The saga of our mower
Over the first two and a half decades that we were homeowners, my husband and I only owned two lawn mowers. Both were hand-me-downs. At our first home, we inherited an old lawn mower from neighbors who had just purchased a new one. While it technically worked, it required lots of tinkering, a new spark plug on the regular and a fist fight with the pull cord most days to start it. The wheels also tended to jiggle loose and often threatened to roll away midtrim.
We briefly discussed getting a new mower when we moved to our second home 12 years later. In all actuality, I spoke of a new mower while my husband researched creative ways to reattach the rogue wheel to get a few more years out of it.
While newer by a decade, and with wheels that stayed on, our second mower sounded like a jet engine taking off in the backyard every time we started the thing. And the black smoke that poured out for the first few passes across the yard was not my (nor the neighbors’) favorite.
Time for an upgrade
About this time, we started to notice some neighbors using electric mowers. We loved the idea of using no gas or oil, and our smallish yard was the perfect size for an electric. Someone who shall remain nameless (but goes by the nickname of husband) didn’t want to buy something new when we had a perfectly usable mower in the garage. I would argue with “usable.”
Last year, for Father’s Day, the kids and I surprised a certain someone with an electric mower. A brand-spanking-new one. Friends, it has been the most exciting purchase in years. For starters, it has a bag. What a life-changing feature for the amount of raking we usually have to do in the fall! (Did you catch last year’s raking column?)
This beauty also turns on by just pushing a button. That’s it. No more injuring your rotator cuff by yanking the rip cord that may or may not snap at any given moment. And the noise level? Literally a whisper.
She cuts our lawn perfectly with one charge and quietly scoops up the clippings into an adorable bag that we promptly dump into the compost bin. Then she folds in half in the shed, taking up no space at all. She’s a delight. Even the husband is sold on this gal. He may like her better than he likes me.
Jamie’s mowing playlist is an eclectic mix of bands, including The 1975, Fleetwood Mac, Taylor Swift, the “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack, James Taylor and Phil Collins.
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