More Rain! (Just Rambling)

[Grateful11]

I know about July I'll be asking for more rain but it's suppose to rain here Tues-Sat. My business is the busiest it's ever been and now it's so wet I can't hardly sget anything done. I've got one more year round job to quote so I guess I can do that while it's raining. I'm trying to get a yard in the country club ready for a baby shower Sat and got one huge bed done this evening and probably won't be going back this week if it rains as much as they say. We've had about 5" in two weeks here. I'm through now.

[Charles]

Yea Grateful11 I know what you mean. I hope it keeps up this rain when we need it. But remember how dry it was may and june of last year? i dont think I cut much at all those 2 months. Here in SC the forcast is about the same as yours. Rain begins tonight and last all week and warming in the 80s by saturday. I was hoping to make big buck before before tax time... Oh well just glad its raining regularly for a change even if the IRS carts me off to jail LOL. Maybe i can cut the prison yard.

[KirbysLawn]

Me too. Every time I get close to catching up more rain. Have about 150 bales of pine needles to put out in the morning if it's not raining, please..........hold off on the rain....please....

[Mr.Ziffel]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but what is the problem with working in the rain? We do it [almost] every day here and as long as you take care most jobs can be done. Granted we'd much rather do some things when dry, but if we waited when would it get done? I read a thread a few days ago about a guy who was worried about his z rider getting wet sitting on a trailer going to the dealer and didn't say anything but sure thought 'is he joking?!!' I never heard of such a thing.

Kirby, what's the problem with putting out pine needles in the rain? I guess I just don't get it. If you're worried about tearing up the lawns, then maybe you need to be extra careful on your turns or talk your clients into some drainage improvements, but I promise you the rain won't hurt your equipment or your lawns if you take care of 'em. Ever see the hydroplane races? I've cut when I had rooster tails flying behind the wheels of the Lazer! I demo'd my new exmark on grass so wet it looked like a jet blast coming out the discharge chute.

I don't mean to put anyone down but I'm just curious as to what the problem is? A hint is that though an old insulated GoreTex jacket works when it's cold and rainy, I prefer the oil skins rain gear like the kind commercial fishermen wear when it's a bit warmer out and rubber boots are a must. Will

[1MajorTom]

Maybe they are like me, and don't like to get their hair wet. ;) Even with a cap, it's hard to keep my hair dry.
j/k with ya.

Personally, it's just no fun to cut in the rain. We will if we have to, meaning if it's going to rain for 5 days straight, but if it's only a days rain, we usually wait and catch up the next day.

[KirbysLawn]

Mr.Ziffel, personally I don't like cleaning out the mower deck every 2 minutes. With the already sticky, fresh growing fescue, having it wet is worse, clumps everywhere.

Yea, I can put out pineneedles in the rain, however just getting over 4 days of bronchitis I don't think I will. Plus carring soaked double rolls of pineneedles is not my idea of a fun day. I will keep them in dry storage until the rain stops.

[EarthTech Landscapes]

We need The rain here in Seattle, so i really don't care if it rains. We have always worked in the rain in the Seattle area.

[Charles]

If I had to cut grass in the rain regularly i would quit this biz. All I want to do everyday is come home with wet grass all over me and the equipment---not! Its very hard if not impossible to blow off a wet long driveway. I know lawns that are cut in the rain do not look good when they dry no matter how sharp your blades are. IN WA you have no choice most of the time whether you cut in the rain or not because in normal times it rain almost all the time. I spent some time in Tacoma WA and saw a lawn care guy cutting wet grass and ever pass around the yard he would stop and pick up clumps of grass. It looked like it was going to take forever to cut that yard. Iwould not be a lawn care person in WA and I dont care if it is just misty much of the time. Who wants to walk around in soggy clothes all day? Around here customers do not want you to cut their yard in the rain or when it is wet. You can cut large commercial jobs when it is wet but I still wouldnt cut when it is raining.

[JJ Lawn]

I would just a soon not work in the rain either. I will finish a yard if it starts to rain, but then I am headed to the barn.

Besides around here, this time of year when there is rain there is usually a lot of lightning. And I don't buy the story of rubber tires being an insulator. :) I go home, and mow another day.


Jim

[MikeGA]

Ask the guys that have burnt their Farm sprayers to the ground getting the 60' sprayboom in the power lines when they improperly folded them up to travel, or the guys who have raised the basket on their cotton pickers into the power lines and burnt them to the ground. Ask them about how the tires are insulators!!! Lightning is SUPPOSE TO hit the highest point around, not really. When I am in the middle of a field driving a Tractor, even with a cab on it, and it is lightning, I get out of the field. Of course the implement is on the ground which will conduct the curent, but think one thing, how far has the current traveled? How close is the mower deck to the ground?? Is there WET GRASS rubbing the deck somewhere??? I don't think your tires are going to insulate you from lightning!

[SummitFarmer]

Our lovely weather person said we were only suppose to get occational showers today. Well they just issued "Flash Flood" Warnings about an hour ago and it doesn't look like it is going to stop anytime soon.
I don't mind working in the drizzle, but when it is a toad strangler, I'm headed to the house to read Lawnsite!!

[Grateful11]

> And I don't buy the story of rubber tires being an insulator.

I don't buy that either. About three years ago a bolt of lightning hit a large Gum tree, about 3ft across, beside my father in laws garage. It ran down the tree into the garage, busted out some concrete blocks and knock off some vinyl siding, continued across the floor burned holes in 3 tires on his Thunderbird and one on his truck. It also got the electrical system on the Thunderbird. There was a small amount of water on the floor. I think lightning pretty much does what it wants too. But I still like to watch it off in the distance, especially over the ocean.