Today I shall mow the lawn. Cut that grass. Get the scythe out. Well, whatever we use in 2025 as an alternative. The electric lawn mower. I did see a gardener using a scythe when we visited RHS Harlow Carr. V impressive. She stopped periodically to sharpen the blade. The plan was to leave the mown hay, which also contained a variety of meadow flowers, for a day or two to allow any insects to drop off. The mowings would then be moved and left to dry across an area that had been newly landscaped and needed reseeding. As the seed heads dropped off the drying hay they would effectively be planting themselves on the cleared ground. Good stuff. Hard work but rewarding. Mowing the lawn is on my jobslist.
I am told by THG that it is a Monday. I already knew really. Being a Monday it is not the sabbath and therefore mowing the lawn is acceptable and I won’t be excommunicated for doing so. You might think I’m being overly melodramatic here but it happened to my great great great great (ie 4g) grandfather the Reverend Daniel Davies because he let his farmworkers work one of the hay meadows on a Sunday. They used scythes in those days. And pitchforks. Can’t remember when it was. 1807 or similar. Times have changed innit.
One man went to mow.
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FOX NEWS
Old Reynard the fox paid us two visits last night, unless there are two foxes which there could well be. The interesting thing is that he would appear to have stopped to drink lakewater at twelve minutes to one. This follows on from my observation last Saturday that no wild creature appears to have come to drink at the lake. This video evidence dispels that myth (is it really a myth? probs not).
On his second visit Reynard appears to be sniffing around the gap in the decking. We have taken one plank up for inspection before joiner Mark comes to do some repair work later this week. I have in the past seen a rat go under the deck and I suspect the fox can hear or smell this. That’s a job for another day.
The final bit of news is that the lifebelt is now in situ at the entrance to the lake which is as you might imagine a weight off my mind. Simon Forshaw suggested we move the jetty to be nearer the lifebelt and I don’t disagree with him. Will mull it over.
That’s all folks. I have a lawn to mow.