Waiting for my digital camera

Yes, it's been way over a week since I ordered the camera on Overstock.com, and I have to say, I am NOT pleased with their delivery time. It was shipped UPS, and is out for delivery today -- so I should have it soon. The UPS truck runs late in the afternoon in my neighborhood. Still, that is slow delivery; Tigerdirect.com always ships much faster. Oh well, live and learn.

Guess what? I have a riding lawnmower! One of my sisters/bro-in-law had this very small riding mower they were no longer using, since they recently bought a larger mower. They brought it last week, and I climbed aboard, and took a few spins on it. NOT like mowing at all, more like a joy ride! It's used, of course, and I'll get it at a big discount (as in cheap), but I do think I'll use this to keep my large yard mown. The guy next-door did an excellent job, and has almost a commercial size riding mower, but if you figure up the costs of a year of mowing (and we have loooong seasons here in the South), you could buy a NEW riding lawnmower for that price in ONE season.

I first looked into electric, battery-recharging mowers, but all that walking might have aggravated my knee problem. I don't like dealing with gasoline (heck, didn't even pump my own gas into the car for 3 months after DH died), and learning to use the clutch/brake, get the mower started is always a challenge. Yet it's not like I have a LOT of other work to do, and this will be something to save me money in the long run.

DH would never allow me to use his riding lawn-mower at the farm. When he used the push mower, I'd occasionally ask to try it, and after a few turns, he stop me and say that I was not "going in a pattern." He liked doing all that stuff, so I just never learned. But I am at least going to try to use this riding mower, see if I can manage it without too much physical repercussions.

I got out there this afternoon, started the mower up and finished the backyard. Bro-in-law had demonstrated when they brought the mower, and I did a few spins, but there was some left to mow. After a couple of false starts, I got underway and finished it. I had on long-sleeve blouse/pants and hat, but next time I'll wear safety glasses as well. It's a nasty job, because grass cuttings do blow back on you sometimes...and the eyes need to be protected. I also put out weed/grass killer all along the curbs/driveway/chainlink fence, house foundation and shouldn't need a weedeater. I don't think I could manage one of those things!

Otherwise, the cats and dogs are fine. We had very cold weather, and my fig trees, as well as the one pecan tree, were zapped by the frigid temps. I wonder how the farmers here dealt with the crops? I can't recall it being in the low 20s in a very, very long time in the April.

And that's it for today.