The boys have seen lawn mowers before but always at a distance. Some poor hunchbacked soul beaten down by the sun as he pushes red faced through gas fumes and the thick smell of cut grass. Those were the apartment days. The simple days of watching others cut their grass are over and our lawn was looking a little unkempt. The majority of the yards on our cul de sac do not have fences. Our yard is part of a long winding pond of grass wrapped around all of our homes. The only boundaries are small shrubs and mailboxes. When the winter fades and the grass starts growing and an ideological change takes place. Saturday mornings begin with the sound of garage doors opening and tired little engines turning over. Suddenly our socialist landscape turns capitalist with each yard fighting for compliments and the affirming nod of the HOA. Slowly we divide ourselves along clean paths of short cut grass.
Being in a cul de sac we do not get much traffic so keeping up appearances can be delayed a bit but as the season progressed the lot lines became rather defined. Eventually the neighbors began passing our home with a knitted brow and shaking head which means a friendly note from the HOA could be forthcoming. I decided to pull out our faithful old lawn mower. This old machine had grinded through nearly a half acre of grass for more than 3 and a half years. Sometimes taking on foes considerably taller than itself without flinching. It was quite a machine. It was a hand me down from Janice's parents and was now better than 20 years old. I filled it with gas and then watched as the liquid snaked it's way through the machine and out on to the driveway apparently finding multiple ways of escape. Pulling on the starter cord caused a mild stir but only once. It seems that the 4 1/2 year hiatus in the storage unit did not sit well with the ol' timer. So I thanked him for his service while the weeds tall and smug smirked with delight.
It was time to buy a new lawn mower. I searched through Consumer Reports on the web and then walked my way through Home Depot, Lowes and finally Sears until I found my new mower. It's a big red shiny job with 8 inch wheels and a hungry 6.5 hp engine. Okay...I can hear those of you with riding lawn mowers snickering at me but alas a little lawn requires a little mower. After two go rounds the community pond was reestablished and the critical few stare mainly at my uneven hedges and lack of flowers. We will take on the flower beds another day.
The greatest part about mowing the lawn and having young children is that you become a Super hero pitting his strength against a noisy beast that eats grass. Our windows were open and my boys were flat faced against the screens watching me as I pushed past them. They were impressed and even applauded at times yelling encouragement loud enough for me (and the rest of the neighborhood) to hear. Once I was finished the boys came out to survey the land and try out the noisy red monster. It was a good day.
Being in a cul de sac we do not get much traffic so keeping up appearances can be delayed a bit but as the season progressed the lot lines became rather defined. Eventually the neighbors began passing our home with a knitted brow and shaking head which means a friendly note from the HOA could be forthcoming. I decided to pull out our faithful old lawn mower. This old machine had grinded through nearly a half acre of grass for more than 3 and a half years. Sometimes taking on foes considerably taller than itself without flinching. It was quite a machine. It was a hand me down from Janice's parents and was now better than 20 years old. I filled it with gas and then watched as the liquid snaked it's way through the machine and out on to the driveway apparently finding multiple ways of escape. Pulling on the starter cord caused a mild stir but only once. It seems that the 4 1/2 year hiatus in the storage unit did not sit well with the ol' timer. So I thanked him for his service while the weeds tall and smug smirked with delight.
It was time to buy a new lawn mower. I searched through Consumer Reports on the web and then walked my way through Home Depot, Lowes and finally Sears until I found my new mower. It's a big red shiny job with 8 inch wheels and a hungry 6.5 hp engine. Okay...I can hear those of you with riding lawn mowers snickering at me but alas a little lawn requires a little mower. After two go rounds the community pond was reestablished and the critical few stare mainly at my uneven hedges and lack of flowers. We will take on the flower beds another day.
The greatest part about mowing the lawn and having young children is that you become a Super hero pitting his strength against a noisy beast that eats grass. Our windows were open and my boys were flat faced against the screens watching me as I pushed past them. They were impressed and even applauded at times yelling encouragement loud enough for me (and the rest of the neighborhood) to hear. Once I was finished the boys came out to survey the land and try out the noisy red monster. It was a good day.
