gerisullivan | Rain. Now with added thunder.

It's been wet here in the Woods of late. Pretty much constantly wet, or so it seems. There were seven consecutive rain-free days at the beginning of May. I was in Portland, OR for six of them. Since then, the pattern has mostly been rain, rain, rain, rain, no rain, rain, rain, no rain, no rain, rain, rain, rain.

This weather pattern has wreaked havoc on my usual practice of small engine abuse, aka mowing the lawn. The taller the grass grows, the longer it needs to dry enough to be mowed. The longer it goes without mowing, the greater the small engine abuse and the more Toad Woods looks like it ought to be renamed "Abandoned Woods."

Last Sunday, I had Plans to mow down at least some of the meadows the various parts of the land formerly known as "lawn" and "yard" had become. Only I was then reminded of the Boskone and NESFA meetings that afternoon and lost the window of opportunity. Only it wasn't really an opportunity -- it rained Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, much as I thought Saturday was due to be rain-free.

The week that followed was more of the same: rain, rain, no rain, rain, and rain. Saturday was dry this time around, and Sunday was, too. At last.

I wrestled the lawnmower out of its hiding place in the garage. All those trips to Michigan last year mean the garage is piled high with curiosities from 22 Grand Blvd. None of it's worth anything beyond the memories, but, oh, those memories. Memories and the knowledge that it came from The Basement, The Workshop, or The Garage.

The lawnmower was new last year. The darned thing doesn't have a primer button; it's supposed to start with ease without one. Famous last words and false promises. I pulled that cord well over 50 times over the next 90 minutes, probably closer to 100 -- trying, trying, and trying, then walking away for 15-30 minutes before trying another 20 times or so. During the breaks, I Googled my way to next to nothing in the way of useful information. No, the gas wasn't fresh. That may have been the problem, much as it never was with the previous mower using gas from the season before. (Hey, I said I abuse small engines.) Sheer perseverance and one promising cough'n'sputter after the first 30 pulls kept me going.

The mower eventually resigned itself to its fate. Vroom-rumble-vroom and we were off.

I made it about 40 feet before the first grass clog killed the engine. The green stuff was still darned damp down at its base and using the mower as a self-mulcher is tricky when the grass is that tall.

I cleared the clog and resumed mowing. Made it, oh, another 30-40 feet. Another clog. Returned to the garage in search of the mower bag, a device I've never used on any mower, a device I never expected to use. But my-oh-my, did it ever do the trick yesterday. I emptied it every 150 feet or so. The process was super E-Z, just as the bag promised. There's even a clear spot in the top, so I could see how full it was and stop before the mower clogged.

The clear area across the front of the house is once again a lawn rather than a meadow. I left one foxglove and a patch of daisies that were too well-established and pretty to mow down. Everything else went. I started in on the far side of the garage as the sun was setting, but gave that up when the mower ran out of gas. Good intentions failed to get me out and mowing again before the rain started falling today. Heavy rain, lots of it, with thunder rumbles throughout. Rain is forecast again for tomorrow, but then there are supposed to be four (count 'em, *4*) rain-free days in a row. Yowser.

I'll believe it when I see it. And I'll decide then whether to limit my mowing to the flat area of the side yard, leaving the hillside as a meadow from here on, or whether to tackle that, too.

Onward. For all this rain, you'd think I'd have made more progress on things indoors.