On Saturday, I dragged our lawnmower out of the garage, fired it up, and realized that it was Not Okay. The edges of the deck directly behind the rear wheels had finally rusted through so that the box surrounding the blade had lost its structural rigidity (think of a cardboard box where you’ve run a knife up two of the edges: it won’t stand up anymore). When I tried to turn it the box would warp and the blade would ping-PING-PING the side of the deck. Not exactly what I want happening 2 feet from my ankles. We’ve had the lawnmower for 15 years, so it doesn’t owe us anything, and considering I bought it for $150 I’d say we got our value out of it. The engine still runs fine, for fuck’s sake. Maybe I can make a go-kart out of it? Or a generator…

When I got through with that, I cleaned up the yard and then brought a socket set out to the back wall of the greenhouse. We haven’t used the greenhouse for years, and it’s really been bugging me lately. I’ve been trying to find a replacement door kit for it but just don’t know what I’m looking for, how it would install, or how much it might cost, so I finally figured the hell with it and unscrewed the panel edges to take the center section of polycarbonate twin wall down. That wasn’t so hard.

There. With an assist from a cheap Home Depot fan, that should get us enough airflow to keep the white mold from growing. I cleaned up the mess inside, threw a bunch of old crap out, leveled the tables and got them ready for some vegetables. My irrigation system still works but I need to get some larger mister heads for the near side and a new hose bib to replace the cracked one outside. I’ve got some plans drawn for two wood-frame chicken wire doors to cover the openings. They will get built this weekend. Then, I need five new rubbermaid bins, a pile of dirt, and some vegetables.