Thoughts from a Lawn Mower

Posted on Jun 7, 2013 at 3:04 PM in Gardening, House

lawn

It occurred to me, halfway into my mowing activities, that this situation was perfect for an iPod and some really loud music. Alas, it was me, the roaring lawnmower, a summer breeze and my thoughts. I started off cursing the suburbs where people treat lawn care like it’s the Best Hobby Ever or maybe a contest that needs winning. We’ve gone from redeeming an old lawn that a curmudgeonly owner completely wrecked with RV motor oil to being what we lovingly refer to as The Squatleys—you know, that family on your block that never mows their lawn and leaves crap out all the time.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to issue a public apology. To my husband. Here goes:

Jeremy Tredway, I apologize for ever looking seriously at acreages and imagining we’d move into one. I know, more than once, you asked who would mow the acres of property and I, more than once, spritely suggested YOU. I was foolish. Forgive me.

We have a nice-sized lawn now, but it is in no way incredibly large. And it’s certainly not an acreage. We back up to a commons and a city bike path—and apparently we and our neighbors mow part of the commons ourself. Isn’t that sweet? It seems like a nice thing to do until you get a little hot and have green grass clippings stuck between your toes and sweat is starting to drip in some very uncomfortable places. As I started to judge my suburban neighbors a little less and started to get a bit cranky and still was listening to the loud mower engine and no lively tunes, I asked myself, what in the world was my problem? Is this job too hard? No. I am too tired to do it? No. Is it the endless lines of back and forth without any creative loops around garden patches to break up the monotony? Yes. Problem solved. Apparently lawn-mowing is not my calling.

But I love being outside. I love the hot sun on my shoulders and the intimacy that comes with spending time in every nook and cranny of my yard. Dreams for future gardens start to emerge. Plans to mess up this beautiful but park-like space take root. I get excited for the point when we’ll make our mark in the suburbs. So hooray for the monotony of mowing and yay for the chance to let thoughts swirl away from the lure of digital clutter. I have strong (enough) arms for pushing a lawnmower and healthy legs and feet for walking. We are owners of a small piece of land and we live in a beautiful part of a lovely city. This is enough for today.

I can celebrate life, even while wiping sweat from my brow. Or perhaps, especially while wiping sweat from my brow.

7 Comments

  1. Jeremy Jun 7, 2013 3:30 PM

    Apology accepted. ;-)

  2. Jan Wismer Jun 7, 2013 4:04 PM

    An appropriate word to apply to your mowing efforts is a favorite word of our family: boustrophedonically. We learned this word from Alexis Wismer–who learned it from her studies in industrial engineering at UNL. (It sounds like an engineering term, doesn’t it?) With the humidity lately, it doesn’t take much to work up a sweat–whether you’re performing a task boustrophendonically or not!

  3. Kerri Jun 7, 2013 5:14 PM

    Grass clippings BETWEEN your toes?!? This is not the right protocol for lawn mowing. Closed toed shoes. Sheesh. You guys have few enough appendages over there.

  4. Christina Hoyt Jun 7, 2013 7:56 PM

    Rebecca, since mowing along waterways is bad practice I’d be more than happy to help you stage a revolution. Really no one should be mowing the 15 feet on either side of it. I will save you my stormwater runoff and water quality speech ;)

  5. Renae Jun 7, 2013 8:46 PM

    I love this little meditation. We are still figuring out our place in the new neighborhood. Fresh start and all. Our front yard is so far mown, but the backyard that only our friends have seen is Squatley-ish for sure. ;)

  6. Kerri Jun 8, 2013 9:58 AM

    Switching now to the *real* point of the post: grumpiness to gratitude–lovely. :)

  7. Rebecca Jun 11, 2013 9:17 AM

    That is an amazing word, Jan! I’m going to try to work it into every day conversation now.

    Kerri, I wore Toms with no socks. Which is probably just as helpful as wearing flip-flops, really.

    Christina, our neighborhood association is talking about what to do with this little waterway. We’ll be in touch. As to personal responsibility, I feel I should tell you that *we* do not mow down to the water. (Because we wouldn’t want to make you mad. Ha!)

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