[eskielover]

I have never been more amazed as I have been with my move here to Kentucky. It seems that everyday I have to go somewhere, there is something even more beautiful that comes alive as the seasons unfold themselves infront of me.

First, the redbuds started to bloom & all the trees were pink & red everywhere. I had no idea there were so many red bud trees here with just the leaves as a give away, but in the spring when they come alive again from their stick figures, they just burst into colour.

It was a about a week later when the dogwoods came into bloom. Talk about burst, these trees look like they are covered in snow. There are red, pink & white dogwood trees & they are all over the place. Every house has it's dogwoods. Trees that had just green leaves when I first moved here, then into the fall colours, then into their stick figures for winter, bursting into full bloom for the spring to show they are alive again, has been just unbelievable:
psychcentral photo gallery

It's taking me awhile to learn the spring time rules of the country. During the winter, everything pretty much goes dormant.....no lawn to mow, no plants to trim back.....everything pretty much hibernates for the winter. You can sit back I breath, a time to get other things finished up (I wish I had known this at the time). As soon as spring hit, everything started growing.....not just growing, I mean GROWING. I had some cane weeds that I had cut back in the fall & was going to spray weed killer on them before they started growing......lol. I went out one day & they had just little sprouts coming out of them......I went back 2 days later & they were over 5 feet tall. I was wondering what that noise was on the side of my house.....it had to be them growing. Jack in the Bean Stock has nothing on these weeds. Then comes the lawn. In the fall, it had been dead from the draught we had last summer & with the winters no grow policy, I had no idea how quickly the grass would really grow.

Everyone had started to mow their yards......good idea, I'll just get out my lawn tractor which was burried in the back of my garage. I moved things around to find my new bright red lawn tractor......started it up....no go....but you have to add the gas for sure. I had a bit left over in my gas can, so dumped the rest in just to get it started. Turned the key & right up it started. Then to manuver it out of it's parking place, I was turning the stearing & backing & forwarding until I finally got it aimed out of the place it was sitting. I looked down & the front tire was not only flat, it was off the rim. Trying to figure out how to solve this problem I got out the ramps I had for the tractor....but that was stupid, I needed to get to the wheel & that wouldn't happen on top of a ramp. I needed a jack or something I didn't have to fix this problem. I called the extended service policy phone # I had when I purchased the lawn tractor & they gave me the name of a local place that could fix my problem. They didn't get to me immediately & when I called, it was Friday.....they wouldn't be out until Monday & they would take it & fix it in their shop....that would be only 2 or 3 days. Mind you, the lawn is growing now several inches a day, with some clumps growing at least a foot a day. By the time they would get it fixed, the grass would be over my head & the mower woldn't stand a chance against it.

I called a friend & was lucky enough to have him come over & fix my tire problem in exchange for dinner. He fixed the wheel & the tire & even mowed part of my front yard while I was getting dinner ready.

The grass had grown so long already that it was a challenge to inch through it. With the front yard cut, I attacked the back yard which was even more overgrown by that time than the front. So what do I do, I get right in the middle of a huge clump of grass, & the lawn tractor dies.....dead. I thought for sure I killed it. I couldn't figure out how to start it again. Go back to the beginning.....oh yes, you can't start the mowed while the PTO is engaged.....in otherwords, the tractor won't start while you are in mowing mode.....a simple thing that I keep forgetting. I finally got it started & it was coughing & sputtering & black smoke was pouring out if the exhaust. I decided not to push it any farther & limp my way back to the garage & put it to sleep for the night.....maybe it would feel better the next day & I would have a chance to look up the problem in the internet.

I got side tracked for a few days, trying to get all my trash out of the garage that had piled up for months while not having a trash service. I loaded it into the back of my truck & took a couple of hauls, but managed to get it all to the transfer station....our local dump. Then the recycling.....the cardboard, the plastic, the glass, the cans. I am trying to do my part for the enviornment. They don't make it easy here in KY....you have to haul it yourself....but then, that's what I'm doing with the trash anyway. It took me another day to get that all loaded up & to the recycling center. All the while, I couldn't find anywhere in the internet that might indicate how badly I killed my lawn tractor......black smoke means burning oil, sputtering....the air filter....but this was an all of a sudden thing in the middle of grass that was too tall. I finally called the company that was going to fix my tire & talked to a service person. They clued me in that I had probably just flooded the engine & when I started it up, probably had kept the choke too open. Not only that, but in the really long grass, the mulcher will gunk it up so it won't cut through the tall thick grass, so best to disengage that. I could probably start it & let it run a bit to get rid of the black smoke & I would be off & running again. Could I have NOT killed my lawn tractor???? Could I be so lucky that doing something so stupid won't actually cost me a fortune to fix my mistake?

Sure enough, I went into the garage & started the tractor right up....no black smoke or anything. But it was almost a year ago when I installed the mulcher on it & I didn't remember how in the world to disengage it.....duh. I ran the lawn tractor up on the ramps & looked under the deck to check if it was gunked up & that was when I saw my answer to disengeging the mulcher.....it was just a piece of plastic I had to remove from where the grass shoots out & I am free & clear to finish mowing my back yard. By this time, the grass was as tall as I am (remember, it's growing at a foot a day....lol).

Well, I have to give myself a huge hand because I actually finished mowing all the back lawn area today. The only thing left is the large lawn area that is going to be the pasture. I have trimming to do......things I had wanted to do in the winter, but just didn't get around to doing. I definitely have to trim back the branches around the yard. I was ducking & trying to hold back the branches as & was mowing close to them. I was attacked several times by branched that had me entangled....trying to hold them back with one arm & stear the tractor with the other.....I was lucky not to have ended up off the tractor on the ground.

I have learned my lesson the first year.....you have to start mowing before the grass starts growing bacuse if you wait, it will win the race against you. I need to get down into my wooded area & do mowing there before it grows too high.....I love to have my pathways through the woods to wander through & am not too thrilled at walking through grass that's over my head. Especially after the other day when the soil conservation person was here. After walking down into my woods, we came back to his car & were talking. He put his hand to the back of his neck & came back with a little black speck.....showing me what is the common DOG tick.....which it good...it only carried lime disease. I might have thought that it came from another stop he had made except that the other morning when I was getting food for my doggies, I felt something on my hand.....looked down & there was the same type of bug crawling on my hand......those dang ticks must be all over the place right now.....I am going to have to bug spray all over the place. I use the revolution or my doggies to prevent the flees, ticks, & mosquitoes....but I need to kill them also or they will become a huge problem.

Oh yes, it is early in the season right now also......soon, the chiggars will be out......eating me alive. Last year, I didn't realize they had them here until I had over 100 bites all over my body......it was actually making me feel sick.......so I know to spray myself everytime I go out side of my house...out the door even long enough to pick up the mail.

Spring brings the beauty of nature, but it also brings the bugs of nature. I can definitely live without the bugs, but definitely keep the beauty.

Debbie

[SeptemberMorn]

Oh, my gosh, Debbie!! I don't envy you one bit all that work! I can laugh at the way you tell the story and imagine all the beauty, but ... the bugs! I've had chiggers before. NO THANKS! Forty years ago, all I was told to do was to put clear nail polish on the red spots. I guess that was to suffocate the little buggers, but it didn't do anything for the itching! OWIES!! It was also too long ago to remember if the nail polish worked or not. LOL

If I was you, I'd have your place fumigated by experts. Shoot! I'm having a time just fighting the flies around here! Bleckies! Nasty moscas!! It sounds worse to say it in Spanish. LOL

LOVED... just LOVED the picture of the dogwood! It's wonderous to see how magnificently God clothes His creation! Takes my breath away, it does! Thanks for sharing.

[bebop]

Debbie I love your stories about living in Kentucky! I can imagine from you living in Ca all this time that being where there is actually green around it must seem pretty amazing! I love the southeastern US because of all the beauty in the spring.
I would have someone come out to get rid of the ticks. they are pesty little things that are hard to get rid of.

[gimmeice]

The tree is beautiful thanks for sharing the picture.
Living in the country can be a real adventure, I love reading your posts about it.

[Fuzzybear]

[splitimage]

Your description of your battles with your rapidly growing grass and the lawn tractor really made me smile. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

--splitimage