December 17, 2016 – Rain drop mowing

          Yesterday I described how my husband is an artist mowing the lawn.  When he is done it has these beautiful two-tone stripes like a professional baseball field.

          When I arrived in the county as the Plant Manager’s wife, I was required to “not take any jobs away” from the locals.  We were part of the management team that came up from Florida.  The purpose of the new plant was to create jobs here and for outsiders to not steal them.  So, I had to take a forced hiatus for a few years.  I didn’t mind, I had a new house to decorate and a yard and side lot to landscape and perennial gardens to create. 

It was an interesting time for me. It didn’t take long for me to come up with some “behind-the-scene” jobs.  Those hiatus years I would mow the lawn on our brand new sit down lawn mower decked out in cool, cotton camouflage shirt and pants and a big sun hat.  It is a peaceful joy to just sit and mow and put my mind on auto-pilot.

When houses along the street came up for sale and became empty I contacted the real estate listing agent and cut a deal for mowing the lawn so that the house would look good for sale.  I did that a few years and that ‘mowing money’ went directly into shrubs, flower bulbs and perennial plants.  It was an idyllic time for me at a midpoint in my life. I hope to have that same idyllic life as I retire.

One Saturday our lush back lawn needed to be mowed and I knew my husband would be extra-long at the golf course that day.  Some sort of shot gun, dog-fight, or championship thing.

I ‘got it in my head’ – that is the phrase that my husband uses on me when he doesn’t like what I have done – to mow the lawn so that it represented a rain drop in a puddle of water.  You know, that fascinating symmetrical ring, upon ring, upon ring into infinity.  [I dare you the next time you are at the edge of a still pond or pool of water where the light is reflecting ‘just so’ to toss in a pebble and admire those infinity rings.]  I know you will be charmed.

First, I rode the mower in the un-cutting mode across the backyard and counted it by seconds.  I was trying to locate the center.  Then I drove to the center of the back yard which was basically square.  When I got to the center I turned the steering wheel taunt so that I had would create a sharp turned center.  I engaged the blade on the mower and mowed in a tight circle and slowly loosened the steering wheel creating a mowed concentric/spiral design in the lawn to the far outside edges.

When done, I put the lawn mower away and strolled up to the top of the lane where you first catch sight of our home and lawn. ‘Voila,’  it was a sight to behold.  I loved it and felt certain that my returning-to-home golfing husband would love it too.

Instead I got:

“What were you thinking?”  He said as he arrived.  He had certainly noticed it and was highly unpleased to say it mildly.

A week later he said, “You have ruined my lawn, it will never be the same.”

Couple of weeks later he said, “Don’t ever do that again, I am still trying to get your foolish design out of my lawn.”

After a couple more weeks, he said, “Finally, I got the lawn back after your hair-brained idea.”

It has been a couple of decades since that fateful experiment.  I am secretly warming to the idea that I need to do it again.