That's Kosh, the mysterious Vorlon from the series Babylon 5, confirming that the Shadow War had begun. Certainly more dire (well, SF/Hollywood-wise) than what I'm not looking forward to...Another summer of mowing.
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| A week ago the grass hadn't really started growing. |
People sometimes ask if I ever hit it big as an author, would I quit teaching. No, I really don't think I would. I really like my job working with teens. But I might hire a neighborhood kid to mow the yard and do the trimming. Yes, I think so.
I mowed our family's yard as a youth, Usually I'd just continue and mow the neighbor's while I was at it, sometimes both neighbor's yards. Once I got going, it wasn't that bad. They were city lots in Toledo with decent sized front and back yard, but not five or ten acre plots. I just had to watch flowers and go around trees and bushes. Sometimes I got paid a few dollars, but I tried to avoid it. They were friendly old ladies, and good neighbors. They didn't care if we hopped the fence to get a ball, shared peaches from their trees, and sometimes tomatoes from their gardens. Every now and then, a couple bucks ended up in my pocket, if they could catch me just as I finished.
But if I hire a neighborhood kid, they'll get paid :)
Well, round one is done. It's going to be sunny the next day or two, in the high 70s and low 80s, with rain this weekend. Means, next week I'll be back at it again until probably October, if I'm lucky.
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Confession time. I have never mowed a lawn. And with all the strapping teenage boys in my house, I probably never will! My son earned half the cost of his marching band tour mowing lawns last summer. It was nice!
ReplyDeletePeople think the publishing industry has gone through major changes. Teenage lawn mowing, at least here in my neck of California, has changed even more.
ReplyDeleteA couple years ago, I broke my leg--yes, doing something stupid--anyway, I thought I'd hire a local kid to mow my yard for a few months until I could get off crutches. Nadda! No kids mow lawns anymore in my neighborhood.
I walked (actually "crutched", but I don't think that's a verb) around the block looking for a teenager to use MY lawnmower and MY gas and still get paid. Again, not a taker anywhere. I didn't even have a gender preference; boy or girl . . . didn't care. Guess who I finally hired to mow my lawns; two white middle-aged men starting a lawn care business.
Where did this contempt among teens for hard work come from? I never liked mowing lawns, especially for negligent homeowners who let the damn stuff get a foot high before hiring me to bring it under control, but I enjoyed a pocketful of cash after doing four or five lawns in a weekend. Like the Borders Bookstore chain, this teen lawn-mowing tradition seems to have gone bankrupt.
It’s too bad. I’m pretty sure I’ll break something again, someday. Guess I’ll have to hire those hard-working Russian immigrants again. Hmmm...I think there’s a moral in this story, something about hard working immigrants and getting ahead in life. But, that’s another story!
Glad you struggled through your lawn chore.
I am so with you on this. I'm fortunate to have a riding-mower, but oh how I dread cutting the yard. It's not extremely bad, but like you say there's other things to be done. :)
ReplyDeleteLucky you, Angie ;) And good for your son!
ReplyDeleteThere are still a few around here who'd do the mowing, I strongly suspect, Dean. Small town might make a difference.
My neighbor has a riding mower, Cher. His yard is larger, but he has to pull out the push mower to get parts. And yep, there area always other things to do. Always.