Cut de grass anew
After many years of lawn mowing I recently bought my first new lawnmower. Up until this purchase all my mowers have been either hand-me-downs or mowers people had discarded and sat out beside the road. I hope they were discarded. I’ve always figured that anything sitting a foot or less from the edge of the road for more than eight hours is free for the taking, mailboxes, garbage cans and driveway markers excluded.
I don’t know if it was the thought that I deserved at least one new lawnmower in my lifetime or a plan that spending a little of of my life savings I would relieve some of the stress my son might feel as I get older, having medical power of attorney and being my sole beneficiary. I wouldn’t want him to have to explain how he couldn’t bear to see me suffer a hang nail or the turmoil of having another aging filling replaced.
Although it is nice to have a shiny new lawnmower with wheels that actually roll well enough to earn the name, “push mower”, (its predecessor had evolved into more of a “pull mower”), not to mention one that actually cuts thick grass rather than merely fluff it into a nice twirl; with a new lawn mower comes new responsibilities. You have to return to your father’s standards of lawn mowing; those laid down when you had acquired the age and level of maturity that warranted the move from dish washing to lawn maintenance. This means filtering all gas being poured into the mower, and checking the oil before you start it. It means there will be no more mulching tree branches or the beer cans tossed from cars to that stretch beside the road, no more yelling “four” as you approach golf ball size rocks; and leveling the mountain out of mole hills with the hope of pureeing one of its excavators is no longer part of the process. This means doing a pre mow inspection, stomping mole tunnels flat, and the removal of anything that could come between your mower blade and the grass it was designed to cut. And job completion is no longer as simple as cutting the power and a final shove into storage. We must not forget post mow duties such as the removal of accumulated grass, dirt and dust, letting it cool sufficiently; and it is not above the call to whisper thanks as you slip your one mow less than new machine into its resting place.
With the job done, and mower properly stowed, having fulfilled my new lawn mower responsibilities, I can almost see my dad standing, arms crossed, on that porch above the first lawn I mowed, give that ever-so-slight nod of approval.
themillertoldhistale 