Thoughts on Mowing the Lawn

My earliest memory of assisting with the family's lawn care was, when I was ten years old, being shown the ropes. That is the rope that is the pulley for starting the family's lawnmower. Our parents decided, sometime when we were really little that, once we turned ten we would be old enough, & big enough, to operate the lawnmower by ourselves. Thus that's when we were taught. Also by then we'd learned by nurture, not just nature, how our Dad would most like us to be mowing the lawn, the precision & meticulousness of what would look best & be most pleasing to him. Nicely & efficiently curving around with the circumference of each fruit tree's bed of mulch, lining up the wheels for each straight-away as we'd take the larger parts of the open areas & just, well, push the mower.

When I first got started Dad would stop whatever yard work he had in hand & come over to get the family mower started again. Yes, eventually I was able to, & very good at, pulling on the cord to & getting our manual mower started all on my own.

It eventually came to that I preferred the task of mowing the lawn for its option in meditation. The inorganic noise, turned organic music that the mower provides can be just the right tune to use for contemplation, a great way to clear the head, sometimes not really thinking about anything at all.

It's an instant reason to go walking in confined circles (or squares, or rows) whereas otherwise that person would be considered potentially crazy (the diagnosable kind of crazy); it's a great way to be active without too much trouble (I mean, you don't have to look on an "options" listing, as in - gee, what do I want to do to be active right now since I've been sitting around all day at work, etc. & really should move a little bit today); there's not a lot of concentration that goes into the task - especially if it is just out & back rows. You're pushing an object, which, if a bag's being filled (not mulching), it's an object that's continuously gaining more weight (until it's emptied for the next round), so you're gaining good muscle.

A downfall to mowing the lawn would be, if it's a sunshine day, needing to lather on the sunscreen (remember this post? 😉😏) & probably hunting down a hat before pulling on that start lever. And, if the grass would be getting too high, just needing to get the lawn mowed. Strategizing around neighbor's gatherings (no one wants their neighbor mowing the lawn while they're trying to entertain guests at a graduation party or summer birthday gathering), or - maybe even worse yet, in the midst of a funeral wake. And it's not appropriate to mow too early in the morning, or too late into the evening/nighttime; basically before dawn/sunrise & after dusk/when the sun's gone down (this timing for dusk can be adjusted a bit if there's enough outdoor artificial lighting later into the summer as the sun's already going down long before it cools off much for the day, & sometimes lots of yardwork can be achieved in that pivotal half hour, especially when someone has been working overtime in the late afternoon at their desk job & hasn't be able to get back to their yard just yet). Grass cannot be adequately mowed when it's still damp from the overnight dew, or after any type of rain, especially a long, hard one.

It's a reminder of the perks of shoveling snow. It can be snowing & shoveling is acceptable. (Though not always wise as it lays underfoot.) It can be any time of day or night. Unless the driveway or sidewalk is accidentally getting scrapped, shoveling snow is a "quiet" task to tend to. Though shoveling snow can't wait "just another day or so (or week or so)" like mowing the lawn can (though oftentimes it shouldn't 😂). That snow can turn into an icy mixture causing chaos & havoc as well as just needing to be out of the way sooner than later so it's easy enough to get into a vehicle parked in the driveway, or back out of a garage & down a driveway - or, if a postman is dropping off mail at a mailbox not at the curb, that snow being shoveled more promptly than not can help them too - & the homeowner if the homeowner isn't so interested in having the postman's footprints packing down their snow, turned sleet, into a potentially icy mixture.

And now I find myself reflecting on icy mixtures in the driveway on one of the first full days of Summertime for the year 😬. This mower (this is an Amazon affiliate link as well as the image link in the top left) reminds me of the mower Dad got when I was older, yet still helping out with mowing their lawn. We'd discussed the pros & cons of the "original" mower &, with the changes in the technology that models of that era offered, the larger back wheels was something that would help with getting around the circular mulch beds as well as turning nicely & swiftly at the end of each long row for the straight-aways & sharp turns as one of the issues we'd had with the original mower was that one of the back wheels continuously came loose & fell off.

We also knew that, with the twists & turns within the yard a rear bag catcher was best. Mulching mowers were only somewhat becoming a "thing" & Dad wouldn't have been ready to really use the feature anyway. Bag & dump was definitely his style; it still is. The plastic flap for the bag had been stretched & no longer completely covered its hole, thus no longer handling its specific task. Grass clippings would spray everywhere once the bag was filled to that point, which wasn't exactly noticeable if you're lost in what you're doing & making sure that your lines are straight & you're not picking up too much mulch, while at the same time aiming to save from needing the same section weed wacked later on. Suddenly, upon glancing up & taking a deep breath, maybe even wiping some sweat from the brow, it becomes obvious that, for the past maybe handful of long straight-aways, a "dribble path" had also been left behind.

We were glad, as well as satisfied, that we got a new lawnmower & that we got the one that we did. It was an appropriate upgrade for our family's mowing needs. The most significant glitch Dad noticed came in the form of the customer service he received when selecting the mower. He realized, post-purchase that the gentleman who sold it to him made a reference that the mower would be sufficient & adequate for his daughter to use, though the salesman didn't say it like that, so Dad didn't catch on & identify the "blow" in the moment. It was easy enough to let go with Dad seeing the task differently. Sure he had pride that his daughter mowed his lawn so efficiently, professionally, & with such talent, though he knew he could rely on me, that what I considered my best work was the best of what he wanted for his yard too. Something that any son could do just the same, & his did too, yet his daughter was doing a darn fine job of such a job. And that's something we both knew for absolute certain.