Epic Fail…Going green (lawnmower)
Growing up, I spent a _lot_ of time mowing lawns. It turns out that adults seem to dread mowing their lawns and, as a kid, mowing was a great way to make some cash during “baseball season”, aka summer. I started mowing my neighbor Dorothy’s (my “3rd Grandma) yard when I was about 11 years old and continued mowing several lawns until I left for college. I loved the smell of fresh cut grass and dirty 2-stroke engines.
Since I’m now a homeowner and it’s springtime, I have the privilege of having a lawn to mow again! As winter began to fade, I became excited about purchasing my first ever lawnmower. With gas prices ever on the rise, I thought it would be cool to buy one of those human-powered reel mowers. I read some positive reviews online and decided to buy a 20″ Scotts model. The local True Value store (which is 100% cooler than Home Depot, btw) had one in stock and I decided to buy it. The TrueValue guy said “they work ok” and I was super excited about a pollution-less, quiet, and simple mower.
Epic FAIL!
My first attempt at mowing was saddening to say the least. The “green” mower didn’t like my uneven lawn and completely failed to cut any grass over a few inches tall. My neighbor chuckled at me but was nice enough not to say too much. While I was mowing the front yard, the mailman came by and said “I haven’t seen one of those since the 60’s”! That’s Minnesota nice for “you’re an idiot, man”!
So…yeah…Last weekend I went and bought myself a _real_ (not reel) mower. I thought about buying an electric, but after the previous debacle, I decided that a nice cut lawn was more important than burning gas and spitting out some CO2. Take THAT future generations!
So there you have it. I’m now a happy polluter with a nice lawn. To compensate, I’ve decided to buy a battery-powered trimmer. Does that count as a carbon offset?
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:52 am
haha. for some reason, this story is very funny to me. i think it’s cause i used to have an obsession with those human-powered ones, too. i never actually got one though (then again, i’m not a homeowner).
May 29th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
hahaha, I told you it was a bad idea! ah well its cool you tried it. I took one look at the green mowers and the price tags and went for the petro version.
plus I saw how difficult it was for homer to run his green mower on the simpsons. tv is smart. so is flanders
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 pm
hahaha, I thought of you when I was buying the gas mower
Guess I should start taking advice from homer.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
hahaha. I think it’s totally lame you all started your comments with “hahaha”. Losers.