Sunday Morning . . .

Today is an absolutely perfect day.  Sunny.  Mild.  Lovely soft breeze.  Not to mention NO WORK.  Yeaaa! 

And while Buddy and Lisa were here yesterday, they helped Mark get one of those super-strong round pen panels hauled up to the front of Duke's paddock so we could stop worrying about him actually climbing THROUGH that front fence to get to the clover out side the pasture.  (Something he HAS been considering.)

 

See how loose those vinyl strips are? We thought at first that he was making the posts lean to make those strips seem looser, but in fact Duke had pushed so hard through them that he had actually pulled loose some of those inch-long staples that fastened the strips to the posts. Those things are incredibly hard to get hammered in, they're SO big. But he would stick his head through there and just lean on them (very comfy, he thinks) while eating the grass on the other side. And because that little length of strips have no tightener like the main fence, it wasn't possible to tighten them back up.

Anyway, NOW I know he CAN'T get out.  Big load off my mind.  As for that square there next to his door that looks kind of like a window? . . . that's that horse scratching panel.  So far he hasn't figured that out, but we'll see.  Mark says if Duke doesn't learn to use it he's going to bring in inside so HE can use it -- it feels darned good when you rub your back against it!

We went around to a bunch of stores yesterday checking out lawn mowers. We're pretty sold on the Husqvarna with a 54 inch cutting width.  It's pretty comfy, too -- especially compared to the regular lawn tractor we have now.  When we bought that one, this property was a big mess.  There were pieces of concrete and all kinds of junk hidden away in tall grass out in the back, and LOTS of holes that caused the mower to practically throw Mark out of the seat.  But now that we've had the place graded -- and the horses make sure there is never any super-tall grass anymore -- this more sophisticated mower should be a fine thing!  I know Mark is really looking forward to having it.  And I'm sure Buddy will be willing to mow the front while Mark is offshore so the place won't look quite so abandoned by the time he comes home.  Actually, Buddy would probably have been willing to use the old one if it were a bit MORE usable, but it needs some TLC, I'm afraid.  It'll be going to Buddy and Lisa's place once we get the new one, though, so maybe he'll be able to get it fixed up, but right now it definitely needs some "help."

But before we go ahead and get this one, we're going to go by Janet and Mike's place later today and Mark is going to try one out over there.  (They have two of those zero turning radius mowers - one regular size and one HUGE one.)  Given Mark's lack of visual acuity, he wants to be sure he's able to manage the thing before spending all that money on one.  So . . . we'll see.