The Day the Deere Came Into Our Yard

I wrote this story about two months ago, with the anticipation of spring, before we got bombarded by the snow and freezing temperatures in February and March. Tomorrow is spring and every weekend my husband says “O.K I’ve had it now.”  “I’m ready to mow the lawn.”  So this story is for my husband.

Over the years we have had several lawn mowers.  Some were hand mowers but most were riders.  I was never interested in mowing the lawn.  I would always mow the inside of the pool area with a hand mower and kicked myself every time because I didn’t make the fence further back so the rider would fit in the gate.

I can remember when every weekend my husband would get on the tractor and mow for hours.  I always felt sorry for him until one day he asked if I could mow because he would be busy over the weekend.  Well, let me tell you, that was one of the most relaxing few hours I had spent in years.  You don’t have to put much thought into what you are doing but just let your mind wander and solve all the problems in the world because people hesitate to bother you when you are mowing.  I think it’s the size of the machine that determines how many times someone would actually want you to stop and answer a question.  It can also be said about the hand mower because you have to pull to get that started.

These machines are definitely not made for women.  The rototiller, the leaf blower, the hand mower are just killers to start.  Someone should invent tools for women.  Just think how we could help around the yard if things were a little easier to start.  I know they have electric machines but realistically if you have a large yard, it doesn’t make much sense to have an electric cord three hundred feet long or longer in some cases. The trimmer for the shrubs is electric but by the time you finish the job, your arms are killing you.

Anyway, it got to the point that my husband and I were racing to mow the lawn.  I wanted the grass to be cut shorter and he likes it longer.  I like to start in one place and maybe mow in a different direction.  I saw on television that if you mow in a different direction every week it helps the grass but he likes to mow in a certain way every time.

When we owned the Cub Cadet, I would mow with that and he would mow with the 8 N, built in 1954,  that had a brush hog on the back of it to mow longer grass that is on the upper property.

The Cub Cadet was supposed to last us a life time.  As the property grew, the bigger the mowers grew.  That brings us to the purchase of the John Deere, the big green mower.  I’m not sure how it happened exactly but there it was one day and the man was showing my husband the ins and outs of the big green mower. From that time on, I would mow occasionally, but more and more he would be the one to mow.  I never liked to hear the mower on the weekends but it never bothered me when I was on the mower.  So if I mow, I try to get it done on Thursday or Friday and have the whole weekend to just do what you want to do.  The last couple of years we have been having bocce games on Friday nights with our daughter and her husband, so it has to be cut before the game.

Every summer my husband would drive the John Deere with a large trailer behind it down to a near by town to pull us all around the town to play in a poker run, sponsored by the local fire department to raise funds for the following year.  It would hold about six couples.  They all seemed to like it and he just loved it!

The  Deere has cut the mowing time in half and we didn’t need the eight N anymore.  Over the years we started referring to the smaller riders as disposables because they couldn’t hold up to the mowing time.  So let’s review.  We had a hand mower, a green rider that was very small, at least one Dynamark, a Gravely, the Cub Cadet, the 8 N and finally the John Deere.  I’m told we will never have to invest in another mower again.  Time will tell.  I just have a feeling that maybe there will be a larger, more advanced John Deere in the future.  It will just appear out back one day and mowing will become a new adventure.

From our backyard to yours, ladies try mowing some day if you can get the tractor away from your husband!