on reel mowing

Tonight I mowed our lawn with a reel mower.

It took me approximately an hour and a half.

I liked it.

We've had a reel mower since we found one on the cheap at a garage sale last summer. I was quite pleased. I used it all the rest of the summer.

But this spring, when mowing season started up again, I wasn't in the mood. So David got it out, and mowed. He soon discovered that reel mowing has it's drawbacks, and started using the gas-powered push mower. He also started heckling me about taking my turn. Darn egalitarian.

Earlier this evening, I was at my sister's. She has a small house, but she and her husband have made the most of it. They recently made a small patio that is a charming and admirable addition to their small, but tidy backyard. I envied it.

Our back lawn is larger, but does not meet the expectations for ideal suburbanites. We have abundant greenery growing around it's perimeter. Some would refer to it as weeds. I like to think of it as our personal jungle. It contains ivy, roses, lilies, ferns, dandelions, and a whole host of other flowers and leafery that I can not name. We have a garden, that is equal parts produce and weeds. We have an arbor, that grows and abundance of grapes.

We have all those wonderful things, but I envied my sister's patio.

I was going to go to a home-party of sorts, but I came home and looked at my *ahem* atypical lawn and decided, not unjustly, that it needed to be mowed.
I went to the barn (another embarrassing place) and considered my options: the noisy, vibrating gas-powered mower, or the reel mower. I chose the later.
While I mowed I thought. I thought about making this post, about how it should be titled: On Reel Mowers. I thought about all the good things about a reel mower:

•  it is less noisy, and I enjoy the sound it makes (I can't think of how to describe it as the moment- get your own and find out)
•  it is "better for the environment" and more economical b/c it doesn't use gas
•  it is good for me, because I'm guessing I burn more calories, if only by virtue of the fact that it takes me longer
•  it appeals to my vintage disposition
•  it makes me more available to my child: I don't have to worry about her accidentally getting her little toes chopped off by sith-speed blades b/c I didn't hear her running up to me- reel mower blades stop when I do (and my mower's blades aren't as sharp as they should be anyway). I enjoyed getting to hear and see her running gleefully to me with a fresh cut yellow lily in her hand and shouting "look! look Mommy!!".
• and it helps me like the jungle of my yard, even without a patio

Liking what I have usually makes me feel happy about being me. So, I'll consider this evening a win- because I got a chore done, David was free to install that hose reel I got him last year for Father's Day, the weather was pleasant enough to make working up a sweat tolerable, and because I remembered to be content. I think I've earned a bowl of ice cream with the movie.

Do you have a reel mower? What do you like best about your yard?