Mowing

Today is the Fourth of July, the day that we celebrate our Independence. So what will you be doing? Will you be golfing? Will you be at a parade? Will you have friends and family over for a cook out?

Vern has chosen to mow the lawn. We all do what is fun for us and for him, mowing is a joy. Where does that come from? As long as I have been with him, mowing is his fun perhaps even his meditation time/space.

Yes, he goes golfing and comes home tired and hurting but with mowing, he comes in feeling great. I guess when the yard looks just the way he wants it to, he is proud.

When he comes home from golfing, there isn't any pride. Sure he had friends that he got to talk with but somehow it doesn't hit the mark like mowing does.
What is it about mowing that is so great? Maybe it is the feeling that he gets riding on his lawnmower? Maybe it is a feeling that he is "king" of his land? Maybe it is the feeling he gets because he is not just sitting around but making something look great? Maybe it is the fact that he has the freedom to do anything so he decides to do this? Maybe in his mind he has allocated all the rest of the week to other things and he is trying to fit this in?

I wonder what the people around here think as they are home from work today for a holiday and can sleep in or just do the nothing that they have been looking forward too? Or are even trying to sit and talk with their friends?

Last night we sat out on the front porch and watched it rain. A rain that we really needed. He mentioned that we really live in a very quiet neighborhood. It was late in the day and I mentioned that it is nice this time of the day. Usually there is someone pounding on a new roof or cutting their lawn or replacing
something. Looking around, he kind'a laughed at me and said, "Well, there aren't any new roofs going on around here." I mentioned that sound really carries in this little village. We can hear the music from the park six blocks away. So during the daytime we can hear a roof going on from the top of the hill. Later as we sat there, we could hear a lot of cars and I asked him if he thought that was the traffic on Mequon Road (12 blocks away).

If you went out there right now while he is mowing and asked him how he felt about what he is doing, first he wouldn't want to talk about his feelings but then you would see that he is comfortable somewhere in his world.

When this marriage was young, I thought I would help him by having the boys mow near the end of the week so Vern would have his weekends free. It wasn't long and the boys came to me with a situation. It seems that even if they mow on Thursday after school, Vern mowed again on Saturday. So I told the boys that from now on we would allow him to do the mowing.

He loves to ride on his mower. At times it has become a bit of a problem because he is in his own world and trees have a way of hanging over his work. It was then that the gardens under the trees became enlarged to accommodate this situation.

When I was on the board at Wellspring, an organic farm, Bed and Breakfast and training center in Newberg, there was a lot of mowing that needed to be done. I suggested that maybe Vern would like to volunteer his talent but after doing it for one summer on a weekly basis, he wasn't having fun. I guess it is just his kingdom that he enjoys cutting.

While taking the UW County Extension's gardening classes, I learned that grass should be allowed to grow 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches tall. This allows the roots to stay shaded and weeds do not germinate as well in taller grass. Also "never remove more than 1/3 of the leaf tissue at any one mowing." (Information from Bulletin #A3435) So of course you know what I did? I would go out and set his blade higher. The next time he would cut, he would lower it and I would reset it between cuttings. Vern has this idea that if it can wave in the wind, it needs to be cut off. I have finally given up. He can mow three times a week if it makes him happy.

He has agreed with me about not putting chemicals on our lawn. From time to time he isn't happy about this as we do have a lot of weeds because of the short grass. I started a one-year contract with him in the early 90s. Then we would renew it every year. Now I don't do that either. When he put fertilizer on the lawn this year, I would guess that it was a weed and feed just by the results that he was getting.

I am getting too old to try to win any of these. Who cares anyway? If we get Dioxin from the weed and feed and loose a liver or anything…who cares? It will be five years before I can use the dandelions in my yard for wine now. Maybe some of these things just aren't as important as they used to be in my life. I don't like it but…. There are a lot of things that I don't care for. (How about cell phone micro-wave transmissions?)

All of my neighbors have three or more applications of weed and feed put on their yard annually. How do I know this? I am registered with the State of Wisconsin regarding chemical lawn applications. There is a paper that I file every February listing all the properties around me that I wish to be notified if they are going to have chemicals put on them. So I get a phone call the day before the application from the lawn care companies.

When plant roots can get fed within the top two inches of the ground, they sure don't need to dig into the planet very far. I have always wondered about this feeding. When someone walks through your whole property within a matter of minutes with liquid food, does that stuff even get as far as the ground or just feed the leafy matter?

I guess will just continue to watch Vern having the pleasure that he has with his property and I will relax. Life is too short to be the only one to care about the planet.