23 May 2024

Good news comes with the bad, I finally made it to the furthest corner of my property only to have another lawn mower belt break seconds later. I know I’m buying cheap belts, but I’m also driving like wild in the forest. There are even mulching blades for the mower that I don’t have, from now on I will stick to mowing grass. Maybe in the future I’ll get a bush hog to make quick work clearing small trees. The problem is I walk around the woods and get excited to clean things up, there’s been many nights I take the dog out for a walk only to go get some tool and start clearing until nightfall. After I had parked the mower I discovered what happened, a vine at least half an inch thick wrapped itself around the back bumper and was rubbing against the pulley system for the belt. The vine was behind me, so I couldn’t see it while riding and still took some struggling to get it free. Once I had the vine in hand I threw it back in the woods, but it made one last move grabbing my wrist and giving a cut. Nature always fights back. It leaves me asking what am I doing, I don’t know why I’m drawn to this and in 10, 20 years things will look unrecognizably different. I don’t know what the end result will be, I’m just following the plan. Reaching the furthest corner, marked by the painted 4×4 in the photo is exciting. Next I can work on clearing that Eastern edge, that will be a lot of chainsaw work, that area is mostly trees that grow in clusters that have bent over the neighbors fence. They will be frustrating to move, so it goes.