One man went to mow

I've probably mentioned at some stage in the past that Dad moved into a Care Home before the Coronavirus hit.  As a result we've been trying to keep an eye on his house, which is now empty as his wife Mary of 3 years has moved back into her own house.

Dad was paying a local gardener to mow his lawns last summer and autumn, but the chap involved was not terribly reliable, or very good(!), his overriding virtue was that he was very, very cheap.  Always financial prudent,  as the years have gone by, bless him, Dad has become more and more tight fisted. In part I think that this is because he is no longer really in touch with inflation and what things actually cost.  It has turned out that the relationship with the gardener was clearly an ad hoc thing as there has been no sign of him this year.

So, I've spent a couple of hours today making hay and scything the north west field with a strimmer.  I've got 3/4s of it done, and after I finish the rest there's just the southern field to do.  We used to call these fields the front and back gardens, but that was before the grass was nearly a foot tall. Once I've got the grass down to a couple of inches I will be able to get the mower on them and things will get easier in future.  

In the meantime the work in trying to repair my own lawn mower continues.  The latest snag is the 3 screws holding part of the bodywork around the motor housing; they are so corroded its impossible to get a screwdriver into them let alone turn them.  Until I can undo them I cannot get to the next stage of dissasembly.  The screw extractors are due to be employed next, but I will need to source some replacement screws if I don't have something similar in my screw box.  

Its nice to have things to keep me busy in retirement.  Heavens I wouldn't want to be wasting my time learning Spanish, playing guitar, taking photos and involving myself more in Blip.

Classic Album of the day: Bob Dylan ~ Blood on the Tracks