The forecast for Friday was so nice (sunny and about 70ºF) that my friend Robyn and I decided to meet up for a picnic lunch. We grabbed some vegan grub from The Health Nut (a tempeh salad multigrain wrap for Robyn, their yummy "I Am Immune" açai and blueberry coconut water-based smoothie for me), and drove the short distance to the Sheridan Visitor's Center, which has the best view of the Big Horns in town. Which is why I brought my camera along. :-)
Here's the view as we saw it from our picnic spot, shunning their shaded picnic tables to bask on the grass in the warm sunshine....
And here are a couple of zoom photos taken with my telephoto lens...
There's snow in them thar hills! (Good thing, since it's the source of our water!)
That's 13,005' Black Tooth Mountain in the photo's center
Our lovely Friday bade us farewell with a final beautiful view, this time of the full moon setting over the mountains...
Saturday was even more beautiful than Friday, with lots of sunshine and a high of 76º (25º warmer than average and missing the record high for that date by just 5º). BW and I took advantage of it with several outdoor activities, beginning with the assembly and maiden voyage of our new reel mower!
As a kid I loved using my grandparents' heavy vintage reel mower - already old in the 1970's when I'd use it to mow the grass at their rural Maine farmhouse, once even mowing a patch in the overgrown field behind the house so my cousin and I could play badminton there! I've wanted one of my own ever since, but had to wait for the demise of the old gasoline push mower BW and I bought as newlyweds for $35 at a Texas pawn shop (and moved with us five times) before it finally exhaled its last noxious breath late last August! But by the time we got our sod in at our newly-built house it was autumn, so I had to wait till winter ended. Which, of course, winter didn't do - the mower arrived the day before Zeus hit, and we were needing a snow thrower more than a lawn mower!
But by Saturday the snow had all melted and the front yard needed a haircut, so out came our shiny new mower ~~
After reading several reel mower guides and reviews, we ordered this Fisker's 17" Staysharp model from Amazon.com for $160 (now the price is $20 higher, so I guess it pays to order your mower while there's still snow on the ground!)
So why my longing for a reel mower? You can read about their advantages (and disadvantages) on this Reel Mower Guide, but my main reasons for wanting one was because they're quiet (I hate noise), non-polluting, cheaper and easier to maintain (no spark plugs, air filter or oil to change, no gas to buy and haul home, no carburetor to adjust), and it provides good exercise (and fresh air and Vitamin D exposure!) :-)
They're also much better for your grass (reel mowers snip the grass like scissors rather than tear it as rotary motors do), they're much safer, and since they're so quiet, you can mow at any time of day - including the cool of the early morning or late evening, without disturbing the peace.
We found this mower light and maneuverable, and it cut the Kentucky bluegrass on our front yard easily and fairly quickly. The back yard's fescue isn't quite ready to be mowed yet, and it will be a bit more challenging since it's a bigger area and it slopes. But it's just going to be a better workout!
Of course if it proves too tough or takes too long, we can always modify it...
(Speaking of performance enhancing drugs...)
And then we could even compete in the U.S. Lawn Mower Races (yes, there really is such a ghastly thing), especially since UPS already has a lawn mower racing team, apparently...
But enough about mowing stuff, let's talk about growing stuff!
Miraculously, our neighbor's daffodils that looked for all the world like they were done for after Winter Storm Zeus hurled -2ºF temps and 8" of heavy snow at them last weekend, were revived by the sunshine and warm temps and most of them look as good as new! Here are a couple of photos I took early Sunday morning so you could see the tough little buggers' lovely rejuvenation for yourselves...
You can almost hear them greet the warm sunshine with a relieved and contented "aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh." Just like us. :-)