The Good, Bad and Ugly?

Ever wonder about when things in our lives are really going to come together an gel?

Or, are we always gonna be plagued -or so it does seem at times -with those three things -good, bad and the ugly?

I grump and grumble about things -particularly those involving good old Mother Nature -at times, I know and really, since I chose to live where I live -no one is twisting my arm to stay here -I should be much more appreciative of the fact that I do live in an area with a climate that does have four seasons. And, most of the time, I really do like that aspect of my life here.

I do actually think winter is beautiful -snow-covered ground gives such a crisp, clean appearance and unless the wind is blowing it around, with a ferocious bent to it, I do enjoy sitting inside and taking the pretty scene in. Note of course, I did say "sitting inside" though, didn't I? I don't appreciate all that much going outside when the weather is really cold, rainy, icy, all those kind of rather negative things. But inside, looking out, yep, there are a lot of times when I do love winter.

Fall and spring though -I'd hate to not see those changes if I lived in a climate where there's pretty much just one basic type of weather available -all year round. Nope! I like watching spring arrive and seeing how the colors change from the whites and greys and brown shades to the various degrees of color variation there are to greens! I love watching the trees as they begin to come to life again, year after year and the flowers springing up with their beautiful blossoms.

The fall colors though I do believe are the ones I actually enjoy the most -maybe it has to do with the fact that they blend so wonderfully from the light yellows to golds, oranges, reds and even burgundy-type shades too on some leaves and I don't even mind the beiges and browns of color then too. I even like the smells of autumn -those familiar aromas as folks rake the piles and piles of leaves (and watching kids jump in them and having a high old time) and then, adults burning off many of those leaves as well -a very distinctive smell of fall fills the air.

Summer though I enjoy! Always have loved summer but for different reasons of course, over the years. As a kid -no school meant summer fun, for sure. It was also a time when I left my quarters here and traveled to spend several weeks with my Mom's older sister and her husband in Jamestown, NY and then, over to Corry, PA to spend at least a week, usually more, with my Mom's younger brother, his wife and their FOUR children. (The latter spot was the closest I ever came to enjoying what life would be like had I had siblings so you know, I totally loved going there!) Summer was easy-livin' and fun to me then and even though over the years I've had to accept the fact that those days are long gone -for me -but they are here again now as I watch my grandkids play in the backyard, enjoy the warmth, the bright sunshine, all those great things that do come with summertime.

One thing though that, as an adult, I never appreciated about summer -see how it is each season does have those darned drawbacks, don't they -was grass and the cutting thereof!

My house and property here, when I was a kid, had a very large yard. And I do mean VERY large too! Roughly two acres worth! And, back when I was junior-senior high age -roughly 12 or 13 until I left here at age 19 -it was often my job to run the lawn mower we had across all that grass and keep it looking half-way decent. The lawn size stayed pretty much that large until the time my ex-husband and I built a house on a side lot to my current home but the grass-cutting job was still there for both properties then. And still with a power mower, yes, but the push-type. At one point, my ex did find a great deal on a nice bit riding lawn mower and we had that for maybe a year until he -in his infinite wisdom -did a fantastic trading job with a friend of his and he gave that friend our nice big riding lawn mower in exchange for that guy's smaller riding lawn mower but which also had a fitting for a snowplow blade on it whereas ours didn't come equipped with that! Unfortunately too, that lawn mower that he traded for only lasted maybe one summer then for us and of course, that meant there would be no use for it to plow snow with it come winter then either!

So, back to the self-propelled push rotary mowers it was for me then from then until -well until this summer!

When, lo and behold, Mandy's friend, Ken, brought his riding lawn mower down here for us to use! Not a really new model, by any shot and so far it has held up with no really way-out there expenses to keep it running but it's shaky how much longer it will hold up and I can tell you this much for sure, that there is no way I can even consider going back to using a push-type mower no matter how big an engine it may have and I know too, if it comes to us returning to that kind of lawn care, Mandy is going to be hiring a local kid then to tend to the grass-cutting job around this place.

Makes me dream about things a lot then as I consider the potential uses we could/would have were we ever able to make a nice investment then of something from the ariens mowers line of tractors and riding lawn mowers and such!

Oh the joy that would hold for me! To be able to have something nice and comfy to sit on while cutting the grass -for openers -and also, something that maybe could even have some type of plow thing to attach to it to turn over the soil for my garden and a regular snowplow attachment too for it so we could welcome the heavy snowfalls when they come and be able to get our parking lot (which is almost what the parking area in the front of our house resembles) when winter comes calling.

Makes me think too about something else and that's if I want to ever have these things, I'd best get busy and buy more lottery tickets too cause near as I can calculate, that's about the only way we'll ever get the coins to buy all these things I dream about these days!