As homeowners we’ve had to buy a few things to “complete” our house. A mop, paint, etc. Among these things is a mower.
I haven’t bought a mower since i was a kid. I mowed a lot then, spending much of my summers growing up in Louisiana and Colorado mowing neighbors’ yards and procrastinating mowing my own.
Now we live in a small house with a medium-sized yard. Big for the city, but small if you’re used to a farm. We went mower shopping about a month ago and decided to get a reel mower. No, not a real mower; a reel mower. No gas, no plug, no Mr. Fusion. This is powered by your walking behind it. This is about as simple as mowers get.
Reel mowers have come a long way from the grunting and sweating of years past. They are still fundamentally the same though: The blades actually snip the grass, instead of whacking it with a propellor; and of course, there is no engine. The difference is that they are much easier to use – very easy to push.
The thing I like the most about the mower is how quiet it is. When I used the gas mowers growing up, I would always wear some sort of walkman while mowing, to drown out the sound of the mower. Now, I just mow in the peace and quiet of my yard. I did listen to my iPod for part of the mowing, but I’m not sure I’ll do that in the future. It was more for nostalgia than anything.
All articles on this site are licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license. All design, code, etc are All Rights Reserved.
Icons by iconbuffet and FAMFAMFAM.
Be Good Not Bad is all about really good web design, based on the utmost respect for web standards, accessibility and respect for the user. Based in Denver, Colorado, Be Good Not Bad is run by Brian Warren, freelance designer, blogger, homebrewer and coffee nut.
Now you can mow like the HERMIT!
§ #1 By Vance at 9:17am on July 20 2004
I could not agree more! I absolutely hate those gas guzzling lawn mowers. They are noisy un-environmentally friendly. I recently had to borrow a neighbor’s because my reel mower was in the shop to have the blades sharpened. I nearly died to use that gas guzzler. I found it awkward to use especially with turning. I could not wait to get my ole ‘reeler’ back.
People have stopped and asked me questions about ole ‘reeler’ – is it hard to push, etc… I respond it’s not in fact it’s lighter more efficient, no fumes, and gentle on the grass. I even let them try it. I dont believe they switched from their gas guzzler to the reeler because of marketing. The box stores do not display the reeler and when they do it’s always in some dark corner waiting for an enlightned person to purchase it.
§ #2 By toni at 9:17am on July 20 2004