With the baby and other higher priority house issues, getting a lawnmower has not been very high on the list. This week, however, a friend dropped off a little push mower they didn’t need anymore. The grass, having not been mowed yet at all, was starting to get pretty high, not quite a foot yet but solidly heading in that direction.
The little push mower would work, kind of, having to go over the same square foot about six or seven times. It reminded me of when, well over a decade ago now, a friend of mine was housesitting our pets while we were on vacation. There was a patch of grass, under four of the largest fruit trees I’ve ever seen (we built tree houses in them), that was notoriously hard to mow. It always had apples, pears and other fruit that would impede mowing. Consequently, my father had decided we’d just leave that piece to grow.
My friend, being an enterprising teenager at the time and seeing the tall grass, figured he’d be able to earn some extra money if we came back and it was all mowed. He took the little push mower out of the shed and nearly immediately realized that between the tall thick grass and the fruit it wasn’t up to the job.
Rather than giving up, he went to the neighbours and asked to borrow their electric push mower. He plugged it in and gave it another shot. The electric push mower, however, was only one step up. What the job really required was clearing out all the fruit first or a mower that was several steps up. In no time at all, the electric push mower caught fire. Now undoubtedly a panicked teenager, he ran to grab a bucket of water, sprinted back and dumped it on the mower. Luckily, if memory serves correctly, the neighbours had insurance or warranty and didn’t mind getting a new mower.
However, that wasn’t the end of it. When he went back (I’m not sure how long it was but several days at least), he noticed the power didn’t work. At the time he’d thrown the water on the mower, it was still plugged in and, unbeknown to him, shorted the fuses. As a result, all the food in the fridge and freezer has gone completely rancid. When we came home from vacation, there was a burned patch of grass, the fridge and freezers were completely empty and a big bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table.
In the case of my recent mowing, I made a path to the garden and picnic table before giving up for the evening.
My wife, who was quite amused, posted a picture to Facebook with the caption “A path to the garden and to the picnic table is all you really need right?!?”
Lucky for me, one of the neighbours saw the picture, took pity on us and cleared it all with their riding mower. As for my friend, I can tell you he didn’t pursue a career in landscaping.