Apr 17, 2019 3 min read

I heard that familiar sound the other morning just after waking up, and it wasn’t the birds chirping or the sound of the school bus on its usual route.

No, this was the faint din of an engine humming, and I knew immediately that spring had absolutely sprung. One of my neighbors had decided it was finally time to fire up his lawn mower.

I went outside and surveyed my grass, cringing at the damage left behind by various rodents and months of cold weather and snow. The highs winds we experienced several times this winter had left twigs and thin branches strewn all across the lawn, while a few small piles of leaves had swirled into the corners of the flower beds. I sighed and resigned myself to the fact that it was time to take up yard work for the season.

I’m not what you would call an early adopter. When the latest, greatest versions of each smartphone incarnation are released, I’m not the person standing in line to buy them. No, I limp along with my several-years-old phone just fine. When co-workers and friends bust out the pencil skirts, knee-high boots and sweaters just after Labor Day when it’s still 70-plus degrees outside, I’m still sporting my flip-flops and shorts until the leaves fall. Each spring, friends and neighbors are out sprucing up their yards at least a few weeks before I get around to it.

This year, two obstacles got in my way. First, I’ve noticed that my spring allergies the past few years have grown to include the beautiful trees that are in bloom right now. That means my eyes are bleary, watery and itchy for several weeks and get even worse when I work out in the yard. Second, my trusty lawnmower decided to go on strike. It started leaking oil last fall, and despite two trips to the repairman, it still wound up not running well at the end of last season. Now, after its winter hibernation, the darn thing just won’t start at all. I tried everything but no luck.

Rather than wasting more time and money on it, I decided in my frustration to just invest in a shiny new version. The new mower started right up and did a pretty good job for its first mow. We’ll see if I can get the hang of the slightly different controls over the next few weeks. In the meantime, a friend will try some repairs on the old lawnmower to see if he can get it working well enough to sell.

I got the flower beds raked out, so the next step will be applying some dandelion killer to the lawn. The mixture I have also includes fertilizer, so that will have the grass growing at epic speeds, which means my new mower will be racking up the miles pretty quickly.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.