I mowed about 25% of the back yard this evening, just to get started and to clear around the regular paths for the dogs but thunder tells me it might be too wet to mow the rest until later in the week.
The eclipse was wonderful, we saw the totality at the moment the moon moved completely over the sun - what a blast, seeing the rays radiating out from the edges! A cloud moved over for about a minute, then cleared again near the very end. My neighbors came over when I realized they didn't have any glasses. I had one pair and we passed them around. No one in their right mind needed to stand out there the whole time staring at the changing crescent. It was a nice visit, and though we hoped the neighbor's chickens might confirm that the light had disappeared, they didn't make a peep.
I wasted time this afternoon trying to retrieve some canning jars, but when I arrived at the place realized she was just piling trash at the curb and telling our Buy Nothing group that we could get what was left without making any provision for us to pick up what we asked for. She had no intention of isolating items and letting people speak for them, she just wanted people to come haul off her trash (clearing a parent's estate). She and her snotty sister are no longer in our Buy Nothing group (when I politely complained that this isn't how the group works, the woman who posted the listing was rude and was blocked, then her sister piled on and I blocked her.)
I often list things that I could sell on eBay, but due to the work involved, have decided instead to donate it via this group. When I list one of the BBQ grills once I've decided for sure the one to keep I'll clean the other, package the parts for transport, and understand that while this is an older model it works, and for someone on a budget, all they need to do for it to work is get the canister of LP gas. I wouldn't consider putting it at the curb and telling the group about it to see if they can beat a neighbor who might grab it first.
I do sometimes put things at the curb a day ahead of the trash, but not the way she did. I had a basketball backstop out there one time, the folks who got it were thrilled because they had kids, they were in the neighborhood, and they would do the work to put it back in the ground and set it up. They actually knocked to ask if it was ok to take it. That was a better item for someone to drive past, get a look at, and decide they could use. I don't know if the distinctions I'm attempting to make are clear, but I'm trying to be philosophical about the whole Reuse/Reuse part of recycling. If I have something at the curb for the trash that I know would be a rude surprise if someone carted it off to their house, I put a note on the front saying why it is in the trash. Like the rug that I tossed after Poppy died - "no, you don't want this rug - it's full of dog pee." The woman who set off my rant wasn't playing fair in our group according to the various informal ways that things are redistributed in this part of town.
The rain has started so Pepper will be underfoot. This is the edge of a bigger storm, I expect it to end in a few minutes, but it is enough rain that I won't mow tomorrow or worry about watering my friend's pots after I feed her cats. Time to wrap up the computer work and get a book to read.