Summer Fling

Yeah, that's right.......every summer I have a fling with this handsome dude, and he can do some awesome flinging, let me tell you.......of grass clippings, of course!!

He and I get it on at least once a week, and more often when the weather is maintaining a certain hot, muggy pattern. Don't worry.......this physical relationship of ours is sanctioned and encouraged by Husband, because if it wasn't ME getting involved with this fella, then Husband would have to, and Husband is just not that kind of guy!

Each tryst lasts for several hours, and by the time he and I are finished I'm covered in dust and dirt, my skin crawling and itching, with pine needles inside my clothes and adorning my hair. Checking for ticks is necessary afterwards, too. Why I put up with such a relationship is beyond my comprehension!

(Yes.......sad to say........I override a safety feature........ for convenience sake.)

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Mowing through an area thick with fluffy dandelion seed heads results in this:

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Actually, my penchant for getting involved with lawnmowers goes way, way back. The farm I grew up on had huge lawns.......the front yard, the middle yard, the back yard, the windmill yard, the yards bordering the garden, and around the sheds. There were two push Lawn-Boys at our service, put to endless use by my sisters and I, who, as a result, enjoyed generous doses of exercise, sweating, and UV rays. When our brother grew old enough to mow........the parents purchased a RIDING mower for him to use! Figure that one out.

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For the first few years of our marriage, Husband and I rented a house on a farmstead near his parents' farm. Once again.......a vast expanse of lawn to mow........including a horribly steep ditch. And, as always, the task fell to little old me and an ancient, decrepit Lawn Boy push mower. Truly, I felt I would go mad at times, trying desperately to get the mowing done, for the feeble thing would invaribly start coughing where the grass grew just a little bit thick, then sputter blue smoke, die, and refuse to start again. Husband was never there when that happened, of course. I would plead with him to remedy this situation........he would fiddle with the mower; but, it would behave the same way the next time I used it.

One day, I became so frustrated that I simply drove to a town about ten miles away where there was a hardware store, and I purchased a BRAND-NEW Lawn Boy push mower!! Horrors.......something new........how dreadful........and without my husband's permission. He wasn't too happy about it.......too bad......I didn't care by that point. Some of you good, obedient, submissive wives may turn away at this confession.......that's OK. Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I was absolutely at the end of my lawnmowing rope, you see; I was responsible for mowing a gigantic lawn, but not given decent equipment to do so.......and the situation became intolerable for me. Sorry.

When we eventually moved onto this farm where we live-----where Husband grew up-----I had another gargantuan lawn staring me in the face every summer, weekly bursting its trappings like The Hulk. If you're a lifelong town person, you may not realize that most livestock farmers do not do lawnmowing......they don't have the time.......so the job falls to the wife and kids, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that, of course.......a wife and children need to be kept busy, or they might fall into who knows what.......blogging, perhaps. Idleness is the devil's workshop, you know. On our farm, though, the kids were usually helping their dad with barn chores, so the lawnmowing fun filtered down to me, as always.

For many years, I tolerated the cheap, clunky riding mower that Husband's parents had left here. They never believed in spending much money on lawnmowing equipment.....it was that old German frugality coming through......."Ach! The lawn don't make ya any money"! Finally.....and to my great joy......the old mower's shift lever broke off one day and we had to buy a different machine. I pleaded for a mower with hydrostatic shifting. Husband acted like he just couldn't understand why I might want that. Grr-rrr. Amazingly, we did upgrade to the more convenient shifting, but the mower we bought was still a cheap brand.......very wimpy and would plug up on a dime. I would meekly point out that most everyone else around the neighborhood used John Deere mowers, so maybe those were of better quality........Husband would just mutter, "No, they're too expensive."

Finally, two years ago, as spring and mowing season approached, I began reminding him of how poorly our old mower was performing. I said, "For Pete's sake......there is a huge amount of mowing to do here and much of it is rough ground and tough weeds......WE NEED A BETTER MOWER.......WITH MORE POWER AND STAMINA!!" Evidently, this time my complaining broke through a barrier in Husband's mind, and we actually went to a John Deere dealership and bought the mower in the above photos. It was not a new one, but was in very good shape, and has plenty of power to deal with the tough mowing conditions on our farm. I'm very happy with this mower......it is well-made and starts easily and is NOT a wimp! Its the type of mower I'm proud to have a relationship with!!

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Here's a scene from in the shed, near where my dear lawnmower sleeps during the times between our intimate encounters. For the amount of energy you the blog reader expend to gaze at one piece of farm machinery........you get two, sort of........the tractor AND the nearby reflected hay baler!!

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Have you ever had a summer fling? Oh.....do tell!!

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