Don’t worry — it’s been a very long time since Quill Gordon was neatly trimmed so this post is not about that. This post is about cutting the vegetation on an old earthen dam, something that must be done at least twice a year to inspect the embankment for animal burrows or changes that might go un-noticed if hidden beneath vigorously growing grass and pretty flowers.
There is always an outcry from certain quarters when the wildflowers get cut but the rule is that the person operating the machine gets to decide what stays and what goes. I’ve even offered to help get them geared-up but, so far, not a single 80 year old woman in a floppy hat has taken me up on it.
Before
For some, work is a spectator sport and some folks can watch it all day. I appreciate that not everyone has that much leisure time to spend watching someone else work so, with the aid of my trusty tripod, several hours of work has been compressed to less than two minutes for your enjoyment.
There are a some breaks in the action, though, for things other than refueling or getting a drink of water. The first one, early on, comes as a very nice man shares an important tip about using charcoal grills, having to do with the way Pyrex glass baking dishes can explode over such intense heat.
The second passes quickly and is not easy to catch from a distance so I’ll zoom in on a couple of frames and explain.
A Man with a Bag of Wet Clothes
As grandchildren will sometimes do, this man’s had “accidentally” gone swimming, fully clothed, and now he needed a dryer. Not the clothesline on the porch of his camp, a dryer.
Of course, I was happy to oblige.
Same Bag of Wet Clothes, Different Man
In other words, just another typical day at Fish in a Barrel Pond.
Now, take a little break from your work and watch someone else do theirs:
Yep, that darn Quill Gordon, fishing all the time.
After
The View from Fish in a Barrel Pond 
What’s with that rude man interrupting you while you mow? Some people… Btw, is the “man with a bag of wet clothes” from RI?
The first man of which you speak is recently retired and may be prone to wandering. It’s okay. It’s his friends I wonder about more…
As for the second man, I think I know who you mean but you’re thinking of one of those (several) other men with a bag of wet clothes.
I know what you mean by people who enjoy watching others work – my girlfriend’s neighbors consider it high sport. Watching me load logs into the bucket of a tractor must have been like watching Hercules perform his seven labors, judging by the looks on their faces. Just seeing me mow the lawn tuckers them out. I can almost hear Frank now: “Dammit Sherry, watching him is making me tired. Grab me a beer, will ya?”
There have been times when I thought I should have a concession stand so gawkers wouldn’t have to bring their own refreshments.
It’s always nice, though, to hear how much everyone thinks I must enjoy doing things like mowing. After all, I spend hours and hours doing it.
Thats a lot of dam mowing!
It’s all part of the company physical fitness plan. Getting as much rain in a month as some places get in a year ensures there is always grass to cut. And brambles, pucker brush, etc. Sometimes I miss dust and yucca.
I did not see you find any wasps or ticks. What’s up with that? 😉
There is a brief pause for a wasp nest, just this side of the gatehouse, that I found with the weed whacker. Bald-face hornets. Small nest with a dozen or so. Trimmer line spinning at 10,000 rpm is effective against small groups so I’m glad it is still early in the season.
As for finding ticks, very few people are invited to my post-cutting tick checks and there are never, ever, photos.
Hmmm…who was that “masked man”? Do trout rise to ticks?
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