A Few Quick Notes 204

-The weather has taken a turn for the worse today. Just as I was head to work it started to rain, though not all that heavily. As the day has progressed things have really not gotten any better. It seems we are in for more of the same for the next few days.

-On Monday evening I had to mow the lawn at house at which I had been house-sitting. I really should have done this a few days ago, but I didn't.

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the mower owned by the owners of the house. It seems that just before I arrived they loaned it to some friends. Though they left a phone number I wasn't able to reach these individuals.

In the end I borrowed my parents mower and transported it in the back of their car. Almost as soon as I arrived I could see that the mower wasn't doing a particularly good job of cutting. Once I moved to the backyard with its taller grass this deficiency became quite apparent.

At first I assumed that the poor cutting was because I had let the grass grow too long. It seems that this may have only been part of the problem. My father later informed me that the blade was also on the dull side and likely contributed to knocking down rather than cutting effect I was achieving.

Anyway, as soon as the grass gets a chance to stand up again it will have to be cut, which is frustrating as I did try to do a good job.

-Soon after the mowing debacle I went over to my new house-sitting house for a tour. Everything went quite well and I think that the experience should be positive. What I think will be the most consequential difference is that at the new place I won't have to take walk a dog, nor will I have to let a dog out to pee in the middle of the night.

-On the same evening I kept missing Neil's phone calls. It seems that he found out about an Air Canada seat sale and was interested in booking our tickets to return to St. John's at Christmas.

Eventually we were able to talk for a few minutes and I gave him the go ahead to book my ticket. When I checked my email later in the evening I found that he had booked tickets for the three of us.

-I was thinking that it would probably seem a little odd if I opened up a can of non-alcoholic beer with my lunch at work.

-As I was walking home from work earlier this week I noticed that they were cutting the plants that were growing in the field across from the Confederation building. When I took the dog for a walk later in the day I was able get a better sense for the extent of the operation, which was quite substantial.

Even with my previous reconnaissance missions I was somewhat surprised the next afternoon to find that the cuttings had been bailed and that a number of bails were sitting throughout the field. Presumably these will be used as some kind of forage, though I am not sure who gets to sell the goods.

When I passed through the field today I noticed that the bails had been covered in plastic and stacked on a truck. I imagine that by tomorrow afternoon that there will be very little evidence of bails and wildflowers that were both there earlier in the week.

-Earlier this evening I baked a Texas sheet cake for a co-worker's retirement get-together. As I know that she likes all things chocolate I am hoping that the cake will be well received. It seems that the event will be taking place tomorrow morning, only hours before this person will be done for good.