Mo’s doghouse

Posted on by kstepenu
Mo in his robot house (doghouse).

One thing I haven’t mentioned in past posts is the doghouse we built for Mo. It’s not something required, but we figured it might help prolong Mo’s life to protect him from the weather. Plus, one of Mo’s features is that he heads to his base station whenever it is raining, as, being electric, he doesn’t like getting wet. (Though, according to the manufacturer, it is technically fine for the mower to be out in the rain in its base station. During thunderstorms they advise to unplug it though.)

To build Mo’s house, we first assessed how tall the doghouse needed to be.

Sizing a board next to Mo the robotic mower to determine the height of the doghouse to be built for it.
Mo's house with a hand holding the boards to show what it would look like once complete.

We then cut the boards to size, and positioned them into a house with an open side. The house is simply placed over the top of Mo’s base station.

Mo in his doghouse with hands positioning the back board on it.

The roof is positioned at a slight angle to help water to run off of it. This is done by having the walls cut to different heights.

To complete the house, we painted the sides and added some roofing shingles.

Mo's doghouse on a drop cloth and next to a bucket of paint.

Mo’s house has worked out quite well to protect Mo from the elements.

Mo in his finished doghouse, complete with shingled roof.

Are you raising the blade? Please consider sharing your photos of you or someone you know following #RaiseTheBlade guidelines by emailing seagrant@uvm.edu or posting to Instagram or Twitter using the #RaiseTheBlade hashtag and tagging Lake Champlain Sea Grant and the Lake Champlain Basin Program. Plus, don’t forget, there is also still time to enter for a chance to win a mulching mower! Learn more and enter from the Lawn to Lake website.

Getting stuck

Posted on by kstepenu

It doesn’t happen all the time, but Mo does have run-ins with various things around the yard (as you’ve seen in some past Mo Monday blog posts). Mo usually gets caught up in something we moved or put in his way. Today, I’ll simply share a few more of the challenges he has faced while just trying to do his job.

Mo hitting a pile of onions.
A few weeks ago, I harvested our onions. As I was washing them, I saw him making his way to his robot house. He was clearly destined for failure with this heap of onions in his path. Wanting to save the onions from potential mowing, I grabbed a quick photo and helped Mo leap over the pile to get home.
Mo stuck under a chair.
Another day we left this patio chair in the grass. Mo and chairs…they just don’t always get along.
Then there was that one time, in the front yard when I removed the wooden edge along the grass. Mo fell out of his mowing area, and got stuck in this plant trying to get back to work.
While working in the front yard, we had used our edging tool to create a nice edge along our sidewalk. However, something like 30 years of sedimentation resulted in creating quite a drop off between the grass and the sidewalk. We have discovered that, when Mo hits it straight on, it can be very challenging.
To be fair, Mo generally has success with the edge–so long as he takes it at a slight angle. This video is from soon after we did the edging.

Don’t forget! The Raise The Blade planning team is looking for people (ages 18+ who live in the Lake Champlain basin) to share #RaiseTheBlade photos and stories via social media, and to enter for a chance to win an electric mulching mower. The drawing will take place on Labor Day 2020! Learn more at lawntolake.org.