Through the glum of Winter, with its rain and wind and insistence on making the outdoors unpalatable, lies the seduction of Spring, when merry flowers and sunshine bring about the more alluring aspects of terrestrial living.
To a point.
That point is grass-the bain of all except those oddfellows who revel in the minutiae of seeding, growing, mowing, clipping, weeding, fertilizing, and God knows what else.
I like a nice looking lawn as much as the next guy, but I balk at all the work it takes, and yet… now that Spring has sprung and the grass is growing, along with all of nature’s other joys, like flowers and weeds, I hear the call of the mower as the grass threatens to get out of hand.
This requires the annual rite of passage known as seeing if the lawnmower still works. That might seem like an odd comment until you learn that I have a push mower that is powered by nothing other than my propensity to avoid loud implements of yard work. Occasionally, this rite reveals that the mower has become a single uniform piece of junk metal that barely rotates and is more ornamental art than useful tool and no amount of lubrication and sharpening will alter that fact.
Inevitably, after many self-pitying sighs, I troop down to our local mega home improvement store to purchase another push mower. Now some of you may wonder why I don’t buy electric or gas or let nature take its course allowing the yard to revert to it “natural” state.
The answer, aside from the fact that I’m very stubborn, is I like push mowers because they’re quiet and easy to maintain, mostly. I can listen to music and convince myself it’s good exercise and that I’m saving the planet even though I don’t think the planet is in danger-we might be, but the planet, no.
The other thing is that after wasting many a weekend on getting my yard into a serviceable condition, I am loathe to let nature take its course on unsound philosophical reasoning that it was all a waste of time, even though it probably was.
And in truth, this only lasts s short while, for soon, which is July around here, the sun will come out, the rains will take their summer vacation and the grass, such as it is, goes dormant or dies, but that’s ok because you don’t have to worry about till…
Spring.
Groan!
©2019 David William Pearce
David William Pearce, Writer 