The other day The Aussie mentioned that it's been a while since I updated this blog. I told him that I really didn't have a whole lot to talk about. Each time we go out to the ranch we do similar things. Yard work, mowing the lawn for hours on end, b*tch about the gophers... It's all much of a muchness. But guess what?? He gave me something to blog about! And lo and behold, it fits in perfectly with today's Axis Of Ineptitude prompt, Lesson Learned, so I'm posting my AOI post here today.
It has been almost two years since we first toured the property. We were told that there may be a leak in the lake. As it turns out, whoever built the lake didn't seal it with clay all the way up, so the water level has dropped to the point where we have two ponds. Supposedly there is some clay, but not enough to combat the super sandy soil. We have started the process of getting this taken care of, and an initial survey has been made by the person who fixed a neighbor's pond. Before we can have clay put down, we have to cut back the brush and reeds that have grown up along the banks. There is a lot of it, so it's quite the job.
Yesterday morning we set off towards the berm end of the narrow pond, The Aussie using the big mower, and me following behind with the dogs (on leashes). We haven't taken the dogs out to that section of the property, so they were having a wonderful time, smelling all the smells, marking territory left, right and center. I'll tell you, my wrists really know I had all three dogs yesterday. They were pulling like a sled team. After we crossed the berm, we made our way through the corner of one of the hay fields, and through the opening in the trees towards the back side of the cabin. There were a lot of large tree limbs down (I'm beginning to hate sweet gum trees), so we had to move a lot of heavy branches to get the mower through the pass. Eventually, we did get through, and I wandered with the dogs while The Aussie mowed some of the big brush in back of the cabin. We made our way to the front of the cabin, and couldn't help but notice all of the animal poop on the porch of the cabin. I'm really hoping it was just raccoon poop and not bear poop. (Hey raccoons, our cabin is NOT a latrine, thank you very much). Since the water level is so low that we have a land bridge back to the house side, I let The Aussie know that I was going to bring the dogs back to the house. He said he was going to mow along the banks of the pond, so I left him to it. Fast forward an hour or so later, and he shows up in the kitchen for a drink. I asked him how it was going. He said he got the mower stuck at the edge of the bank. We have large vehicles with winches. No problem, right? Well, after several hours of trying that, it took a bit more to get the mower out. Thankfully, one of the neighbors was home and could come over with his tractor to help pull it out. Lesson learned? Be very careful when you mow on really steep sections of the bank.
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| Oops. |
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| It's really steep in this section |
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| It took a John Deere tractor and a John Deere "bobcat" to pull the mower out |
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| That's one way to landscape the yard |
