It's a dreich day at the farmette, as the Scots would say. Grey, drab, cold and a bit damp.
Yesterday, it was much the same, but we had to bite the bullet and rake leaves - wet, cold, heavy leaves.
Some would say we should leave the leaves. But we have soooooo many maple trees and soooo much volume that the lovely red, yellow and orange fluttery bits turn into a gooey mess that kills all the grass.
As proof, these are my legs, encased in garden jeans and up to the tops of the rubber boots in leaves.
Last year, to step into the 20th (let alone 21st) century, we got a spanky bagging system for the John Deere tractor which worked a treat in 2019 when everything was nice and dry and the weather co-operated. Rob was able to do almost all the leaves himself, with no help from moi.
Not so in 2020, when everything is hard. The COVID-19 pandemic. Hard. Lockdown. Hard. Presidential election. Hard. Trump. Really hard.
Several days of rain had made it impossible to use the new equipment. It just plugs up and quits. So. We had to get the arms and legs moving.
A few years ago, Rob figured out that we could increase the volume held by our little cart exponentially by rigging up a post-and-burlap curtain. Here he is, striking an, ahem, artistic pose with his invention while the laundry tries to dry on the line in the background.
The routine is that, once we've piled up a full load, we take turns running the cart back to the back pasture where it gets dumped.
I gotta say, I actually didn't mind doing this chore that much. It was chilly, but we had sweatshirts on and the exercise kept us warm. Plus goofing around, striking poses and generally keeping the mood light helped a LOT.
As you can see, I had to do my own, slightly more dramatic take on the pose here.
We're in for more clean-up work today, since nothing has dried - including the laundry which I had to bring in before it got dark yesterday.
A quick tumble in the dryer and voila, clean clothes with the sweet smell of the outdoors at the farmette.
So I'd better wrap this up. Gird my loins. And get ready for another day of raking.
Until next week.