Mowing, Mowing, Mown

 

by Pa Rock

Cutter of Grass

The mowing season at Rock's Roost officially got underway last Saturday when I climbed aboard my monster mower well before the noon hour and mowed for nearly six hours with only one brief break.  The weather forecast has been for lots of rain, though it hasn't happened yet, and once I started the mowing I wanted to get it all done - and not leave the yard partially completed like some mullet of a lawnscape.  It was in nice shape for our visitors yesterday, and today the dogwoods are bursting through in all their glory, so the yard still looks extra special.

But now that I have started, it will require continuous mowings about every two weeks until about November.  It's so nice to have a purpose in life!

I always think of my dad when I begin the mowing season.  I send my mower in for a complete refurbishment every winter, and when I hop on in the spring it is ready to go.  My dad, however, who grew up in the Great Depression, did not believe in paying anyone to do anything that he could do himself, (even if it wasn't cost efficient), and he spent many years trying to teach me a variety of maintenance arts.  One of those was how to take proper care of a lawnmower.

If, God forbid, I ever needed to borrow my dad's dependable push mower, it was never just a simple borrow it, use it, and return it.  No, my dad could not go anywhere near a mower without putting on a full-scale production.  He had a grinding wheel on his workbench which he loved, and always insisted on taking the mower blade off and sharpening it, regardless of how many times he had sharpened it in the past couple of weeks.  He would spend thirty minutes or so adjusting the carburetor to insure that the machine was operating optimally, and he would scrub the body down thoroughly and make sure there was no no old grass underneath the mower frame to interfere with the rotation of the blade.

I've even seen him rotate the wheels!

Dad would also change the mower's oil about every time he used it, and every bolt, lever, sprocket, or part that could possibly move got a good dose of WD-40 before the mower rolled out of the garage.

Preparing the lawnmower for a couple of hours work was a ceremony to my father.  I've never had time for ceremonies - I just want to get the damned yard mowed!

Last Saturday I was able to get the yard mowed, instead of spending the entire day pretending that I was part of a NASCAR pit crew - and today my yard looks great!

The moral of this story is do what you like to do.  If working on lawnmowers is your thing, do that - maybe even open a shop, but if that's not your thing, let someone do it who wants to be doing it.  It's good for your nerves - and the economy!

Dad would have been one hundred later this year, and he would have still been fixing and maintaining his own stuff.   Rest well, old man, and know that your oldest is still mowing, and mowing, and mowing!