“Remoted” – Day 417 (Friday)

The rain earlier this week resulted in an abundance of growth of the grass and faux grass. It was time to pull out the mower and get busy. Mental energy was invested during the day in an attempt to psych myself up to mow after work. The main argument in the “do it today” column was the general moisture level of the grass in the mornings and the difficulty with mowing wet grass.

After work and supper, I dragged myself outside to the shed and the lawn mower. I added gas, pumped the red button three times, maybe four, and pulled the cord that threatens to dislocate my shoulder every time. Nothing happened. The button pushing and cord pulling were repeated several times with the same absence of result. The cord is always hard to pull, and my deeply set pandemic laziness has me with the upper body strength of an overcooked noodle so it really isn’t a big surprise. It was decision time – be a quitter and face a bigger problem in another day or two, or drag out the old-timey push mower.

The adorable neighbor dogs, Carlos and Harley, were romping in their yard, so I visited them for a moment before returning to the mowing dilemma. The push mower was rolled out for duty. As I pushed along the fence line, Carlos and Harley ran along on the other side of the fence. They would tumble over each other, because the pace was pretty slow with the combined thick growth and crappy mower on my side of the fence. There was more back and forth vacuuming motion happening than steady forward motion. 

Worst first mow ever. 

The mowing was hard. The dense clumps halt the mower, which usually results in an abrupt handle strike to the abdomen when the force of my push meets the blunt stopping power of the greenery. Yard work is a full contact sport at The BungaLowell, and there are possibly some freshly bruised internal organs to prove it.

Despite the effort of 45 minutes and internal injuries, the dreaded first mow of the back yard is not finished. It was too much. The weedy stuff grows thick and full mower width rows were not possible. Progress occurred in strips of a few inches at a time and a ragged path marks the perimeter. Maybe tomorrow the inner field can be completed. Things to look forward to in a glamourous life.