Mowing the Grass

There are the straight liners. There are the make a big square folks. I’m a start from the outside and make the square smaller until the center guy. I don’t understand the straight-line people. They must be from a different culture or something. ( Just kidding- My brother does this... he actually does the diagonal straight lines!)

Some folks are about speed. It looks like they are walking as quickly as they can. I always admire the folks that can stop in the middle and take their time while they get something to drink.

I remember begging to mow the yard as a kid. "Please! Please? Please, let me mow the yard!" My dad would shake his head “no.” My mother would go into safety speeches. I might as well have been asking for a Red Ryder B.B. Gun.

Finally, the day comes and I mow the yard. We had a pretty big yard and a push lawn mower when I started. No weed eater. I had little clippers that I would use to trim around the house.

I’m pretty bad at checking the oil in the lawn mower. Without oil, metal motors melt. This is not a good thing. My dad taught me how to clean the filter. He’d have me put a little motor oil in the filter.

After about a month of mowing, I wish I’d never asked about mowing the yard. That’s when the parents start harassing you about mowing the yard. When my brother got old enough, he and I would switch off. He’d mow part and I’d mow part. There was negotiation in what was equal ground.

Next level sh*t, right here!

I learned some lawn mower maintenance from my older next-door neighbor. He always had a Craftsman/Sears mower. One day the lawn mower wouldn’t start. He taught me how to take out the spark plug and shoot a little gas in the spark plug hole. The lawn mower would usually start after that gas squirt.

When I turned sixteen, we got a Snapper rear engine riding mower. I loved that lawn mower. My dad mysteriously started mowing again when we got the Snapper. I looked forward to riding that mower.

I made money mowing Mrs. Patterson’s yard. I think she paid me ten dollars. She was a nice, older lady that lived up the road. I’d usually use her lawn mower. Her husband had been dead for several years. She’d always offer me something to drink. Then she’d head back into her house to watch her “stories.”

I started on the outside and worked my way in on her yard. She had a pretty steep hill that went down to the sidewalk. You had to strong arm the push mower to make it work.

I have a much smaller yard now. I can mow in in less than thirty minutes. I still do the start the square from the outside and work my way inside technique. I still take off the spark plug and shoot some gas in the hole to get the lawnmower to start sometimes.

I picked up one of those old-timey, non-powered rotary mowers for $20 at the goodwill recently. I love it! No more fiddling with oil or filters, no need to get gas. It would never do for a big yard, but works pretty well for what I need. I could probably stand to sharpen the blades up a bit, though.

I’ll mow again tomorrow.

The grass is getting a little high.

I have a weed eater now, too!