June Wakes Us Up to a Deep Green Recovery

This is as green as it gets.

It’s also likely as good as it gets. The grass, I mean. I’d forgotten what a green yard looks like. I was so encouraged that I bought a new blade for the mower and even took photos of the results. It doesn’t look like Kansas prairie anymore.

So, here are some random thoughts and observations. To see how it’s looking in nearby neighborhoods, I took a couple of bike rides the weekend after graduation. I’ve been riding quite a bit this spring but was amazed at what I now saw. On June 1 it was like everyone’s door to summer opened at once and they were saying “bring it on.” This year it really helped that it was on a Saturday.

Graduation parties were everywhere. I encountered five, two of them practically right across the street from each other. When did it become acceptable to have these in the morning? We attended one in the Cities recently that went from 9:30-noon. They served breakfast. Yep, five types of cereal, hot and iced coffee, and sweet rolls.

I guess morning parties help break things up so they aren’t all from 1-4 pm on the same day, allowing graduates to attend each others’ parties. It will help us, too. We have two to attend on the same day, both out of town. But one is in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Armchair Groundskeepers

During my bike rides, I saw three people mowing their yards with zero-turn riders. Every one of them had a yard small enough to mow in half the time with a push mower. One looked like she was mowing on a drivable Lazy Boy chair. It had beverage holders in the armrests. Another one was trying to mow grass two feet tall between small trees on a narrow boulevard.

Pop-up campers were set up in a few yards and numerous boats were in some state of preparation. You could definitely see the evidence of the recent rains. The river was rising but should be receding by the time you read this. Plants and trees are quickly approaching their deepest green. Flowers that bloom now have no excuse for not proudly showing their colors.

If you haven’t guessed, June is my favorite month. It’s the practical start date for summer. And it’s not hot yet. During my youth, it always meant freedom to me. Freedom from school and freedom to run around and just do random stuff. June was the start of three months to forget everything I had just learned. I think I was just replacing those memories with new experiences.

The key to all the greenery this June is, of course the copious rain we’ve received. I forgot what heavy rain and thunderstorms were like. It was actually kind of an adventure the other morning when, in the middle of yet another thunderstorm, the power went out. Fortunately, I had just finished my shower but I had to finish getting dressed by light from my iPad.

It’s shocking how your day changes in a hurry when there’s no power. I couldn’t watch TV. I couldn’t make my smoothie or coffee. I had to have cereal. Probably the biggest disappointment was that my electric lounge chair wouldn’t recline.

Right as Rain

I have three rain gauges. One in the back, one in the front and one on the roof. All three of them had different readings. I don’t even know if any of them come close to what the actual amount is because I don’t have an accurate measurement to compare them to.

All that rain has to go somewhere. And “somewhere” includes the East Seventh St. project. The necessary deep digging provided a perfect place for water to collect. I grew up in the middle of the project area so was sad to see how torn up it is right now. It’ll be really nice when this plagued project finally wraps up.

My main yard is easy to mow. It’s mowing the hillsides in the ravine behind the house that will wear me out. It was woods when I moved here. I hauled out many loads of buckthorn and dead trees. A landscaper made it mow-able.

Maybe I should have left it as it was. Or maybe I should just get my own zero-turn mower, complete with cup holders.