Glorious New Hope

Gary bought a new lawnmower last night.  When he told me what he spent, I was aghast.  But he chose it, and that's the way it is. 

I used it today to finish the second half of the lawn that I began mowing yesterday.  It is beautiful.  It is awesome.  I love this machine.  A couple of times while I was out there mowing, a few tears of joy leaked down onto my cheeks.  I am absolutely elated over this lawnmower.  This is so worth the price-tag.

I didn't realize until this afternoon how horribly bumpy our yard is.  Yes, I've known it's not smooth.  But the chipmunks and the sandhill cranes have done quite a number on it this year, and it's wretched.  Pushing a mower up and down the hills in our yard --especially over all the divots and hidey-holes-- takes a huge amount of effort.  This new mower has rear-wheel drive that's variable based on how fast you want to walk.  It is amazing.  I mean, really, it is amazing. 

We have been toying with the idea of moving into a condo in an old-folks' community.  We have considered moving into the village (where the water is nasty and the neighbors are too close) just to have a smaller yard.  We have considered hiring someone to do the mowing for us.  After an hour with the new mower, all those [overwhelming and unwelcome] ideas are out the window.  Even if this mower is cruddy and doesn't last, so that we would have to buy a new one every year, we are still way ahead financially over moving or hiring a lawn service.  And it IS that easy -- the mower pushes itself, and all you have to do is walk along with it.  No man-handling it.  No trudging up hills.  No fighting those blasted holes that the critters made in the yard.

If I can mow the yard in a day by myself and not be completely wasted by it (as opposed to spending ALL my energy for three days every time I mowed), I might have time to do wild and crazy things.  I could work on overseeding parts of the yard.  I could clean house.  I could do more projects at church.  I could tackle the mess in the basement.  I could [gasp] read a story???!

I love this mower.