The privilege of mowing one's lawn is the culmination of the American Dream. The fact that you can own a small chunk of this planet is proof positive that we live in the greatest country ever conceived, founded, and defended. Count your blessings, I say.
I'm with Bob. Hate Hate Hate.
Didn't have any grass at our house as a kid. Mowed about 10ac with a family friend weekly at his Dad's factory. Push mower (was self propelled but broken) and a gas trimmer. Took a whole day basically, whole growing season for about 3 yrs. Made good money at it, and some side cash if we did work in the shop when we got done.
Once I got a house we had .5ac and a rider it wasn't so bad. We are at 1.5 now and a zero turn and with the obstacles and the fence, I am so over it. Wish these %@)(#$* kids I have would do it. Or my wife bc she "loves the yard" so much.
Serious suggestion, hop on Craigslist and look for used artificial grass.
Maybe it'll have yard markings on it from football or soccer, but it will always be green, never need mowed, won't grow weeds, and is surprisingly cheap second hand.
I'm looking at around $1200 to do my under half acre that need mowed ever week.
$25 per mow... that's funny... more like triple that here. And my entire lot is all of 40' x 100' and is more weeds than grass. So I accept that an hour per week will be spent mowing and trimming. It's a chore I'll often do after a bike ride since I'll already be sweaty.
I buy the cheapest big rear wheel push mower available at the home center, and do zero maintenance to it. The trimmer is a Kobalt 80V cordless model with replaceable attachments. I can usually get 1.5 trimming/clipping removals out of a charge. I try to trim before mowing as it seems to make the mowing easier - especially the curb and sidewalks.
Years ago when many of my neighbors were old widows, there was a guy who mowed all of their lawns at the same time. He did mine as well for about $10. Those were an awesome few years and I do miss those days when I'd come home from work and find the lawn mowed. But alas, the widows all sold their houses and the mowing guy hurt his back and quit.
Count me in the "loathe" column...
These really help with all that fenceline. The wheels can be cocked 10 deg either direction and with the heavy string it's a one-pass, brisk walk chore.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Actually the government owns it and leases it to me for a yearly fee they deem appropriate. Even with no mortgage we still have to pay someone to be able to live there.
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:bobzilla said:The amount of hours of my life I've wasted sitting on a mower, or with a trimmer in my hand.....
I'm shopping for engines and hating the idea of spending another 60-70 hours sitting on a mower.I'm sorry to hear that Bob, that sounds rough. Any activity can turn into a PITA if you have to do it too much or you have other things you'd rather be doing. Maybe time to downsize to a condo?
I'd sooner rot in jail. I hate people. I need space from them. A condo is truly a living hell for me. The 8 months we were in an apartment building this house I thought I would lose my mind. I'm a country boy. I will always be a country boy. You put me in the city and I'll be dead in a year.
I would probably be less pissy about it if a.) the wife actually helped and 2.) the city of Whitestown wasn't berkeleying me and building warehouses as close to us as they. An. She doesn't. If I can get her to help me pick up sticks before mowing that's a nice surprise. Because of the number and size of our trees and the volume of wind we get it usuallly takes 30-40 minutes every time I need to mow to clean up the branches. Tack that onto the almost 2 hours of mowing and every couple weeks another hour of trimming and I've wasted an entire day.
The positive side is in 13 years I've spend a little over 500 hours on that mower. If we still had the old riders I'd be looking at well over 1000 hours.... or basically half a year of work.
In reply to bobzilla :
Knowing where you live...you are surrounded by crops. Can you lease any more of your land to the farmer for crops? This would then reduce your need to mow that acreage but also keep anyone from really living next door to you. I gather that recommending you sell off a portion of the property, where someone might then build next door, is not the answer you want.
In reply to John Welsh :
We only have 1.84 acres and the amount of trees and the shape of the boundary makes that unpossible. Besides I'm not giving up more property.
I came back to say I did not gain excess weight until after I ditched the push mower and bought a Honda riding mower. I feel sure that helped keep weight off.
1988RedT2 said:The privilege of mowing one's lawn is the culmination of the American Dream. The fact that you can own a small chunk of this planet is proof positive that we live in the greatest country ever conceived, founded, and defended. Count your blessings, I say.
But what about my freedom? Why should I be forced to mow against my will? Where are my rights? 
It is amazing that only people who live in the US are allowed to own real estate, though.
This is my payback for not trying to force my land to be something else.
Ive got another two months or so before mowing will commence. Im looking forward to it!
Keith Tanner said:1988RedT2 said:The privilege of mowing one's lawn is the culmination of the American Dream. The fact that you can own a small chunk of this planet is proof positive that we live in the greatest country ever conceived, founded, and defended. Count your blessings, I say.
But what about my freedom? Why should I be forced to mow against my will? Where are my rights?
It is amazing that only people who live in the US are allowed to own real estate, though.
This is my payback for not trying to force my land to be something else.
This is my idea of the perfect yard.
I have tried mowing in altered states the last couple years. Run the trimmer for an hour in the heat, slam a couple beers and wait 5 minutes. Then start mowing. Top off as needed to keep the buzz going.
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