This summer was plagued with disaster. I spent a lot of time on my knees praying and not a lot of time taking care of the usual day to day business of maintaining the homestead. I let things go. The chicken coop was pieced and glued back together and just in general disrepair. The wild grasses were waist high. I was seeing more snakes. I had a couple who were stealing my eggs and made off with two of the ceramic ones. I also encountered a young rattlesnake and at that point i knew the grass was something that had to be handled whether i wanted to return to all the regular activities of life or not. It took a few hours of sitting in a chair and staring at the wall to convince myself i needed to move in the direction of getting things done. When i did finally move the sun was up and making its presence thoroughly known. there wasnt a single cloud in the sky. I told myself i would at least start on the grass and then i could do a little bit each weekend until the whole 2 acres was groomed and properly mowed. Because i had let the grasses get so high, i had to go over them several times and attack them with multiple tools because the mower just bent a good percentage of the grasses down and rolled over them, leaving them to spring up again in its wake. I started out with a scythe but got tired half way through the field. I ended up using the mower creatively and then using sheers to snip the stray pieces that wouldnt cooperate. Once i got going i couldnt quit. My add hyper-focus kicked in and i became heck bent on mowing the entire probably 1 acre of cleared land in one day. I redid the trail through the orchard. It had become overgrown with little plants due to the rain we had earlier in the year. Once i had been through all seven batteries and the one that i had recharged throughout the day as well i realized the mower was down and out and would be for the last few hours of daylight. I still had one patch of wild grass by the well house left. In complete frustration of being so close to the finish line and having a need to complete the task i started, as well as knowing i would not likely summon this kind of energy again for a while…i devolved into pulling the tall grasses by hand. It took me an hour but i finished the last patch by the well house on my knees, ripping the grasses out at their base with my hands. It wasnt quite as uniform and manicured as the rest but it was functional and snakes wouldnt be able to hide in it. The task was done.
