Lawn Mower Friend

A New Friend

Man is known to have a lot of friends. Dogs, beer, buddies, boats and so on. All of them equally important and all get in the way of chores that we're supposed to be doing instead of having fun. However, I think I need to elevate a new one. The lawn mower.

Along the way when we combined houses I declared that there was no longer any need to have somebody come in and cut the grass because we can save money if I took care of it. Of course I would need a good lawn mower because my John Deere tractor was over at the other house (the one with a dirt yard). So I hunted around on Craigslist looking for a self-powered Honda that I've wanted for years. Now, truthfully, when it comes to push mowers, I usually buy the cheap model with the knowledge that they usually break down sooner or later as they seem to have a built in short life. So I never change the oil, treat the gas or sharpen the blades. The one I have now from my old house is six years old. It sounds like it's running on half a piston and blows smoke like crazy when it first starts. But it won't die. I've used it over at the house being built with the dirt yard when it wasn't all dirt to keep the grass down to jungle height.

But being a guy and seeing an opportunity, I told my better half that we're going to need a really good lawn mower for the new house. She gave me that look that only a wife can do, you know the one where their eyes get squinty, they cock their head look at you out of the corner of their eye and you know their brain is thinking "he's scamming." And I was. But I had her convinced that we needed this Cadillac of push mowers and we might as well get it now. So I found one on Craigslist that I had to travel about an hour and half for but it was a great deal. Even more so after I got the price down even lower. This is a Honda Model HRX 217 self-propelled mower. And it's great. It starts with one pull and moves along effortlessly while bagging grass clippings like a charm. Mulching is as simple as shifting a lever. I've never had a better push mower.

And this is where the new best friend part comes in. One day, after I had put off cutting the grass longer than I should have, my better half decided that she would give it a shot while I was out.  She discovered (and so did I) that she enjoyed the way the lawn mower cut the grass and found that she didn't mind doing it. At first I would feign insult that I wanted to cut the grass and would throw out that phrase that every women hates by saying "It's a man's job." Heh heh. That always works. For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction…

I had her hooked. More often than not she would cut the grass this past summer. She even started claiming that she could do a better job than me. It was a competition that I secretly let her win. So now I have to elevate the lawn mower up a bit higher on the friend level.

Who knows, I might even change the oil on this one.

Enjoy your weekend