The smell of fresh cut grass on a summer day....Ahhh.
At almost sixty one years old, I still love to mow grass.
It satisfies on several levels...
Successful completion of a task.
Leaving something better than you found it.
Using gadgets, mowers, trimmers, blowers, etc.
Getting a little pocket money for your time and efforts.
Solving problems, and fixing things.
My earliest memories of mowing grass are push mowing the vacant lot by the Minit Saver when I was about ten. Dad purchased the vacant lot after the Dug-Out closed. He had plans to put something there, and that never worked out.
In the meantime, the grass grew. Dad bought a Murray 5 HP push mower with the big back wheels, from Mr. Roper.
It was my job to mow. With the deck all the way up, it was a bush hog, and clipped the tops off of most any living, or non living thing.
Within a few weeks, I had several yards up and down Wilson avenue to mow. If my memory is correct, I got paid five dollars a yard. The work was enjoyable. I didn't mind pushing the mower on the sidewalk, to the houses, and back to dad's store.
Most of my friends in our neighborhood were older than me, and some of them had jobs. I kind of felt older too, because I had my own spending money.
Growing up with mowing...When I was about eight, Dad got a Snapper riding mower for our yard at home. It had one big single blade, 30 inches across, and an 8 horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine. If you popped the clutch in the gravel driveway, the back tires would spin and send rocks flying. If you dumped the clutch in the yard, it would pop a wheelie. It also had a hand brake, and if deployed at full speed, would slide the mower sideways as it came to a stop. This adrenaline rush opened pathways in my eight year old mind that should have been left alone for a few more years.
Mom loved to mow as much as dad did.
She had a unique approach. When plastic insulated cups with a lid were still new and exciting technology, mom had hers sitting on a fence post, close to the house. Every lap around the yard, she would swing by the post, and take a big swig. Years later we pressed her about the contents, thinking it was wine. She laughed and said, " No honey, that was tequila and SunDrop."
Somewhere in that conversation, Dad added, "Yeah, that's why you drove the mower into the pond, and I had to pull it out."
Mom would just smile, and not dispute or add to his story.
Dad loved to mow. Our yard was about two acres. There were four or five more acres of field he mowed sometimes. He wore out a mower every four or five years. After the Snapper, he had an Airens, rear engine mower. Then a Murray, a Sable, and finally a couple of John Deere mowers.
His stroke in 1988 slowed him down for a year or so. Once he got back on the mower, he bought a trailer, and started mowing other peoples yards for free.
So I get it honest.
We mow about twelve yards now.
Will helps me most of the time. When he is not available, like yesterday, Josh Cole helped me with eight yards. It was hot, and it was great to have help, and someone fun to hang out with.
Each yard one different. It's a mental game remembering obstacles, fences, ditches, and personality. My gadgets are better than mom and dad had. I remember them using a pair of clippers, that were a big manual pair of scissors. Then they got a corded weedeater. And no one back then had a blower.
These days, I have my battery operated hedge clippers, a cheap pole saw, and fire ant killer with me all the time. Two weedeaters, and a zero turn mower. Then a back pack blower to clean everything up before I leave.
The bit of money comes in handy when our taxes are due in February. City and county adds up to a little over two thousand doillars now. And what I can put back helps when an appliance dies, like our washing machine did a month ago. We paid cash for a SpeedQueen.
Mainly, I like leaving things a little better than I found them, and knowing that I started, and finished something.
I just like that fresh cut grass smell. Thats the truth.