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Do You Mow Your Own Lawn ?? .. Does This Go Beyond Lawncare ??


Lucas
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Do You Mow Your Lawn ??  

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  1. 1. Do You Mow You Lawn ?

    • Yes, of course .. It can be relaxing and I take pride in doing it ..
    • No way .. Who has the time or energy for that ??
    • On occasion, yes I do .. I split time with a family member or occasionally pay someone
    • My living situation doesn;t require me to tend to the lawn
    • No, but my wife, husband, kids or other household family member does it
    • Yes, but begrudgingly .. It's a chore and if I wasn;t so cheap, I'd hire someone


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I love mowing the lawn and doing other landscaping activities .. It seems that come Thursday or Friday, I will encounter people who ask "So do you have any plans for the weekend ?", and from April thru October, my answer will always include "Yes, one of my favorite things to do - mowing my lawn" ... With that, I can tell immediately if I am speaking with fellow lawn fanatic - the wry smile, a wink, and the acknowledgment of 3 - 4 hours of pure escape, surrounded by the smell of grass and gasoline - it's almost like a Fight Club vibe ..

 

When I was a kid, we had a riding mower, a gas push mower and a completely manual mower - the kind that has the rotating, rotisserie style blade that moved faster as you pushed faster ... There were literally spirited disagreements as to who would get to use the rider and who would use the push mowers .. We, as a family, loved it ... And it was like that for every family in the neighborhood ... Even to the point that at sundown on Saturdays, the Dads in the neighborhood would all congregate on the riding mowers in someone's backyard to talk shop and compare notes ...

 

After I finished my lawn today, my neighbor Valerie comes over to chat ... Valerie is a fitness instructor and runs a boot camp .. Her sister moved in with her last summer, along with her adult son, Brady ... Even though she owns a riding mower, she now hires a landscaping company to do the work, mainly because she has been swamped opening a new location ...

 

Her nephew Brady - the one who has been living there for about a year - is 24 years old .. Valerie and I got to talking about mowing the lawn, and I asked her about her nephew - and if he was going to start using the rider or cutting the lawn himself... She brushed her hand as if swatting a mosquito, and said "You gotta be kidding" ....

 

My other neighbor is a family of 5 .. Husband in his mid 50s, wife, two college aged kids and a younger kid .. He works for Morgan Stanley, she doesn;t work, they've got 2 Mercedes, a BMW and no mower ... Every weekend a team of guys comes and spend all of 15 minutes zipping around a 1/2 acre of lawn ...

 

It troubles me a bit ... I'm not sure what has happened, but the sense of pride and physical exertion is becoming harder and harder to see in people .. Brady can barely walk from the car to the house without looking away from his phone ... Mr Morgan Stanley on the other side would probably have no problem paying the landscapers to keep his wife happy if it came to that ...

 

I'm just wondering who here takes care of their lawn, who doesn.t , and if any of this still matters to people ...

 

If you don;t, don;t be shy ..

 

7f7177adef7be7d188e9567f2269f9e7.jpg

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Ahahahaha! (bitter laugh). This is a subject under discussion at our house right now! We started out at our first house with the completely manual mower- reel mower I think? It was so great, our 6 year old could even push it. The first time we used it our neighbor had her window open and came running over because she hadn't heard that distinctive swishing sound in years! :heart:

 

Moved to a second house, bigger yard. We just had the regular gas mower. We used that for about 15 years. Finally got older and bought a riding mower. Mr. blues liked that so well that I didn't mow much anymore. Last summer came (I may have said this before) and my husband woke up one day with vertigo so bad he couldn't even walk. Him mowing was out of the question and I was so busy driving him to tests and physical therapy ( that fixed about 95% of the dizziness, yay) that neither of us could mow. We hired the local lawn guy. He and his partner were a huge help, although they kind of have this lawn service nailed. :LOL: They come between rains, sometimes more than once a week.

 

My husband and I were "discussing" whether we should have them come again this year (me= No) when it happened that our mower wouldn't start; battery trouble, etc. etc. Every week it's something! :LOL: I finally said, "If you want Rob to come all summer, just tell me so I can figure on the cost." "Oh no, I love mowing the lawn!" I'm not sure that's true at this point! :LOL:

 

If the mower gets fixed, I don't mind doing it. My dad had daughters and no sons. He didn't care and taught us all the "guy stuff"- cleaning fish, shooting, and we had to mow the lawn for a few years. He had a huge honkin' Briggs and Stratton thing we could hardly push so he did go out and buy a Toro self propelled mower when we started. And the first thing he did was duck tape the dead man bar to the handle so we couldn't stall it! :LOL: :LOL: My sister used to mow in bare feet and a bathing suit! When we got a little older we could make more money at other summer jobs so he got the neighbor's son to do it. :) Sorry for the length but Lucas brought back memories. :heart:

 

(Not my sister! ) :LOL:

 

x8R21T7m.jpg

Edited by blueschica
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And I agree with what you said, Lucas, about people having pride in their own work- what happened to that? I understand that some people lead really busy lives, but a connection with the earth is good, I think.
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Ahahahaha! (bitter laugh). This is a subject under discussion at our house right now! We started out at our first house with the completely manual mower- reel mower I think? It was so great, our 6 year old could even push it. The first time we used it our neighbor had her window open and came running over because she hadn't heard that distinctive swishing sound in years! :heart:

 

Moved to a second house, bigger yard. We just had the regular gas mower. We used that for about 15 years. Finally got older and bought a riding mower. Mr. blues liked that so well that I didn't mow much anymore. Last summer came (I may have said this before) and my husband woke up one day with vertigo so bad he couldn't even walk. Him mowing was out of the question and I was so busy driving him to tests and physical therapy ( that fixed about 95% of the dizziness, yay) that neither of us could mow. We hired the local lawn guy. He and his partner were a huge help, although they kind of have this lawn service nailed. :LOL: They come between rains, sometimes more than once a week.

 

My husband and I were "discussing" whether we should have them come again this year (me= No) when it happened that our mower wouldn't start; battery trouble, etc. etc. Every week it's something! :LOL: I finally said, "If you want Rob to come all summer, just tell me so I can figure on the cost." "Oh no, I love mowing the lawn!" I'm not sure that's true at this point! :LOL:

 

If the mower gets fixed, I don't mind doing it. My dad had daughters and no sons. He didn't care and taught us all the "guy stuff"- cleaning fish, shooting, and we had to mow the lawn for a few years. He had a huge honkin' Briggs and Stratton thing we could hardly push so he did go out and buy a Toro self propelled mower when we started. And the first thing he did was duck tape the dead man bar to the handle so we couldn't stall it! :LOL: :LOL: My sister used to mow in bare feet and a bathing suit! When we got a little older we could make more money at other summer jobs so he got the neighbor's son to do it. :) Sorry for the length but Lucas brought back memories. :heart:

 

(Not my sister! ) :LOL:

 

http://i.imgur.com/x8R21T7m.jpg

 

Well, bring on the old school pics of your sister in her bathing suit while mowing the lawn! I’m flexible though - the bathing suit pics don’t have to be with her mowing the lawn! :P

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I do it myself. We have a fairly large yard, but I have a riding mower so it's not bad. I'll just throw a Spotify playlist on shuffle and zone out. One part I absolutely despise is there's a hill in the front that I have to do with a push mower and the angle that I have to stand at f***ing kills my calves by the time I'm done.
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I own a small house in the city so my lawn isn't too big. Can get the front mowed in about five minutes. The back is a little bigger and probably takes 10 - 15 minutes to finish. I don't mind doing it because it's not too big of an area to mow and I get a little bit of exercise. Cutting down the weeds that grow behind the garage kind sucks sometimes though.
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I pay some old white guy way too much money. He sends over a small team of tiny Central American guys, I’m sure they are compensated very well.
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I never had lawn care. I love taking care of my lawn and being retired, I spend a lot of time outside enjoying it and tending to my garden.

 

 

Me, I'm just a lawnmower you can tell me by the way I walk.

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When I was home in Detroit, I mowed the lawn, and in fall raked the leaves. Down here in FL we have a lawn maintenance service handle it. No way I'm doing that in our weather here! We also have a landscaper come in as needed to trim two trees of excess branches during hurricane season. Edited by pjbear05
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I own a small house in the city so my lawn isn't too big. Can get the front mowed in about five minutes. The back is a little bigger and probably takes 10 - 15 minutes to finish. I don't mind doing it because it's not too big of an area to mow and I get a little bit of exercise. Cutting down the weeds that grow behind the garage kind sucks sometimes though.

When are you going to scale up??

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Ahahahaha! (bitter laugh). This is a subject under discussion at our house right now! We started out at our first house with the completely manual mower- reel mower I think? It was so great, our 6 year old could even push it. The first time we used it our neighbor had her window open and came running over because she hadn't heard that distinctive swishing sound in years! :heart:

 

Moved to a second house, bigger yard. We just had the regular gas mower. We used that for about 15 years. Finally got older and bought a riding mower. Mr. blues liked that so well that I didn't mow much anymore. Last summer came (I may have said this before) and my husband woke up one day with vertigo so bad he couldn't even walk. Him mowing was out of the question and I was so busy driving him to tests and physical therapy ( that fixed about 95% of the dizziness, yay) that neither of us could mow. We hired the local lawn guy. He and his partner were a huge help, although they kind of have this lawn service nailed. :LOL: They come between rains, sometimes more than once a week.

 

My husband and I were "discussing" whether we should have them come again this year (me= No) when it happened that our mower wouldn't start; battery trouble, etc. etc. Every week it's something! :LOL: I finally said, "If you want Rob to come all summer, just tell me so I can figure on the cost." "Oh no, I love mowing the lawn!" I'm not sure that's true at this point! :LOL:

 

If the mower gets fixed, I don't mind doing it. My dad had daughters and no sons. He didn't care and taught us all the "guy stuff"- cleaning fish, shooting, and we had to mow the lawn for a few years. He had a huge honkin' Briggs and Stratton thing we could hardly push so he did go out and buy a Toro self propelled mower when we started. And the first thing he did was duck tape the dead man bar to the handle so we couldn't stall it! :LOL: :LOL: My sister used to mow in bare feet and a bathing suit! When we got a little older we could make more money at other summer jobs so he got the neighbor's son to do it. :) Sorry for the length but Lucas brought back memories. :heart:

 

(Not my sister! ) :LOL:

 

x8R21T7m.jpg

Is that you in the picture BC?
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I do my 3/4 acre myself, but I don't enjoy the process. It has the same charm of doing laundry...that's to say, very little charm. It's on the 'shit I gotta do' list.

 

When my Sears rider crapped out years ago, I did it with a 21" push mower. "oh the exercise will be good!". f**k that after wasting 2 hours a weekend. So I broke down and bought a Deere 42 inch a few years ago. Awesome, awesome mower although expensive. Even in tallish grass the motor and blade doesn't bog down like the Sears did. You can mow at a much faster speed as well. I did mine in about 45 minutes yesterday. No gear shift...it has a 'gas pedal' like a car. Only wish it had cruise control.

 

Deere's are the true solution to someone who wants to minimize the time. If that isn't good enough for them, then they're self-obsessed idiots who think every minute of their life is critical.

Edited by HemiBeers
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I love mowing the lawn and doing other landscaping activities .. It seems that come Thursday or Friday, I will encounter people who ask "So do you have any plans for the weekend ?", and from April thru October, my answer will always include "Yes, one of my favorite things to do - mowing my lawn" ... With that, I can tell immediately if I am speaking with fellow lawn fanatic - the wry smile, a wink, and the acknowledgment of 3 - 4 hours of pure escape, surrounded by the smell of grass and gasoline - it's almost like a Fight Club vibe ..When I was a kid, we had a riding mower, a gas push mower and a completely manual mower - the kind that has the rotating, rotisserie style blade that moved faster as you pushed faster ... There were literally spirited disagreements as to who would get to use the rider and who would use the push mowers .. We, as a family, loved it ... And it was like that for every family in the neighborhood ... Even to the point that at sundown on Saturdays, the Dads in the neighborhood would all congregate on the riding mowers in someone's backyard to talk shop and compare notes ...After I finished my lawn today, my neighbor Valerie comes over to chat ... Valerie is a fitness instructor and runs a boot camp .. Her sister moved in with her last summer, along with her adult son, Brady ... Even though she owns a riding mower, she now hires a landscaping company to do the work, mainly because she has been swamped opening a new location ...Her nephew Brady - the one who has been living there for about a year - is 24 years old .. Valerie and I got to talking about mowing the lawn, and I asked her about her nephew - and if he was going to start using the rider or cutting the lawn himself... She brushed her hand as if swatting a mosquito, and said "You gotta be kidding" ....My other neighbor is a family of 5 .. Husband in his mid 50s, wife, two college aged kids and a younger kid .. He works for Morgan Stanley, she doesn;t work, they've got 2 Mercedes, a BMW and no mower ... Every weekend a team of guys comes and spend all of 15 minutes zipping around a 1/2 acre of lawn ...It troubles me a bit ... I'm not sure what has happened, but the sense of pride and physical exertion is becoming harder and harder to see in people .. Brady can barely walk from the car to the house without looking away from his phone ... Mr Morgan Stanley on the other side would probably have no problem paying the landscapers to keep his wife happy if it came to that ...I'm just wondering who here takes care of their lawn, who doesn.t , and if any of this still matters to people ...If you don;t, don;t be shy ..7f7177adef7be7d188e9567f2269f9e7.jpg

 

Thanks for the '50s 'Beaver Cleaver' Mom on a riding mower! Now in my image gallery! We used tp have a Jacobsen Lawn mower which was the first one I used when I took over the duties. Shortly though, we changed to a Snapper like this one.

zcWRlO7.gif

 

5BCigeb.jpg

Edited by OldRUSHfan
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Well, bring on the old school pics of your sister in her bathing suit while mowing the lawn! I’m flexible though - the bathing suit pics don’t have to be with her mowing the lawn! :P

(Not my sister! ) :LOL:

 

x8R21T7m.jpg

Is that you in the picture BC?

 

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: No, but very similar! I am feeing old school today, so here are two actual photos of us from the 70's. I am the girl on the far right in the first photo and the second photo is my sister in her favorite swimsuit; she was a heartbreaker. :heart: And where is all the silver duck tape holding that kill switch against the handle ??? :LOL:

 

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Edited by blueschica
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And I agree with what you said, Lucas, about people having pride in their own work- what happened to that? I understand that some people lead really busy lives, but a connection with the earth is good, I think.

 

Not only "good", but essential !!

 

Great posts BC !!

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Now where are everyone else's summer photos? :LOL: :LOL:

 

OK, when I get home from work, I'll post something

 

There are pics from the 1970s of me and my sis streaking that I need to find :LOL:

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Now where are everyone else's summer photos? :LOL: :LOL:

 

OK, when I get home from work, I'll post something

 

There are pics from the 1970s of me and my sis streaking that I need to find :LOL:

 

Too funny!! Enquiring minds want to see them!

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