our grass when I was still young enough to find it made a great plaything. It would grow so high it became a hiding place, get down on your hands and knees and crawl through, make long curving tunnels through it, mazes leading from the swing set to the barn, the driveway to the chicken run. How did we never end up with ticks all over us? As it got to the most perfect point for tunneling though, Daddy would step in and spoil all the fun. He would mow it down. Darn.
At Gold Oak School there were rolling hills to each side, and on the Northeast there was a perfect hill on which the grass grew high. The wind would blow and the grass would form into lovely waves of changing shades of green, now soft sage, now bright new leaf green, now a golden yellow green about to change and put out the seeds of summer. I could sit and watch it for hours.
A couple of weeks ago I was driving back one Friday morning from my weekly Weight Watchers meeting in Folsom. Along Green Valley Road, almost back to Placerville again, there was a hillside which was a match to the one of my childhood. Wave after wave flowed up the hill, it was mesmerizing. I had to pull to the side of the road and watch for a bit. Last Friday the show was still going on, but the colors are already (in spite of all the rain) changing from green to the golden shades of summer.
I remember what seems like just a few weeks ago (but must have been months instead) looking out at the brown dried grass and wondering when the new green shoots would start to peek out and take over. Now they are in control.
Robbi (our Welsh Corgi) can sometimes disappear into the grass, making mazes and tunnels just like I did when I was about his age! He is more likely to come back home with a tick than I was.
Ah, our not-so-secret weapon against the grass. Hubby has two riding mowers. One is 28 years old, and still going strong, but will only turn right. With our steep property that can be a bit problematic. The newer mower is about 7 years old.
He tries to avoid the wildflowers, which tend to bloom in drifts. You might notice he holds on with one hand to keep himself on the mower as it tips on the hills. The steeper spots are where he uses the weed eater. He has gone through several in the 12 years we have lived here.
Hubby had a bit of a hard time here between the two digger tree stumps, it was steep and the ground was rough. Kind of like riding a mechanical bull, only he didn't have several beers first!
Ride 'em cowboy, and thank you for keeping our property mowed and beautiful! Our neighbors have a barbecue once a year and hold lawnmower races. I think it is a sneaky way to get their grass mowed down, but it works and it is a lot of fun.
May you always have someone to mow your yard, and don't forget to take time to stop and watch the grass wave.
Lots of rain fell this past winter. Lots of rain has fallen this spring. We are lucky to be high above any flooding problems, and as I sit on the front porch I remember back to other homes and other yards, other wet winters and springs.
I first remember noticing our grass when I was still young enough to find it made a great plaything. It would grow so high it became a hiding place, get down on your hands and knees and crawl through, make long curving tunnels through it, mazes leading from the swing set to the barn, the driveway to the chicken run. How did we never end up with ticks all over us? As it got to the most perfect point for tunneling though, Daddy would step in and spoil all the fun. He would mow it down. Darn.
At Gold Oak School there were rolling hills to each side, and on the Northeast there was a perfect hill on which the grass grew high. The wind would blow and the grass would form into lovely waves of changing shades of green, now soft sage, now bright new leaf green, now a golden yellow green about to change and put out the seeds of summer. I could sit and watch it for hours.
A couple of weeks ago I was driving back one Friday morning from my weekly Weight Watchers meeting in Folsom. Along Green Valley Road, almost back to Placerville again, there was a hillside which was a match to the one of my childhood. Wave after wave flowed up the hill, it was mesmerizing. I had to pull to the side of the road and watch for a bit. Last Friday the show was still going on, but the colors are already (in spite of all the rain) changing from green to the golden shades of summer.
I remember what seems like just a few weeks ago (but must have been months instead) looking out at the brown dried grass and wondering when the new green shoots would start to peek out and take over. Now they are in control.
Robbi (our Welsh Corgi) can sometimes disappear into the grass, making mazes and tunnels just like I did when I was about his age! He is more likely to come back home with a tick than I was.
Ah, our not-so-secret weapon against the grass. Hubby has two riding mowers. One is 28 years old, and still going strong, but will only turn right. With our steep property that can be a bit problematic. The newer mower is about 7 years old.
He tries to avoid the wildflowers, which tend to bloom in drifts. You might notice he holds on with one hand to keep himself on the mower as it tips on the hills. The steeper spots are where he uses the weed eater. He has gone through several in the 12 years we have lived here.
Hubby had a bit of a hard time here between the two digger tree stumps, it was steep and the ground was rough. Kind of like riding a mechanical bull, only he didn't have several beers first!
Ride 'em cowboy, and thank you for keeping our property mowed and beautiful! Our neighbors have a barbecue once a year and hold lawnmower races. I think it is a sneaky way to get their grass mowed down, but it works and it is a lot of fun.
May you always have someone to mow your yard, and don't forget to take time to stop and watch the grass wave.
Beautiful property!! Hoping for some sunny days soon!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am no longer able to mow my yard either, and the day I hired my own lawn service, I felt I had "arrived" ha ha.
ReplyDeleteLove your memories... I miss the days when I used to lay in the tall grass and watch the clouds go by. I'd do it today but it's raining. :)
Beautiful home! I want to sit on your benches and have a chat.
ReplyDeleteI remember at Gold Oak School that Marcia and I would walk around on the hill at the side of the playground at recess or lunch time and name the little streams that were left when it had rained after rivers we had studied about in Social Studies. The Colorado, the Missouri, the Mississippi - it was silly, and it was fun for us. We probably named big mud puddles after lakes, too.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how fast our green hills turn gold around here. I wonder at how quickly it happens.
ReplyDeleteWe have goats to clear a lot of the grass here but we still have to do the sides of the road and all around the farm buildings.
With all this rain there will be a lot of grass this year.
The Prospector would love that riding lawnmower.
while living in copperopolis we went thru many a weed eater. in michigan, john started with a walking mower but HAD to get a riding mower. he got a used one that we keep having minor repairs to, but we have lots to mow. its beautiful at your house.
ReplyDelete