Hitting the mowing wall (of grass)

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Annual Australian Climate Statement 2010, which I mentioned yesterday, says ‘2010 began with El Niño conditions in the Pacific followed by a rapid transition into La Niña during autumn. The second half of the year (July to December) was the wettest on record for Australia’ [1]. Here’s a bit more about La Niña [2]( which means ‘the girl-child’ in Spanish) and its opposite, El Niño [3](‘the boy-child’). As the Bureau’s Statement says, ‘La Niña brings heavy rain, eases drought and causes widespread flooding…(so 2010 was)…Australia’s third-wettest year on record’. The 2010 La Niña event affected Tasmania less than the mainland. Even so, here in Mole Creek the 2010 rainfall was nearly an all-time record. I’ve previously mentioned the task of mowing our orchard’s grass, and my proclivity for postponing that job [4, 5]. The 2010 spring and early summer rain left the grass too wet to mow. When the rain finally stopped – a few days before Xmas, the grass was knee-high. Even a few days later my push motor mower clogged with wet grass. So I enlisted the help of my friend Barbara who cheerfully brought her ride-on mower to the task (picture). She and it did a great job. Indications are the La Niña will weaken in our 2011 autumn [6]. So I reckon my trusty mower will do the job from now on. Including next summer. Assuming my tendency to procrastination abates with La Niña. Ho hum.