"Seens" on a Brisk Spring Day

I did some mowing yesterday.  

Pretty early for this area, yes, but not the usual mowing. 

I pulled the  mower deck way up high and made several swaths around the front lawn for cleanup. 

Happily, the grass doesn't need cutting yet, and, even more happily, it is turning green.

The lawnmower job was pretty effective at brightening up the green and chopping up and scattering the residue which leaves a lawn look so scruffy after its winter dormancy. 

 

Once my mower work was done, I enjoyed the sight of a relatively pretty lawn rather than dreading a whole bunch of cleanup yet to be done. 

I also finished sowing grass seed in lawn areas where the moles had made dozens of horrible messes. 

There's nothing harder in the spring, it seems, than attacking the mole ridges left by these varmints' winter deposits. 

The wet, heavy soil feels like cement when trying to remove it with a shovel. Not a fun project. 

Anyway, a lot of the dirt has been broken apart with a rake, broken down some more and scattered around the mole holes.  

I'm hoping the grass seed will take off and eventually erase all memories of these early spring messes. 

In other news, Bridie bounced back pretty quickly from her toenail injury. 

In all the chaos of the event, it seemed to me that the major objective in dressing the wound would be to stop the flow of blood. 

And, so, objective achieved. 

She stayed in her crate with her Elisabethan collar for about an hour. 

Then, I took her outside to her spot by the barn where she's tethered to a lunging rope.  I did some chores and then went to the house for a few minutes. 

My absence was Bridie's standard cue to go into action. By the time I came back outside, all bandage had been removed. 

No blood was flowing, and so the Elisabethan collar was also removed by Mom. 

She seemed okay through the rest of the day, although I do wonder if there's a bit of pain in that foot from the trauma to the toenail. 

Happily, we won't be playing doctor for days on end. 

Yesterday I also took a trip to town and a stroll through the hospital healing garden which is slowly coming out of its winter slumber. 

It was nice to see a few patches of color, complemented by the funky manmade items positioned throughout the garden. 

A very inspiring and peaceful place which continues to be developed by dedicated volunteers. 

All in all, yesterday, although fairly cold, was a pretty good day, 'cept for the morning Bridie incident. Horses enjoyed some grooming along with the lawn. 

I visited with a couple of friends and felt a long-awaited sense of peace after receiving a second letter from Aer Lingus, notifying me of a voucher (which actually got its start in the Pandemic). 

It's good until 2027.  

So, money refunded along with an available voucher---a very good ending to nearly a month of nightmarish frustration. 

Happily, we had made other travel arrangements for our summer trip, so all was not lost.   

Now, we can keep our fingers crossed and hope that no more unpleasant surprises stand in the way. 

I keep telling Bill that if we can just make it to Ireland, then everything will be okay. 

Guess that's enough for this so-far-uneventful Thursday. 

Have a great day. 

This is the band we'll be listening to at Malzard's Pub in Stoneybrook, Ireland, when I celebrate my 75th birthday with my family this summer---if we get there, of course! 

 Blessed Ireland