It was an ordinary day. Just put my riding mower back in the garage, changed my shoes and put my hearing aides back in my ears. The lawn looks great, but will need me to mow it once again by this time next week. I have close to an acre of lawn to mow and it seems the older I get, the larger the lawn becomes. Wasn't too many years ago that the lawn wasn't nearly that big, or so it seemed that way. And, did you happen to notice how it seems to rain more and more and thus makes the grass grow faster and longer? Or is that just me? And what's the big deal if the grass does get longer and I don't mow it when I should. Did we always have this love affair with our lawns or is that just me that feels that way? Well, it wasn't until the industrial revolution that lawns became practical for most of us. Lawns were seen as a luxury that only the wealthy could afford. They could hire someone to take care of their big lawns. Now, you must remember that back then there were no lawn mowers and lawns had to be trimmed with scythes. Either that or they had to use cattle or sheep to graze in the front yard to keep the grass at a manageable height.
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| Sheep were used at one time to keep the grass at the White House trimmed. |
I recently read that President Woodrow Wilson used sheep to keep the White House lawn in good shape. And, as an added benefit, the sheep could be sheared and the wool could be auctioned off with the money being given to the American Red Cross. Actually, Presidents Washington and Jefferson used sheep to keep their home lawns at a manageable height. Beautiful green, weed free, lawns, as we are used to seeing them today, never existed in America until the late 18th century. At the same time, Englishmen had sweeping green lawns on their estates. One of the big reasons was the fact that grasses that were native to England couldn't be purchased in America, thus our lawns didn't look as nice as those in England. Then, by 1915, the U.S. Department o Agriculture worked with the U.S. Golf Association to find just the right grass that would be both durable and attractive. They tried Bermuda grass from Africa, blue grass from Europe and a mix of Fescues and bent grass. It took 15 years to finally discover different combinations that would work in different climates. Then we had to find the best fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides that would protect the newly blended mix of grasses. Then, homeowners had to make sure they could provide sufficient water for their new grass and find the best way to cut or trim their new grass. Many still used livestock to trim their grass. Eventually mechanical mowing became popular when an Englishman, Edwin Budding, developed a cylinder, or reel-type mower. It was a series of blades arranged around a cylinder with a push handle patterned after a machine used in the cloth factory for shearing the nap on velvet. By 1870, Elwood McGire of Richmond, Indiana designed a machine that brought push mowing to the masses. By 1885, America was building about 50,000 lawnmowers a year and shipping them to every country on the globe. Naturally, next came the garden hose and the rotary mower which made having a great lawn a possibility for most families. Eventually new grass seeds became available and Americans had a great lawn on their property. Then the American Garden Club convinced home owners that it was their civic duty to maintain a beautiful and healthy lawn.  |
| An early model Toro Lawnmower. |
So, now I must have about an acre of green grass that grows a few inches each week and needs to be mowed on a regular basis. Of course I could hire someone to mow and trim my grass if I didn't care to do it. And...you know what...I just might do that. Wouldn't have to take my hearing aides out of my ears, put by old shoes on and take the riding mower from the garage and mow the grass. Oh yeah! I also have a self-propelled walk-behind mower to do around the edges where the bigger mower can't reach. Wouldn't it be so much easier if I just killed the grass and had the entire area covered with blacktop so I didn't need to mow the grass. I could line the blacktop with parking spaces and charge to park in my front and back yard. Now, why didn't I think of that until now? So glad I typed this story. Now I can keep my hearing aides in my ears all the time except for the evenings when I show movies on the new big screen I am going to put at the end of my new parking lot. The sound may be too much for my ears if I leave the hearing aides in place! Aren't you glad you're not my next-door neighbor? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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