Today the ‘lawn’ was mowed for the second time. It took Toni-the mow-stress 4.5 hours. That is a crazy amount of time to spend on something that is going to have to repeat itself in 14 days. Toni is a delightful person. She operates an equine rescue just down the road. Again, another person with a fascinating life story. She is likely 20 years my junior and is a grandmother. She has at least one child still in high school and suggested that if I didn’t hear from the school district i approached about being a drama volunteer to try the school of her daughter. They put on two productions a year and have an active drama department. That is now on my radar. She has never been to a Broadway play and would like so much to see Phantom of the Opera. [I will keep that in mind and if it comes up on my discount list, matinée, I’ll make it a day-trip with her.] She also suggested, as did another, that I get a barn cat. She had me going: where to keep it, how it would keep the mice away, how to make certain it was spayed and by-the-way she did have an extra or two. She was on a roll, until I showed her the shed I had just cleared out and where it could sleep, as well as parking my car there. ‘It will sleep on your car’, she said. ‘I have to tell you.’ Sleeping on the hood or roof of my car?! Those dusty, dirty paw prints?! I’ll keep after the mice with the current remedies. For now, no barn cat.
She did get brownie points when commenting on the garden asked me how long I had lived here. 32 days. ‘Wow’, she said, ‘You’ve really worked hard.’ It was delightful that she noticed.