Okay...so this is going to be an interesting post. I feel like sharing my lawn care experience just because it was the first time I've ever used any type of lawn mower, or weed whacker, and I did it, so I'm proud!
This is actually a funny story, because it doesn't begin recently. No, this story begins
three years ago. It begins in 2010. Why does it begin in 2010?
Because that was the first time that I ever had to be responsible for lawn maintenance. So we've been in this house for about three years now and we're about to sign a lease for another year, but before we lived here we lived in another house for a year.
We moved from that house to this house, because this house had more space. There were a variety of reasons, really. Okay, so anyhow, that house had a good sized back yard and front yard and I was responsible for taking care of the grass.
The original plan was that I would take care of it myself. Now mind you, my twin daughters were only a couple of months old. Pfft...wishful thinking, right? Lol, yeah. I think so. It was a nice thought. However, the reality of the situation was that come April...the grass began to grow. It grew, and it grew, and it grew.
I was amazed at just how fast it grew! During the time that the grass was busy growing I was busy trying to figure out which lawn mower to get. I shopped around and decided to go with a gas powered mower. So...I can't remember if I bought it locally or online. I think I bought it from walmart.com but returned it locally.
Yes...returned it. It gets better... So I get my mower and now I needed gas. I can remember that at that time it was a particularly hot spring. Hot as in 90's. Around the time that I needed gasoline for the mower it was in the upper 90's. We had an enclosed metal back porch and the heat from the sun would make the back porch amazingly hot.
There's a reason I share that point, which I'll get to later. So I had someone pick me up some gas. Mind you...I don't know why, but I've become extremely paranoid as I get older of handling anything toxic or flammable, so I was not feeling comfortable with handling gas. Mental issues? Maybe, lol. I didn't want to handle the stuff, but I was sure gonna try! So I get the gas...and it sits. It sits, and it sits, and it sits.
I start freaking out because it's really hot outside and I have nowhere to store it. And they have all these warnings on the gas can to store properly as to avoid explosion...and all that good stuff. The best place to store it was on my back porch, but it was so hot out there that I imagined my house exploding if I stored it there. Really, I did.
That's when I said...to hell with this. I'm getting rid of this gasoline and lawn mower NOW. I'll just pay someone to cut my grass. I'm not going through this. Plus I had twin babies that I was breastfeeding. I can do almost everything, but I'm not that much of a superhero. So I went across the street to my neighbors and asked if they'd like to take my gas can full of gasoline. I figured the husband could put it to use.
They had the perfect storage shed and the husband handled gas for his own stuff. So the wife says sure...then I find out later that he stored it in the back of his car for a while. I then worried that he was going to blow his own car up. Yes...I worry about everything, even people I barely know, lol. But it was gone from my house, so I could breathe a sigh of relief. This all occurred in one afternoon by the way.
I then returned the lawn mower and we found someone to cut my grass; an uncle of mine for a very small fee. He had a riding mower and weed whacker. Once he got started our lawn looked great the rest of the time we were at the house! Then when we moved here he cut the grass here for the rest of the summer of 2010. But before he could cut the grass for the first time at that last house with his riding mower...another uncle helped me out.
This is actually something we all laugh about till this day. The grass was half as tall as he was and he cut it with a pair of shorts on and a push mower. Yes, he did. He's a nice Christian man who happens to be a painter for a living, so that was definitely a very Christian thing to do! And thankfully, he didn't get a tick! I worried that he'd get a tick...I worry too much.
So summer of 2010 my uncle cut the grass here. Then in 2011, I paid someone. In 2012, I had a tough time financially, but was able to pay someone once. Yes...once. Bad, right? What did I do the rest of the time? I had "pity cuts." Yes, "pity cuts." What is a pity cut you say? Well, someone around here seemed to feel sorry for me and sent someone over to cut my grass three times. Yes...three times.
The first time it was so high that the guy cut it with a weed whacker. I kid you not... The second time he used a push mower - movin' on up. The third time he used a riding mower. I still have no clue who sent this guy, but it was definitely a blessing! Last summer I bought myself a mower and weed whacker, along with an outdoor extension cord. But it wasn't gas powered or electric.
It was just a push reel mower, which cuts like a dream by the way. Something that I don't have to worry about handling gasoline with and something I don't have to worry about accidentally running over a cord with, etc. I did have to worry about the very sharp blades when I put it together, though...but I'll get to that later...
So this mower and weed wacker sat in my house until this year, because it was just too hard with my daughters to get out there and do the yard work. Now that they're getting older it's getting easier to do things like that. So I couldn't wait to do it this year! We're in the process of transforming the outside of the house now and I want to keep the yard trimmed, along with adding flowers to all three of my porches and a few places in the ground outside of my house.
I'm no expert gardener, but I'm about to learn and I'm having fun already. I tagged this to my Blessings in Disguise tab too, because it was a blessing that someone cut my grass three times last year. And most recently my 16-year-old son did some yard work for someone here in town and the guy gave him a bunch of rose trees/bushes to plant. He didn't want them and told my son to do whatever he wanted with them, so being the entrepreneur that he already is...he sold them, lol.
And he made some pretty decent money that day too if I might add, lol. He saved me one and it was weird that he had them to begin with, because I've been thinking a lot about how I wanted to plant a rose bush in front of my house. I even had the perfect spot picked out. So that rose bush was also a blessing, because God knew I wanted a rose bush.
Yesterday a funny thing happened too. This will show you just how far my lawn has come. It hasn't seen days like this since our first summer, because even though it was cut last year it wasn't a good job. There was grass everywhere from not being raked and over grown weeds, etc.
So, anyhow...my yard and the outside of my house went from looking like a place for people to throw their garbage (which they did) and for people to stop with their dogs to go to the bathroom (which they also did) to yesterday, two people stopped in front of my house near a small tree in the front of my yard. The tree just started to bloom and looked pretty. I think it was a mother, grandmother and grandchild.
There was a young woman holding a baby in one of those infant carriers that attaches to the front of your body and then an older woman. I saw them...and I was like what in the hell? I started to look for a dog. It was my first thought. No dog...then the young woman with the baby poses in front of the tree while the older lady takes a photo! I almost caught a tear in my eye and was filled with utter pride. It totally made my day! Ha, ha, ha!!
It was also funny that a few of my neighbors were watching us work on the yard and the one guy offered my son the use of his gas powered mower, which was nice. So he took him up on it, only because the grass was starting to get high already.
So we used both mowers. I think the place of business across the street, along with my neighbors were all thinking, "well, it's about damn time." Ha, ha, ha! That's all I kept thinking while we were out there.
I have to say that after using the weed whacker, that is something you definitely have to be careful with, because I almost nicked my work boots a couple of times. I was getting so into weed whacking that I got close a couple of times. Those weed whackers are interesting too, because when I put it together the directions had no words...just pictures. Oh, yes, one of those instruction manuals. And I was like, am I doing this right?
How come I don't see the blades? Where's the blades? But that's a safety measure. The blades come out when you turn that baby on. Putting the mower together was a breeze too, but I needed two pliers and my son held one set of pliers while I tightened everything with the other set. Then came time to attach the handles to the blades.
Even my 13-year-old thought those blades were scary, but I was careful and didn't get cut. I was so proud to not only put these tools together, but to have cut the grass the way I wanted. It was so bad at first that I had to cut, then rake; cut then rake; cut then rake, and then I had to bag it all. But it was so worth it!
Then when we were done we were so proud of ourselves that we both couldn't stop looking out the window at the yard the rest of the night and saying to each other, "wow, we really did a good job." Lol. Now we'll be keeping up with it every two weeks or less. It felt so good to get 'er done and now I can say I know how to cut grass . . .
