Okay, maybe being a small engine mechanic isn't the best part of the job....

But you've got to do what you've got to do. This is our number two string-trimmer, and it was blowing blue smoke this morning so I changed the gas; too much oil in the mix is a likely cause of that symptom. Not this time though. Some rainy, cold, or snowy day I'll check the sparkplug to see if it's fouled; odds on, that's the problem. Today I just let Nathan do all the work, er trimming. Thursday is our volunteer day and we had five volunteers to help us with the final perennial cut-backs. Nathan managed to stay ahead of them, just barely, so we didn't miss trimmer number two. Today we did mostly big drifts: anemones in China Valley, bloodgrass, and iris. It was cool and maybe not as windy as I thought it would be. We just about finished the cutbacks so next week we're going to do some pruning: watersprouts, suckers, and clearly inappropriate branches. We've never had the luxury of doing this with volunteers and it's going to make a big difference in the general appearance of the Collection. I'm psyched again!