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  • jstein77

    Dec. 21, 2011 6:31 p.m. jstein77 Dork

    Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year, but that didn't stop me from jumping on the mower when I got home to cut the lawn. Mowing in the dead of winter might be a foreign concept to most of you (and yes, I know I've written about this subject before but it still strikes me as strange every time I do it), but the lawn was actually getting a bit scruffy looking. At 5:10, the sun touched the horizon; at 5:30, it was completely out of site; and at 5:45 it began to get difficult to see where I'd cut. It was dark at 6, but I had finished and was inside eating dinner.

    I bet some of you thought I had drag raced and vanquished a Pontiac (which my turbo beast could do pretty easily), but I was speaking of actual mowing this time.

  • Cone_Junky

    Dec. 21, 2011 6:43 p.m. Cone_Junky HalfDork

    I was expecting a Solstice converted into an apex carving mower

  • 1988RedT2

    Dec. 21, 2011 6:45 p.m. 1988RedT2 SuperDork

    If rain wasn't in the forecast, I might de-shaggify my lawn tomorrow. It seems it just never really stops growing. Stupid global warming!

  • ransom

    Dec. 21, 2011 6:53 p.m. ransom Dork

    Thanks for reminding me! I've been pretty bummed about the fact that sunset's about 4:30 around here these days, but after checking a couple of sites, it looks like while the Solstice is tomorrow (or today according to a couple of sites), tomorrow is either the earliest sunset of the year, or it was a few minutes earlier last week (there's some sort of funkiness wherein the sunrise is getting later faster than the day is shifting back, so we can actually have a shorter day with a later sunset than the day before)

    ANYHOW... The upshot is that from here onward, we're on the right side of both sunset and day length, and getting better all the time. Finally!

  • Giant Purple Snorklewacker

    Dec. 21, 2011 7:48 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

    I completely expected to see a video of your Solstice going off.

  • EastCoastMojo

    Dec. 21, 2011 11:12 p.m. EastCoastMojo SuperDork

    I am somewhat disappointed that there is no video of a lawnmower/Solstice hybrid mowing the lawn up in here.

  • failboat

    Dec. 22, 2011 4:23 a.m. failboat HalfDork

    I am more excited to fire up the mower with the plow I just picked up off Craigslist. But who am I kidding, now its not going to snow this year. It was near 60 degrees yesterday.

  • bravenrace

    Dec. 22, 2011 7:15 a.m. bravenrace SuperDork

    You might think it is something that could not be done this time of year in northeast Ohio. But it was 60 degrees here also yesterday, and my grass is looking a bit ragged. But that's where the similarity ends, as I'm not getting my mower out again until at least April!

  • Duke

    Dec. 22, 2011 7:42 a.m. Duke SuperDork

    failboat wrote:

    I am more excited to fire up the mower with the plow I just picked up off Craigslist. But who am I kidding, now its not going to snow this year. It was near 60 degrees yesterday.

    Then buying the plow did its duty, no?

  • nderwater

    Dec. 22, 2011 7:59 a.m. nderwater SuperDork

    Last year we got a dusting of snow on Christmas. Today it's a muggy and warm 70 degrees outside. Go figure.

  • Curmudgeon

    Dec. 22, 2011 8:11 a.m. Curmudgeon SuperDork

    That's because Al Gore got mad and turned global warming back on.

  • Sky_Render

    Dec. 22, 2011 8:27 a.m. Sky_Render Reader

    Curmudgeon wrote:

    That's because Al Gore got mad and turned global warming back on.

    QFT.

  • iceracer

    Dec. 22, 2011 9:40 a.m. iceracer SuperDork

    Sounds like something that happened in upstate N Y a few years ago. A member of our club went water skiing on New Years day. Then somebody turned off the switch.

  • carguy123

    Dec. 22, 2011 10:11 a.m. carguy123 SuperDork

    I'm just glad the Solstice has happened. I wasn't paying attention this year.

    Now the universe and possibilities aren't contracting with nothing to look forward to but less and less and finally we can look forward to more and more. It's amazing the difference in your attitude when you can begin to look forward to better things than when the world seems to be crashing down around you.

    I absolutely hate this time of year just due to the early darkness, but once we turn the corner I find an uplift in my spirits even tho we have the coldest part of the winter to look forward to.

  • Rusted_Busted_Spit

    Dec. 22, 2011 10:30 a.m. Rusted_Busted_Spit SuperDork

    Duke wrote:

    failboat wrote:

    I am more excited to fire up the mower with the plow I just picked up off Craigslist. But who am I kidding, now its not going to snow this year. It was near 60 degrees yesterday.

    Then buying the plow did its duty, no?

    Just like me puttign the snow tires on both of the cars, warm and rainy.

  • friedgreencorrado

    Dec. 22, 2011 4:24 p.m. friedgreencorrado SuperDork

    carguy123 wrote:

    I'm just glad the Solstice has happened. I wasn't paying attention this year.

    Now the universe and possibilities aren't contracting with nothing to look forward to but less and less and finally we can look forward to more and more. It's amazing the difference in your attitude when you can begin to look forward to better things than when the world seems to be crashing down around you.

    I absolutely hate this time of year just due to the early darkness, but once we turn the corner I find an uplift in my spirits even tho we have the coldest part of the winter to look forward to.

    I'm with you. It isn't really the cold that does it to me, it's the damn dark. I've worked 2nd shift for most of the last 30yrs., makes it even worse. When you don't get up until 12noon-2p or so, that's what..only 5-6hrs. of daylight? Someone once asked me if there was any music that atheists use like Christmas carols. I told `em the best one is "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles.

    Play it, George!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoHjtfju2pY

  • gamby

    Dec. 22, 2011 4:47 p.m. gamby SuperDork

    I got out on my bicycle this afternoon--took the singlespeed through some hilly, ritzy neighborhoods in the next town over from me. Gotta love being in shorts on a bicycle on Dec 22 in New England.

    Anyway, I think I last mowed in late November. It's barely grown since then and the mow lines are still in tact.

    The Winterizer I threw down on it will make it nice and green before my neighbors' lawns.

    Of course, I let it go dormant in the rain-free Julys we have. It always comes back with the rainy Septembers we have, though.

  • procainestart

    Dec. 22, 2011 5:01 p.m. procainestart Dork

    The sun has been setting at 4:18 - 4:20 in Seattle since December 1, so the Winter Solstice is a great day for Seattleites. Today, though, we are having a bluebird day; too bad I'm confined in an office.

    Oh, if there are any Dead fans here (not likely, heh), then this is for you:

    Here Comes Sunshine

  • gamby

    Dec. 22, 2011 5:28 p.m. gamby SuperDork

    procainestart wrote:

    Oh, if there are any Dead fans here (not likely, heh),

    What did one sober Deadhead say to the other?

    "Wow, this music sucks."

  • procainestart

    Dec. 22, 2011 5:40 p.m. procainestart Dork

    Jerry Garcia said:

    “Our audience is like people who like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.

 
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