I Fought the Lawn, and the Lawn Won

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a woman who lived in a small house on a small lot in a very visible spot in her community.  When she first moved into the small house, her neighbors were Egyptian Muslims.  When she went out to mow her lawn, the man of the Egyptian family would come out, see her sweating, and declare, "This is too hard for you.  You should not be doing this."  I confess that the woman was I...and I agreed with Abdul.  The problem was that there was no one else to do the mowing!

For awhile, I paid the teenage son of a neighbor to mow for $10, and he actually asked to do it because he needed the money.  Then I took on another teen, but I had to call him when the grass was getting too high.

At one point, I bought a new mower--self-propelled (whoop-de-doo!)--and my son-in-law mowed for me.  When he moved out of town, I paid the husband of a former student to do the task...and then he, too, moved out of town.  One year, a professional guy did it but he charged way too much.  Last year, my generous neighbor did it because he had a riding mower, but still had to use his own push-mower in the back because the gate in my fence is too narrow to let anything larger than a push-mower in...and my own mower sat idle in my minibarn.  Finding someone I can afford to take care of my yard is a yearly quest.

Weeks turn into months, and months turn into years before we know it.  My once-new lawn mower sat in my minibarn, unused, for at least six years because my mowing folks were using their own equipment.  It has worried me forever.  Before it stopped being used, it needed an oil change, probably a new spark plug, blades sharpened, and whatever gas was left in the tank was probably varnish by now.  Just my luck, my cleaning gal--quite the go-getter--wants to take care of my lawn this year, and I'm just the woman to let her do it.  HOWEVER, that left me in a quandary about my lawn mower.  She's going to need to use it, yet I had no clue if it even would start!

I subscribe to a local network called Nextdoor, that connects neighbors.  I happened upon the name of a gentleman who tinkers with small motors as a retirement business, like my father-in-law did.  In short order, he and I connected.  The blessing is that he works on the devices at YOUR house rather than HIS.  He's been here several times, bringing parts and taking parts.  It's perfect for me!  I haven't had to figure out how to load the mower to take to be fixed, etc...and the fellow is totally honest.

As of today, I know it starts because I heard it running after he worked on it.  Hallelujah!  He isn't satisfied that it is easy enough to start, however, so he is ordering another part and will be back.  For once in my life, I got lucky!

There have been years when the yard would need to be mowed by the end of March.  That ain't a-gonna happen this year because Mother Nature is taking her own sweet time to bring Spring to Indiana.  But when the time comes, I'll be ready.

Maybe this time, I will win instead of the lawn!