Thursday, May 01, 2008

Gas Mower

I mowed the grass today. Well, most of it anyway.   Uhm, some of it. I did this one patch.

In any case, i'd really been dragging all day. I didn't get nearly enough sleep. That's because i kept waking up all night. I stayed up too late. Working on a big, important project. Goofing off.

But I really did mow my lawn. Now, my lawnmower is a bit underpowered. It's a push-reel mower. There's no engine. I'd bought it to get some exercise.   to save gasoline.   so i could listen to podcasts as a backup for my powered mower that actually fits in my garage. And despite having the gas mower still, i still use the push-reel mower because then i can get some exercise.   save gasoline.   listen to podcasts. mow the lawn until my primary gas mower is repaired. And, i went all last season without getting the gas mower repaired because i can't get the parts   i can't afford a new mower i'm lazy. The fact is, the gas mower uses one gallon of gas a year, which i can afford even if gas triples, and i have the parts. Worse, the push-reel mower was more expensive than a new gas mower. Really.

But the interesting thing today is that after two hours   an hour   a half hour of mowing and listening to podcasts, i feel much, much better. More awake. Less awful. Just from mowing the lawn. Just as i'd predicted. Just as i've known from experience for years. Would i do it again? You bet!   Sure If i have to.

6 comments:

DQKennard said...

I had a push reel mower for a while. I really wanted to like it. I hate the noise of the gas mower. However, it turns out that it's hard work and doesn't do a good job on my lawn. Mostly because of the high amount of weeds in my lawn. So, to reduce sound and emission pollution and increase my level of healthy physical activity, I'd have to increase my use of chemicals and I'd have to mow more often. The lawn experts are right when they say that frequent mowings that only take a little of the grass is better for the grass than letting it get long and shaggy before finally and reluctantly dragging one's ass out to scalp it down. Regardless of that, I'm far more likely to do the latter. And pulling out the gas-powered string trimmer to do the edging is pretty darn rare. On the plus side, weeds stay pretty green even during dry periods.

Stephen said...

It's really hard work. That's why the idea that not fixing the gas mower is 'lazy' is so funny.

But the experts are wrong. A couple years ago, i let my lawn go to seed, and it has been much more healthy since. It's full, has crowded out the weeds and crab grass, doesn't get brown anymore, and so on. Mowing grass remains unnatural. Only the dandelions have been able to adapt to frequent mowings, growing wide, low leaves, and quickly popping up the yellow flower.

My string trimmer is electric. Now if only the string would feed properly...

Stephen said...

One way to let your lawn go to seed without having your town give you a fine is to cut a maze, especially for Halloween. The bits that get really high and seed are enough. The kids will love it. And you can argue (in court) that, no, really, it takes twice as long to make a maze than to just cut it.

I don't use chemicals. I have to cut everything twice or more with the push reel mower. But i did borrow a push reel mower once that, though hard work, did a good job. Maybe i can get one at a tag sale.

Anonymous said...

Heh (and hi, it's amysue). I also have both a power and a push-reel and I use the push reel for the same reasons (although my podcasts are mostly knitting related and I am guessing yours are not)

Stephen said...

Knitting! What will they think of next! I'll have to post my feeds list. Then you can leave your feeds list in the comments (since it will be on topic, and my spam filter does not delete comments that are on topic, no matter how silly.)

Stephen said...

So, several days of rain, and the lawn is out of control. I bought a new gas mower. Similar to the old one. It works, anyway.