Austinist: Truesday: Soon To Be Paved With Good Intentions

Paul

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 10:19:22 -0600

I rented a place in the '04 last year that came with a push mower. I was the only one out of my deadbeat roommates who would touch the thing. Everyone else just prefered to let the grass grow. I discovered a method sometime during the heat of July: Give up. That's right, don't cut your grass. Let the weeds choke it to death. They grow faster anyway. Once the weeds are big enough, put on some gloves, head out there and start pullin'. You'll find some starved, malnourished grass underneath there, and your lawn will look so much better than it did before that you won't even notice it needs to be mowed. You're welcome.

M1EK

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:51:42 -0600

For those of us with lawnlets, the push mower actually saves a bunch of time even though you have to hit every spot from 2-4 directions depending on your grass type. Just imagine - all you do is get it and go - no maintenance of any kind. Just getting the gas mower ready at my childhood estate took about 1/3 as long as the entire mowing jorb takes me now. With the size lawn I have now, prep and cleanup time would probably exceed mowing time if I were to go back to gas.

k8

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 17:10:07 -0600

Who says lawn care and drinking more have to be mutually exclusive?

sean

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 17:06:57 -0600

You should try growing a couple of these bad boys out in the front yard: http://www.fitzsu.com/index.asp?spage=psearch&pid=836107&cat=79858

truecraig

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:53:46 -0600

Damn YOU McManus! You and your one-upmanship! I'm shaking my fist like it's a collicky baby (doll, so calm down), even though you are incapable of seeing such theatrics. You are definitely correct, though. More booze can indeed bring aide. Broken leg, broken heart, broken spirit. Liquid courage, as it is oft referred.

Declan McManus

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:37:41 -0600

So is drinking more.

truecraig

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:45:06 -0600

Yardwork is a brilliant way to work off a hearty hang over.

Declan McManus

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:39:59 -0600

Growing up, the shitty pushmower that came with my parents house was just as easy to use as the gas powered Snapper. Unless you have one of those fancier gas (or electric) mowers that also powers the wheels, a push mower with sharp blades is way lighter than a clunky gas one. I don't know how big some of your lawns are, but a lot of the properties in Austin... we're talking about 8 minutes of lawn mowing probably.

erica

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:35:59 -0600

f'in hilarious. and awesome.

David

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:29:59 -0600

Are you really using a push mower to save on gas? Or is it because you want to work off those 12 beers you drank the night before? I dont use a push mower out of principle...My Dad made me use one while growing up. As a matter of fact if I see one I will run over it with my S.U.V. Of course I am kidding but seriously I could not see myself pushing that thing.....

eliz. s.

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:12:26 -0600

My mom uses a push mower and has had people yell from across the street, asking what she's doing. Some people really have no clue what a push mower is. At my house we own no sort of mower at all. This works until Spring when the grass and weeds start taking over.

triSARAtops

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 12:29:40 -0600

We solved our lawn-care problems by living on the corner. People who can't be bothered to walk the 10 extra feet on the sidewalk cut across our yard and pretty much prevent grass from growing in a number of problem areas.

john

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:55:42 -0600

lol. well, I don't know how much mine are worth exactly, but after school and work I consider my Saturday afternoons to be just about priceless. when I moved into the '04', I quickly decided it would be socially acceptable to not rake any of the leaves all fall, and let them prevent any lawn growth that I might have to mow come spring. that's even more natural, like no deodorant or goodflow orange juice.

truecraig

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:36:17 -0600

Or, "flagellation", rather. I do self flatulate, though, whatever that means.

truecraig

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:30:09 -0600

There is nothing that cannot, nor should be, made into a political statement. But somehow my push mower is. Because that is how I legitimize such self-flatulation. Otherwise, I'm just too cheap to purchase the fancy Snapper variety, and that's hardly interesting. And I approximate that my Saturday afternoons are worth fifteen billion dollars. Approximately. Yours?

john

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:14:44 -0600

I think it will be a long time before I feel the 25 cents in gas it takes to power a gas mower is too much. I mean how much is your Saturday afternoon worth to you? Does everything have to be turned into a political statement, including lawn care?

kayvaan

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:08:27 -0600

gas SHOULD be expensive -- it costs us a lot in terms of pollution and environmental damage to extract and process it. however, i'm sure energy companies are not using the high premiums they charge to mitigate the high resource costs of extracting fuel. instead the premiums go to their bottom line. the real problem is that we, as a society, do not have an effective way to charge corporations (or anyone) costs that are external to their organizations. government regulation is what should do that -- but well, you know...

andrew

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:04:26 -0600

thanks for the link to that article. great read! i have yet to start consuming less oil. i do have a breaking point though. i decided last summer that if gas prices hit $3+ and stick, i'd start taking the bus to work. sure it'd mean an hour and a half commute, arriving to work 20 minutes early, compared to my current 20 minutes commute, but it's more about principle

Declan McManus

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 09:52:23 -0600

Two thumbs up! Every little effort counts. If you've bought a good quality push mower (ie, not one of those turds from Wal-mart) you will be able to push it (provided you do the proper maintenance) for many many years to come. And you're self fertilizing the lawn because you're not bagging your clippings with one of those bad boys. All in all, good choice! PS - Here's a link to a great article about Snapper lawn mowers and how they told Wal-Mart to fuck off, pulled their product line, and are continuing to sell their superior products elsewhere. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/102/open_snapper.html