This could have been another nothing Sunday. I was all set up for just that, in fact. I slept late and then watched the race and after that the ballgame. I mean, that’s perfect, isn’t it? What else do I want out of a pre-Monday? I could have picked my novel up off the end table and spent the rest of the daylight hours lost in that world. It would have been okay, not even a wasted day really.

But I got the bug yesterday and today I needed to keep the momentum going. So as soon as the game was over I turned the answering machine on and went out to the garage and fired up the lawnmower. (Actually, all it takes is a flip of the switch.) This time I cut the area next to the driveway, the part of the yard you’ll see when you come to visit.

I even went up and down the center strip of the drive itself, to finish the work I started with the weed trimmer the other day. That was a waste of my trimmer line, I think, but it’s a lot better now. Tomorrow when I leave, I don’t expect my car’s undercarriage to get brushed with, uh, brush.

Just like yesterday, I didn’t last long. I’m pretty proud of how much area I did get cut back, but it’s barely a dent. It was hard work, I’ll have to say that, because the grasses have grown so high. But you might not notice unless I point it out to you (which you can be sure I will do).

This project is going to be a little like the painting of the Golden Gate Bridge. It will go on forever and never be finished. I can work to my full capacity every day of the year and still have something to start on the next day. That’s probably more a good thing than a bad thing, because I’ll never lack for motivation and I’ll never have a chance to lose momentum.

I’m just not sure I’ll be as effective on weekdays, so it might turn out to be an every-weekend project instead of an everyday one. That’s okay, because I have the trimmer to pick up the slack during the week. I’m stoked about this.

When I do use the mower, I’m always careful about rocks and sticks that might damage the blade or fly off and hit something. I walked the area where I was going to work today before I started, and it seemed clear. What I didn’t notice was that there was a dead gopher in the high grass. I came within a foot of chopping it to bloody bits (or — ugh! — stepping on it). When I saw it, I picked it up with a shovel and flung it over the far fence for the buzzards.

It was in pretty good shape, except for being dead. Its front teeth were a bit yellow, but that might have been weathering rather than hygiene. At least I didn’t run over it, as my yard guy did to a snake a couple of years ago. He didn’t mean to, but that’s the trouble with letting the grass get so high before mowing. I might be getting past that problem now.