Endless rain leads to talk on methods of mowing
MIDDLEBURGH — It was back to normal this week as it was my turn to drive the carpool car. So I picked up my Sports Car OF in my Honda CRV and off we went to Mrs. K's Kitchen in Middleburgh while watching the still swollen streams rushing down the mountainsides to the even bigger and more swollen larger streams and rivers
It was a lot more fun last week riding through the mountains in the Mazda RX7 convertible!
Maybe it is time for a change in the carpool rules. How about he drives all the days when the temperature is 60 degrees or above, and the sun is shining with just a few fluffy white clouds which means no rain and I never drive the convertible sports car, for several reasons:
— Reason #1: I don’t own the proper style of hat that should be worn while driving a classic sports car. His wife bought him the perfect hat to wear while driving that car! Maybe the OF I mentioned last week, who picks up the roadkill hats, could keep an eye out for a proper hat for me.;
— Reason #2: I am totally out of shape, or at least my left leg is; it is in no condition to handle the number of times I would be shifting. It would probably cramp up after five minutes and I would be on my crutches for a week; and
— #3 reason? I'd surely embarrass myself by stalling it.
Mowing
With all the rain we have had this spring, it was no surprise that conversations among the OMOTM centered around the negative effects the rain has caused.
Topics like when to mow the lawn quickly turned into a bunch of related discussions involving everything from fertilizer to weed control to how long to let the grass grow to types of lawn mowers.
Remember now, we are not talking about subdivisions with dozens and dozens of houses spaced pretty close to each other that sort of look similar to each other and the lots are all the same size. This is the OMOTM territory.
There are farms here, big old family houses with big yards (lawns are much smaller than your typical yards) and so you don't very often see a wal- behind mower being used on a multi-acre yard here in the Hilltowns, or any place else for that matter.
Even the homes in the towns are substantial and so are their yards — front, back, and side. Not too much weed-killer and feed fertilizer is being used up here on your five acres of “lawn.” You will see lots and lots of rider mowers.
Some of these “mowers” are pretty big and begin to look like small tractors. In fact, many of them do have attachments that will take care of nor’easter snowstorms, prepare the ground for the 3-acre “garden,” and haul that dead tree away.
The discussions also got into electric vs. gas for the smaller, more traditional rider and walk-behind lawnmowers. That started a whole new topic of battery-powered equipment that we all have these days.
I had been complaining about having to push my old, heavy, noisy, gas-powered, self-propelled, walk-behind lawn mower for several years. Yes, a lawn mower.
I live on a quiet little street in a quiet little neighborhood with quiet neighbors close by who are my friends, two or three of them are even retired, like me. Anyway, I now have an electric, battery-powered mower that I push around my small flat lawn for less than an hour when my lawn needs mowing.
It is much lighter and so much quieter to use than my old mower that I had to “help” go around the yard, whoops, I mean lawn.
That’s not the only thing I have that is battery operated. How about the weed eater? The battery-powered drill? Screw gun? The leaf blower? Small nail gun? Hedge trimmer?
Some of my friends were smart enough to buy all of these items from the same manufacturer so all the batteries fit all the tools and the chargers are all the same. I bought my stuff over the years and some of my stuff was gifted to me by my wife and family members.
As a result, I have several manufacturers represented in my collection of tools that I cannot live without. I am even OK with pushing my quiet, battery-powered lawn mower around. Who knew?
It is good exercise for this old man as well. Besides, it really is much easier than the really heavy self-propelled machine I had!
Sailboats are really cool too, and they don’t even use electricity! But that is a subject for a future OMOTM column. I can’t wait. Did you know that a sailboat ….
So without any battery-powered knives, forks, or spoons, the OMOTM managed to enjoy another fine breakfast. Those who gathered at Mrs. K's were Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, Wm Lichliter, Pete Whitbeck, George Washburn, Frank A. Fuss, Duncan Bellinger, Robert Schanz, Joe Rack, Mark Traver, Al Schager, Roland Tozer, Jacob Lederman, Wayne Gaul, Ted Feurer, Frank Dees, Chuck Batcher, Russ Pokorny, Gerry Chartier, Ken Parks, Pastor Jay Francis, Warren Willsey, Herb Bahrmann, John Jazz, Gerry Cross, Dick Dexter, Bob Donnelly, Elwood Vanderbilt, Allen Defasio, Dave Hodgetts, John Dab, Paul Guiton, Henry Whipple, Dave Wood, and me.