Men and Machines

Here’s the difference between men and women: Last night I’m telling my husband about my plans for today and I mention that it is finally dry enough to mow the lawn. Our new lawn is huge: two+ hours of mowing with the push mower, so I’ve been doing about 30 minutes each day rather than tackle the whole thing at once. Works for me. But of course hubby thinks we need a riding mower. He has mentioned this at least six times since we moved in two months ago. And he had to talk about it again last night. Meanwhile, I’m thinking we just need to get rid of the lawn! Give me about a year and I’ll have so much of it converted to flower beds and gardens that it will take 45 minutes, tops, to mow the whole lawn. Huge lawns are basically useless anyway, unless you have a couple of kids who love to play soccer!

For some reason men like the idea of mowing an acre of grass with a gas-guzzling machine so big that it needs its own storage shed. They love to hear about things like “turning ratios” and “horsepower”. I don’t understand it. Farming I understand. Pastures. Prairies. Parks. Golf courses. These I understand. The idea of a big lawn baffles me. One reason is because the riding mower is just the beginning. If you are going to spend that much money on a machine that mows the grass, then the grass must be worthy of such a machine. So guys invest in lawn seed and fertilizer and hoses and trimmers and other gadgets. They agonize over things like “double cutting”, raking, edging, cutting to the correct height, weed control. I once read about a lawn fanatic who got up early every morning to drag a hose across his lawn because he read that removing the morning dew prevented some sort of fungus. Insanity.

The really sad part of this is that most men don’t take time to enjoy the lawn they’ve mowed. They don’t play sports on it. They don’t sit on the patio and gaze at it. They just control it. At least my hard work in the garden is constantly rewarded. I enjoy the process of growing things. I get to see, smell, photograph, and pick beautiful flowers. I grow things to eat. I create habitats for birds and small critters. I take pleasure in seeing others enjoy my garden.

Men and their machines. They can keep them. And that lawn has to go…

Comments

[katrina]

Tell Dad to call his son-in-law. He "needs" a new riding lawn mower b/c the other one gave out. I pointed out that he has a 10 year old that will mow the lawn for an ice cream cone.