That Wasn't Very Smart.

I almost electrocuted myself this evening. Yesterday, I cleaned up a big mess on my front porch. This motivated me to clean up a few more messes. Our deck is a mess and so is the tiny backyard the Monkeys play in. Our vacation, the rains that followed for ten days or so, and the mad dash and craziness that comes with getting three children back to school caused me to neglect it. It needed mowing bad. Really, it could have been baled. We had a small Memorial Day party at Mamala's house this afternoon. The boys and I arrived back home with just a little bit of daylight left. I told the Monkeys to pick up their toys and I went to get the lawnmower. It is a really little bit of lawn. It takes about ten minutes to mow it.

I have two lawnmowers. One is an old fashioned push lawnmower the other is an electric lawnmower. When the grass gets too tall, I have to use the electric machine. So I set up the lawnmower with an orange electric cord and proceeded to mow.

There are all kinds of kid accouterments in that yard; trampoline, swing set, log cabin playhouse, and the dog trough. Yes, Abby needs a dog trough not just a water bowl. This is pretty much a lawn mowing obstacle course.

I started mowing and was trying to get it done. Gustave is supposed to bring us rain tomorrow, so I needed to get it done tonight. I was just about done and it was just about dark when it happened. I ran over the extension cord. Sparks flew. Monkeys fled in a panic. Tailless cats jumped from the deck to the roof. The dog looked at me like I was retarded. I unplugged it and we are all fine.

Moral of the story: Do not mow in the dark. Has anyone else ever endangered their life doing yard work?

Blue Butterfly

Look what bloomed for me today. This is Cleredendrum ugandense or blue butterfly bush. It is not hardy here in zone 8a. This one is grown in a container and overwinters in my greenhouse. The bush is about four feet tall, but I have read that in areas where it is hardy, it can grow to 10 feet. This little flower makes me happy.