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Sunday 5th 57F/14C [8.15] Overcast. Sun promised. Windy from the NW. Gusting to 14m/s slowly reducing. 21C/69F in the room. 15C/59F in the greenhouse.
Up at 5.50 for about two minutes. Then it was 7.20.
No immediate plans for today. I sent the robot up the drive. To get some exercise. Only to note that it had rained hard around 4am. Which I only discovered thanks to the security cameras.
Which had been triggered by the neighbour's cat. Which spends more time hunting in my garden and along the drive than it does at home. Which is useful in an odd sort of way. Because it proves the smart sensing of the cameras is working.
The robot has returned to the charging station. After mapping the West Lawn. I set up a pathway across the gravel parking space. Then confirmed it had arrived on a second lawn. Whereupon it gamefully sought out every nook and cranny of the "tank training grounds."
It really was cruel and unkind treatment! I had difficulty walking in sandals. On what can only loosely described as grass. With active molehills merely kicked aside or stamped down.
The robot got stuck only once. In a deep hole in the south. And, marked it as a danger point. To be avoided in future. Otherwise it showed remarkable capabilities to extract itself from every tall tuft of grass and hole between molehills. It would try reversing, rocking and then turning to break free. No trouble for it to climb banks. lumps and bumps.
Once satisfied with its mapping it announced a return to base and set off. Returning safely to recharge. If I was sensible I would have prepared the West Lawn with the big mower. Just to tidy up the tufts. Which the robot sometimes recognizes as an obstruction. Which is quite useful as it tends to set the mowing boundaries. Without having to offer any guidance to the robot. So I doesn't try to push through to the real undergrowth beyond.
As soon as I sat down indoors, to upload the images, I became dizzy and had to lie down!
14.00 Late lunch over. Feeling better now.
14.15 It has chosen to take the pathway to go to the next [West] Lawn! I have remotely raised the cutting height to the maximum of 75mm. I am monitoring its progress in the Eufy App and via the security cameras.
The app shows the area which has already been mowed by becoming light green. I'll be shocked if the first "proper" cut shows an improvement in the appearance. It really is working well. Back and forth N-S-N-S.
It was very unkind not to have mown the area first. I had better go out and give it a quick blast with the big Makita. And did. I couldn't run it at anything but the highest cutting height. It just bogged down on the molehills. It's hot in the sunshine now. What I thought were bags of compost were actually Perlite and tree bark. So I now need to get some compost. To fill in all the hollows.
15.50 That was odd. The mower claimed it was still mowing the West Lawn. Yet had gone back for a recharge. Showing one bright green bar and a second one flashing. The lawn is much improved by today's activities. It doesn't bear close inspection but has clearly been mowed.
YouTube's grass experts say I need top soil for the hollows. Not compost. Compost sinks. Where do you get top soil? I have never seen it sold in bags in Denmark. It's strictly peat.
I dragged the recycling bin along the drive and moved the bins away from the end of the drive. They make handy warning beacons against collisions with the robot mower. They can't stay there when the bin lorry arrives tomorrow morning. It needs all the space available to reverse.
Dinner was boiled eggs on toast. A bit dry. The eggs would have been better on a fresh bread roll.
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