Today, I bring you yet another installment in the ongoing saga of my frustrations with futile attempts to mow the lawn in the rain:
Yesterday, the lawn mower and weed-eater worked well enough that I could thin out the grass (which had been allowed to grow unchecked for three weeks prior) with the weed-eater before going over it with the mower. I got at least some grass cut that way, but stopped at 18:00 to feed my dogs and make supper. I should have just kept going, since the sun sets at 19:30 at this time of year in my part of the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, nothing ever turns out quite the way I hope it will ...
Today, I went out to mow the verge, which was previously too water-logged to tackle. However, since there are large potholes in the road, I spent more time pulling stones out of the grass (so they wouldn't damage the blade) and throwing them into the holes than I anticipated. (It is the nature of work that everything always takes longer than you anticipate, even when you anticipate it taking long.) That was a pretty frustrating experience, since people tend to drive at speed down the road in which I live (despite it being a suburban area) and their hitting the potholes sent stones flying out of them again. Fortunately, some people had the sense to approach them with caution. I got about two strips cut before the mower cut out.
I suspect the cable's faulty, since not even the weed-eater received power at that point. I even checked that the power hadn't gone off in yet another of the unannounced arbitrary-length outages. What I don't understand is why it happened today (other than because I really needed to finish the job today). What changed in the course of fourteen hours?
To add insult to injury, I walked halfway to the shop (still in the rain) before realising I forgot my mask and had to head home to get it. Then, when I finally did get there, food cost me $10 USD more than I wanted to spend, so I'm out of pocket by that much. Yay for that. I guess I'll be walking to work and back for a few weeks (not that that's necessarily a problem, if the rain lets up) in order to recoup it.
If things could just work the way they're supposed to, when I need them to, that would be great. FML! Sometimes, not infrequently, one thing after another goes wrong and I feel like my life is a game of chess played against a pigeon (and I don't even know how to play chess, but neither does the pigeon). That's what I get for thinking I'll finally get out of my losing streak and make some progress instead of spinning my wheels aimlessly. Aargh!
If you think I threw up my hands, declared, "There's nothing more I can do; I quit!", you'd be mistaken. I know, it was atypical behaviour for me and I was also surprised by my resolve. It was the right decision and it felt good.
