The Lawnmower Arrives

The sellers mentioned that there were a lot of stumps and rocks that would have to be removed before one could mow the lawn with any kind of machine they wanted to keep long-term. I heard the words but i was busy trying to convince the bank to buy this thing and was focused on other more important things than stumps at the time. Once i had bought the place i walked around in the grass a bit and realized, they weren’t talking about a few big tree stumps here and there. There were hundreds of little cylinders sticking out of the grass where someone had chopped down a young tree and neglected to either level it to the ground or dig the base of it up. The sellers had suggested i get some volunteers from the nearby university; students who were young and able and may work for pizza or an extra 20 in their pocket. However, i didn’t like contracting the help of one person, much less 20 or 30. Too many variables involved. My idea of an eternity of punishment was being instated as an event planner with an inability to quit or be fired. It wasn’t on my bucket list of things to do. When i thought of planning projects or events that involved more than 2 people my mind immediately flashed to that eds commercial where they showed cowboys on horseback herding thousands of cats across the plains. They were covered in scratch marks and trying to get cats out of trees while said cats attempted to shred their faces. This was how i envisioned a home project involving 30 people going. So i found another way around my lawn problem. I bought a 5 blade reel mower off walmart.com and had it delivered to the post office. I read the instructions and put the thing together piece by piece. It was one of my favorite posessions immediately. It wasn’t powered by electricity or gas. It was powered by me. I pushed the mower, the blades turned, and the grass got cut. Maintaining 2 acres with a reel mower means keeping around 1 acre of area mowed down each month. It was not easy. During spring it rained quite often. Before the grass died off in the summer heat i spent every evening mowing a section of the property after work. If i did this, the property was perpetually “under control” in terms of grass height, though each section was in a slightly different phase of growth. I had to make sure i didn’t let the grass grow more than 3 or 4 inches or the reel mower wouldn’t be able to cut it. It would just roll right over the top of the grass, laying it down but not slicing. So i spent a lot of time mowing the yard. It was a lot of time i could have been doing other things. However, it kept me in incredible shape, got me out in the sun for some vitamin d, and it was bonding time in the yard with the dogs every night. It was a routine i enjoyed. My neighbors mowed their grass with riding mowers and tractors. They had many more acres than me. I could make it work with the reel mower on 2 acres. That was our lawn mower. It worked for us. It was a cherished and useful tool and i had no plans to replace it any time soon. I did notice that people would drive by the gate really slowly when i would be out there mowing 2 acres with a reel mower from Walmart.