Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today mostly to talk about my Private Lawn. You may remember me from such posts as “Clearing the Path”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
This is mostly what I’ve been doing, since it’s been so hot.
A few days ago, despite the unrelenting heat, this happened. It sprinkled on and off all day, too.
And then there was this, which I didn’t see.
Despite this, there’s yet another fire, this time near Lookout Mountain, which is several miles to the northwest of us. It was started by lightning. We can see all the communication towers with their red lights flashing if we walk out to the very back of the garden.
Buffalo Bill was buried on Lookout Mountain. The guy I live with has been up there once, the first or second year his family moved here.
The guy I live with saw the first Cyclamen purpurascens in flower today. They flower before the leaves appear, here. In other regions the leaves might be around most of the summer, if not all year.
He says you can tell it’s Cyclamen purpurascens because the bottom of the flower is sort of blunt. C. hederifolium, another species which flowers in autumn before the leaves appear, has little auricles at the base of the flower. They look like little ears, which is what “auricle” means.
Anyway, I should talk about the title of today’s post, and let me say I take no responsibility at all for that title.
The guy I live with has been hemming and hawing, mostly hawing I think, about whether or not to mow my Private Lawn. I didn’t have an opinion. I like my lawn a lot, though.
At first he said he wasn’t going to, because the lawn is buffalo grass, and it’ll start to go dormant next month or maybe a bit later. It would need to be watered after being mowed, but the guy I live with has been watering more than in any summer I remember.
He finally made a decision, and got out the lawn mower. I’ve shown this picture before.
I hear it’s really easy to use and does a nice job.
So he mowed, while I stayed indoors for safety reasons, and then he got out his gardening bench, kneeled on it, and trimmed the lawn with sheepshears, like he’s been doing for a long time. His grandfather showed him how to use sheepshears in his garden in Los Angeles, in the 1950s, so that’s how long he’s been using sheepshears.
This is a different, newer pair.
And this is the result. This is ‘Cody’ buffalo grass (nice tie-in with Lookout Mountain), which was sown from seed, before buffalo grass seed got very expensive.
He said that empty area by the hose will fill in next summer. Bunnies have been nibbling at the grass, which he said is okay.
If this had been done earlier in the summer he might have used the edger to make my Private Lawn fancier-looking, but this is more than acceptable.
By the way, the guy I live with said the reason he didn’t recommend buffalo grass in his last book was because of all the chemicals, like pre-emergents, people said you needed to get a lawn established. He didn’t use any chemicals; the lawn just grew. I live here, too, so chemicals are out of the question. He did use burlap to keep the new lawn in place; I think Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, showed how that was done. (If you want to see that post, it was called “My Strange Little Garden”.)
So that’s all I have for today. I’ll leave you with another picture of me lounging on the bed.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
You received actual rain-I think 12 drops fell?? Oh man, we’re sooo jealous. Hot and dry in NW Denver. Sigh. That’s one beautiful cyclamen, Mani.
The guy I live with said that for once the storm turned to the south and we got some rain.
The storms usually track north of US 285, starting right where the highway turns southeast to go into the mountains, and moving east. We live sort of just south of that curve, so the rain barely misses us, usually.
So much newss Mani!!! Wee happy youss’ gotted a bit of rain….wee tried to send our rain to you butt it went East an not South. THE rainbow iss lovelee. There iss sumthin furry lovelee about rainbowss….they make Hu’manss happy.
Wee hope Lookout Mountain will bee spared two much damage from THE WildFire! An that was a grate way to meow about Mistur Buffalo Bill.
Yore Private Lawn lookss guud an THE Cyclamen are furry purrty. An Mani yore hansum purr usual. Guy you nose BellaSita Mum reememburrss usin one of those mowerss a long time ago….they sure due last!
**nose rubss** BellaDharma an {{hugss}} BellaSita Mum
Thanks. We got a little bit of rain this evening, with lots of scary thunder. The guy I live with said if the storm had just turned south a teeny bit (less than a mile) we might have gotten a bunch of rain.
The mower came from the Vermont Country Store, a long time ago.
Mani an Guy if only that rain had terned South….Wee wurry about our Colorado frendss….it seemss youss’ nevurr get enuff rain!!!
It did rain again today. Just a little bit.
HURRAH!! A littel bit of rain iss bettur than NO rain rite Mani? Hope there was no thunder to sp00k you!
It is. There was thunder, though.
CATFISH! Bet you went innto yore upstairss fort Mani!
I did. With the air conditioner on.
Rite on Mani! Stay safe mee frend!
Thanks.
Yore furry wellcome Mani an Guy two…..
How nice that they guy you live with (or who lives with you) mows your lawn for you. Although it is easier for him to do it than for you to do it, it is quite a bit of work nonetheless. Rhody had his own abandoned baseball field for a while, but it was not mown after it was abandoned, and then became a dirt field after it was buried by debris from mudslides a few years ago. The mudslide did not happen there, but we needed to put the debris somewhere. The debris and mud were eventually taken away, but the lawn was not put back. Rhody is a terrier though, so enjoy dirt (terra) as much as turf.
It’s not really all that much work, since the lawn is pretty small. The biggest amount of work, according to the guy I live with, is getting motivated.
Oh, of course! I know that!
Motivation is always an issue here.
Is that part of your job description?
It is.
We also sat inside all day yesterday and it seems likely we will do the same today because it is raining heavily! Pffffffffff Time moves slowly on these days. I cut the grass before the rain arrived and had to dislodge no buffalo in advance of that operation!
I could have added above that our local crows are constantly pecking holes in the grass, in search of food, I expect, despite the fact that I throw out generous amounts of peanuts for them.
The guy I live with’s wife used to throw out peanuts for the blue jays, but the squirrels would get them too, and dig holes in the garden to bury them.
I’ve only seen blue jays here once, this summer.
It never rains heavily here for more than a few minutes. We used to have rain all day, but that was a long time ago.
Even when the creek floods that’s usually because of a downpour only lasting a few minutes.
I looked up Cyclamen hederifolium online to see what the auricles look like. They are not nearly as impressive as your ears though, Mani.
I would have to agree.