Just Call Me Tractor Girl

Well, this vacation has been jam-packed with busyness and "first" things.

I've been cooking up a storm, trimming hedges, making yarn dolls, washing dishes, letting the dogs in and out, making sure Gpa's oxygen thingamabob is still working coz he can't hear if it isn't, and doing laundry.

Today a first. Gpa's grass was getting very out of control and tall. I asked him if he has a push power mower and he said he hasn't started it in 10 years. Yeah, not going to start by any means. So he told me that he would do it and that he didn't want me to "work too hard". I told him (coz it's been three days he's not been feeling well enough to get out of his PJs) that I mow my own yard and that I wanted to mow (yes, I actually said I wanted to mow, let lightening strike me now). He and I got changed into scungy clothes and he taught me how to use the riding mower. That's what I said, the riding mower. Now, I don't drive a stick coz I have a hard time paying attention to several things at once and doing two-handed actions simultaneously. So I'm watching Gpa do this, press this, move this, reverse this, forward this, blade this, etc. He gets off and I get on. Well, I jerked that mower around HARD, but I managed to mow the front yard and even circle around the Pampas grass. He did the more difficult manuevers (sp) around the corners and all the reversing. Then he did the side hill and I did all the rest. Gpa has a very very big yard in the back, an acre plus or minus a bit coz of the trees in the back. Anyway, by the time I was on my 3rd time around the back, I finally got the hang of reverse/neutral/forward and was doing really well, not professional, but pretty compentently mowing around all the obstacles in the back - I had to watch for stumps, rocks, thick branches, holes, ditches, and various other things - but I DID IT. An accomplishment. I know it sounds minor, but it was a major accomplishment to me.

Then I had to hurry inside and get the bread dough on the porch coz it had tripled in rising and needed to be punched down as I'm making Spaghetti Bread to go with Chili tonight. Gotta go stir the chili.