Cycle of the Seasons

 

Sitting here this morning thinking that the 39 degrees outside of my door is cold and realizing that in a few months this temperature would qualify as a warm winter day made me think about the cycle of the seasons. 

Grass Mounds Along the Fence
Elkridge, MD
October 17, 2020

Yesterday, for instance, as part of the winter preparations Chris and I cut the ornamental grasses mourned the outside of the pool. We have been experimenting with when to cut the grasses--whether it is better to let them winter or to get them removed while they are still green and easier to manage. It took two trips to the landfill recycling area to remove them as part of what turned out to be a long midday project. I can usually get them all into one highly mounded truck load, but with the exceptionally favorable growing season they were more voluminous than normal. 

But the project is complete. This past year we waited until Spring to cut the grasses and it was a lot messier. Being that yesterday was a cooler day, we did not find as many critters lurking in the mounds--which is good since we have found snakes in the past and while the snakes are the good snakes, it still causes a moment of pause when one comes slithering out as we start cutting away with the hedge trimmers. I do wish the battery on the trimmer would last for the entire project--it just doesn't have enough justice to make it all the way. 

Cutting the grasses is part of the cycle of the seasons. Next we have to drain the water from the lines in the pool house in preparation for freezing temperatures, from which, so far, we have been spared. 

As the leaves change color and fall from the trees, the cycle of the seasons continues.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD