I think I have most of the mowing issues resolved and this will likely be my last post on mowing my lawn.

I still really enjoy cutting the grass and there hasn't been a need recently since the weather is so hot and dry that the grass has gone dormant.

There are a couple of lessons that Ive learned about mowing a large yard.

1. Rectangles are good, triangles are bad
2. Cutting a circle around a large tree is easy, around a small tree requires a triangle (which in this case is a good thing in direct contradiction of Rule 1)
3. There are parts of my lawn that do WAY better than other parts (I guess I should figure out where the septic tank is – that may have something to do with it)
4. The amount of grass that needs to be cut is inversely proportional to how much time you have available

I got a question for you: If you were a brand new riding lawnmower owner – would you go to YouTube to try and find techniques that have been proven to work (or am I the only one who's ever searched YouTube for instructional videos on mowing?)

If you would, should I spend an afternoon and put together two or three videos on how to mow around the awkward bits – I am a bit of an expert now.

And you know that from now on my lawn is Bound To Please.

When we decided to put in floor heating in the Pole Barn we did some estimating and got quotes from a couple of contractors.

They told us some of the things that we could do to save money on the quote, and each of them seemed reasonable at the time.

No one told me that when you multiply an easy thing by 1,536 it gets hard (we have a 24x64 pole barn – you do the math).

Today we finished up the insulation that goes under the concrete. That was a job and a half.

Next we need to put down the wire mesh and then attach the Pex to the mesh. T hen the experts take over for a bit and then I think we have more labour to put in.

Whew.

It's a good thing we're working toward a place that is certainly Bound to Please!

(editor's note: I have some bad news and some good news – the bad news is that I shovel like a little girl. The good news is that using my newly learned shoveling skills (thank you, Sherry!) I no longer have a million shovel fulls of moat to fill!)

Every year for New Years Sherry and I set a 'theme' for the year. We don't make resolutions (I'll lose 50 pounds this year or I'll read 120 books, or whatever) we set a general theme for the year.

The very first theme was "More Fun, Less Work". We spent an entire year trimming out the time-wasters that really are just 'work' and adding back in things like Family Game Night and other fun things.

One of our better themes was "One Hand In, One Hand Out". Meaning that you have to be careful to take care of yourself (one hand in), but then you really need to give back to the community (one hand out).

My 'hand in' was hanging out with two very Green People (if you need to ask, don't – that's a three hours course that I teach!). I had coffee with my Green Friends every week (and still do as much as I can and that was years ago!)

Last year's theme was "Living the Dream" – we prepared everything that we needed in order to ensure that we were able to pursue our long term vision for us and our family. It was a mediocre year at best for a bunch of reasons – most of them out of our control.

I usually start thinking about the theme for next year in December or so (117 days to Christmas, everybody) and I watch around me for clues – repeated patterns, hints, words. I also spend a little time meditating about the theme (don't go all weird on me – meditating just means thinking about one thing).

The only thing that kept coming back last December was "Stay the Course". What a sucky theme.

But it resonated with me. And I heard that phrase over and over. Bummer.

Now. Who would have thought that 'The Course' would have taken us this far south on this much land (with this much lawn!) and this much work? That's a pretty aggressive Course to stay on.

But I guess the path should be difficult if it's Bound To Please.