Betsie Lawnbott

Little bit of side yard

Originally uploaded by sajego.

We have this little section of yard to the side of the driveway. It’s probably 5 or 6 feet wide by 20-30 feet long. I didn’t want to run wires across the driveway in 2 places so Betsie can’t get there on her own. I try to remember to put her over there when it gets long.

I was gone for a work trip last week and when I left her wire wasn’t making a closed circuit. So she didn’t mow all week. This morning she got through the side yard and then finished 42% of the front yard before going home to charge.

I want to wire the back yard sometime, but it’s very uneven and doesn’t have much grass. When we get the money we are going to have it graded for drainage and probably lay new turf. Next year I think… we’re still catching up with fixing up the inside of the house this year.

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Spring view of our house (with apple tree)

Originally uploaded by sajego.

Home ownership suits me. I love how the house looks this spring. The fun part about moving into a new home in the fall is that you don’t have any idea what kind of plants there might be. It turns out we have 2 pear trees, the pink in the front I think is an apple tree, the (mini) Japaneses maple out front is deep red that matches the shutters. There are azaleas all over and purple ground cover flowers. And the yard, it’s the best yard on our street, most of them are sloped or a lot smaller.

You can see Betsie in there too. The yard has dried out enough to mow and she’s caught up again, 82% after 2 hours and 45 minutes yesterday. She stopped for some reason this morning and didn’t make it home. I don’t know why. I found her near the maple when I got home this afternoon and her battery was almost dead so I carried her home.

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To mark the one year anniversary of this blog (coming up the end of the month) I’ve moved it. Handily, one of the default themes at our new home is grass-based!

A Betsie update? Well, it rained cats and dogs and bluejays last weekend, so I’m still waiting for the yard to dry out a bit before Bets gets back to her duties.

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I think the kids who mow my neighbor’s yard are going to like havng Betsie around doing mine. Because mine is always short hers is pretty much always long… thus she will call them more to mow it. I hope they get paid for their time

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I sent Betsie out to mow today. She got stuck once on the hill going up to my neighbors, I adjusted the wire. I filled in some spots along the sidewalk where they dug our yard up to put in new cable (tv) cables last fall. It was a bit uneven and she looked like she might get stuck. Then I got to work on setting up an overhead view webcam of the yard from the upstairs window. My “office” is up there, but no computer. So I spent the afternoon trying to get the old Dell Latitude laptop (made in 2000) working again. The network card wasn’t working and I discovered what a pain Cisco can be about driver downloads (hint, use bugmenot). I finally ended up using a USB wifi adapter I had laying around… and now I remember why I bought that desk top last year to replace this old laptop. But enough rambling about computer stuff…. There’s a webcam link up at http://sjg.sytes.net:8080/

However, Betsie finished her work, so there is nothing to see until 23 or so hours from now (6ish EDT on Sunday)

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We got back from a ski trip to find 80 degree weather in Virginia!

Betsie is out mowing, but as we cut the grass so (too) short back in the
fall there isn’t much to cut yet except for some weeds.

I’d like to do some overseeding out front and seed the back but haven’t
come up with a plan of attack yet. There are so many things to do since
this is a new house for us, I’m not sure the yard is due for attention
(ie money) yet.

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If it is dry this weekend I am planning to wire the backyard (only got
to the front last year) and let Betsie do some mulching of leaves and
overgrown ground cover plants.

The backyard is small and bordered by the deck and some 4×4s lining
the flower beds. It sees almost 100% shade so the grass is rather on
the thin side. The previous owners of our house also had 3 kids, so
it’s a bit trampled and muddy. Once I get the leaves cleaned up I
want to put down seed so Betsie has more to mow.

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Hard to believe the groundhog was serious about spring coming soon
when it’s 10 degrees (F) in Virginia….

I didn’t put Betsie into indoor storage because we haven’t really had
any rain or snow around here. I do check now and then and make sure
she’s still receiving power… but she’s been in Pause mode since late
November.

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IMG_0260-betsie
Originally uploaded by sajego.

This is what Betsie’s blade height adjustment looks like when it’s pulled up. I have it set right around the 2″ line right now…. or maybe those are centimeters…

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I’ve been digging up some links that I want to read later….

Clover is good for your lawn
http://www.lesslawn.com/articles/article1061.html

More Clover and Frequent Mowing to Remove Dandelions
http://www.holisticbirds.com/HBN01/june/pages/clover1.htm

An Amazon Guide: So you’d like to… *Have a Nice Lawn without Dedicating
Your Life To It*
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/3T5ESEN0PK1LI

Gardener Yardener Blog - I think I’ll start reading this one, looks fun.
http://gardeneryardener.blogspot.com/

This page is about Lawn Restoration:
http://www.hometips.com/articles/yardcare/lawn_restoration/lawn_rest1.html

The Consumer Reports review of Robotic Lawnmowers - with Betsie’s kind right
at the top
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/lawn_and_garden/robotic-lawn-mowers/index.html

Not related to Betsie, but I’m in the market for a hedge trimmer.
Hedge Trimmers -
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/lawn_and_garden/hedge-trimmers/index.html

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