I'm On A 30 Day Diet

So far I've lost 18 days!  

Spring is in the air!  I know that spring is here because I just had to cut my grass for the first time of the season.  I took my brothers advice and raised the mower a notch and didn't have near the trouble with rocks and roots this time.  As a matter of fact I went absolutely crazy after I finished the main part of the lawn and I raised the wheels all the way to their upper limit to tackle the steep rocky slope by my lower driveway.  Not only did I not have to worry about roots, the blade was high enough to clear some small trees.  The slope that I was dreading having to take the weed wacker to is manicured.  Sure the grass is a little higher but the slope is so steep it's not usable anyway and at least it doesn't look like I'm letting it grow wild.  I may have mentioned this before; Maureen is considering getting me a riding lawn mower this year.  But I think what I really need is a monster leaf blower.

A new riding lawn mower might be nice but I've gotten into a good routine with my self propelled push mower and I have enough sloped areas that I'd be using the push mower a fair amount of the time anyway.  But raking leaves...that's a chore.  I still have leaves from last fall in the lawn and our wooded area is just blanked with them.  And, if I had a ginormous leaf blower, a Tim the Tool-Man sized leaf blower, then I'd be set!  

My wish list leaf blower!  
(Click on the link)

Ok, so maybe that is a little overkill, and I'd still need the riding mower.  But how about a nice professional grade leaf blower.  Something with enough power you have to be careful not to peel up the lawn or accidentally remove the paint from the side of the house!

Stihl Leaf Blower Commercial

(Click on the link)

Maybe even a leaf blower with so much torque in the motor that it has to be mounted on a backpack frame.  Our local Lowes has a Husqvarna gas powered 4-Stroke backpack mounted monster that might even be able to push the woods back a bit deeper from the house.  "Husqvarna"; that name even sounds a little like the Tim the Tool-Man grunt!  Father's day is just around the corner.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Another tell-tale sign of spring is the cushions are back out on the patio furniture.  That's actually my doing.  It has intermittently been so nice temperature wise that I had been sitting out on the porch in the chairs without the cushions.  I got out (the wrong) cushions for one chair and then finally said "what-the-heck" and drug out all of the cushions.  We have covered porches.  It's not going to destroy the cushions if the weather turns bad for a day or two.

Another sign of Spring, Maureen and I both got sunburned at Liam's meet in Spartanburg, SC on Saturday.  Since I wrote the bit above the weatherman is predicting freezing temperatures and snow showers (whatever a "snow shower" is) coming up this Friday.  Last night got close to freezing and today it's supposed to be 73.  Yep, it's spring time in the mountains!

And last, the SoCon Indoor (and Outdoor) Performance List for the 2015-16 Season is out.  Liam has the 10th best indoor 3000 meter time and the 7th best 5000 meter indoor time in the Southern Conference and is the top freshman in the conference in each category.  At the moment, Liam also has the 15th best outdoor 1500 meter time (4:03.99, not his best distance) and the 4th best 5000 meter outdoor time in the conference at 14:48.92 (4:46.1 per mile for 3.1 miles).  So Liam appears to have picked up where he left off the indoor season and is having a successful freshman outdoor campaign.

I hope everyone is enjoying Spring as much as I am!

Have a great day!

Rick