After the guy that used to take care of my yard raised the price sharply this year, despite the lower gas prices for his mower and gas yard tools, I decided to start taking care of my yard myself. After all it’s great exercise and I seem to do a better job than the person I previously used who zoomed over everything with his kids and was gone in 20 minutes.
I realized I would have to buy everything I needed but even with the cost, I would be saving a lot of money. Turns out my mother had an electric mulching mower in the garage and since she used a lawn service, she didn’t need it and gave it to me. It needs a little work, you have to hold the handle switch in just the right spot and if you go too fast it leaves a few blades so the blade needs to be sharpened, but it was free and does work. I even got the long extension cord with it.
On my way home from work I saw an electric blower in a pile of curbside trash set out for pickup. I picked it up and took it home. I just had a bad switch which I fixed without having to buy a new one. After scouring sales at various stores I was able to get a week whacker and hedge trimmers for $19 each. I was all ready to go without spending a bunch of money.
I have done my yard twice now, and it looks great. Plus I am getting a lot of exercise. I did cut the extension cord the first time I trimmed my bushes and it would have made a great scene if they ever do a gardening version of one of the National Lampoon Vacation movies.
I also noticed some of my neighbors were out in their yard the other day and out of the corner of my eye I caught them pointing at me and talking amongst themselves when I was cutting my lawn. I guess an electric lawn mower is intriguing.
I can’t wait to see what they do if I can ever figure out how to make it remote control so I can cut my grass from a lawn chair.
Mickey Briggs
