It’s summer and the living is easy. The sun rises early and fills our bedroom with light. My next door neighbor also rises early and wakes us with the sound of his lawn mower. Apparently there is a lot of grass under our bedroom window that requires some serious mowing action. Ah summer. After all, who doesn’t want to get up at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday after a long week at work?
My neighborhood is firmly divided into two camps: those who mow, and those who hire folks to mow. The Falcone’s, my neighbors on the other side, have a lawn company who arrive with a small army of workers plus two serious looking, professional standing lawn mowers (i.e., the rider stands on it). They mow their lawn as well as complete their yard work in about 25 minutes, like a well-oiled pit crew.
For the past 17 years, I’ve been member of the hire folks to mow club. But quite unexpectedly our lawn mower guy gave his notice. So Mike and I decided it was time to take this chore on ourselves. Off we went to visit the lawn mowers at Sears and Lowes. We fell in love with a vintage style push mower and brought it home. We were so excited. We’ll be green! We’ll get exercise! We won’t have to spend extra money on gas! Our excitement lasted until we ran the mower through the grass. It didn’t cut the grass as much as flatten it, so back to Sears it went.
Mike was still interested in leaving a light carbon footprint so we purchased a cordless mower that runs on rechargeable batteries. So far, we’ve been pleased with it. Our yard isn’t large and Mike did a great job. The lawn mower is light weight, easy to push, and folds for storage. I’ve volunteered to take a turn the next time the lawn needs a trim. I’ve been researching cool lawn mowing patterns and How to Stripe Your Lawn for a Big League Look on the Internet. After all, who says your lawn has to be boring?
How about you? Do you mow or do you hire it out? And if you mow, what time do you start?
ROFL We mow, but then we mow approximately 5 acres. The McMansions behind us hire out. I have heard that the crew that cuts back there charge approximately $500 per cut and they have the contract for most of that sub. They cut at least once and depending on the weather twice a week.
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