Saturday, August 23, 2008

the One with the Riding Lawn Mower

Here's the one about the riding lawn mower.
(I love mowing the grass.  It is my favorite chore.)


I go out in the morning all ready to mow the lawn
and get it done before it gets too hot and before
I take a shower.  So I get on my mower after I scooted the
cat off the seat.  I start my mower and drive between two
vehicles where it is parked under the carport.  I head on
out onto the lawn and put the mower in gear.  Then I 
decide to go straight to the far end of the yard and make
a path around the perimeter first.  When I got to the end
of my driveway I decided to mow the ditch by house.  So
down the road I go.  It is a county road.  I do this all the
time so I'm not concerned about any problems.  I always
look both ways to make sure there are no cars coming.  I
can see three-quarters of a mile one way and one-quarter of
a mile the other.  No cars.  I get to the end of the distance
I want to mow in the ditch and turn my mower around in 
the road.  Oh my gosh!  It dies.  I am in the middle of the
oncoming lane!  Down a hill from traffic!  which no one 
could see before they came to me.  I panic for an instant and
my heart is racing.  I jump off the mower and go to the rear
of it where you pull out a lever that puts it in neutral gear
so you can push it.  I push it backwards on to the grass
in the ditch which if a car flies over the hill (and they do!)
would still be dangerous.  I can't leave it there and there
is no one at home to help me.  So I got back on it and
try to start it.  It won't start.  So I try one more time
and it starts.  I put it into gear again and head toward
my yard and just barely make it into the yard off the
road when it dies again.  Out of gas and it will not start
again.  I am so thankful that I got it out of the road.
I certainly did not want to make someone have an
accident or be on the mower when one happened.  What
a relief!  

Here is the hill where I drove the lawn mower down.
It is one long hill and our driveway and yard are at the
top of it.  There are several hills on this road and cars
come sailing by.  The speed limit is 45 mph but they
drive 60 mph or more sometimes.


I am taking this picture from where I was when the lawn
mower died.  This doesn't look like downhill much in this
picture but just after that mailbox it drops off quickly down
another hill. (You can enlarge the picture and it looks more
dramatic.)  We have had people collide in the middle of
the night on this hill because they don't stay on their side
of the road.  Hopefully, I have learned my lesson to always
check the gas tank before mowing.  

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Yikes! I'm glad everything turned out ok and you could file this under "humor." =)

Anonymous said...

That's funny! My husband gets mad if I mow the grass because he says the neighbor's will think he doesn't do anything. He has no problem with our son doing it though.

Jientje said...

Eww, I can see why your heart was racing!!! Very scary situation, Junebug! I had no idea why you would enjoy mowing grass, but now that I see the beauty of this placewhere you live, I think I could enjoy it myself! A wonderful place, you're so lucky!

Junebug said...

jientje: The enjoyment is making nice rows of grass and they look so good afterward. It smells good and I like the time spent outdoors and thinking about things. Being all alone too. You can see the fruits of your labor immediately.

Egghead said...

I too love to mow the lawn on our riding mower. I have been known to run out of gas but is has always been at the bottom of our property instead out in the roadway. I did once take it down to mow the grass along the side of the ditch and it tipped over with me on it. That was embarrassing.

Junebug said...

I have been sideways in a ditch before and gotten stuck. Also, I rode the lawnmower up a guy wire next to a electric pole. Embarrassing, but no one watching!

Debbie said...

Hey, Junebug. I followed you here from Plurk this morning. :)

That lawnmowing adventure sounds terrifying! Glad you made it okay. Whew.

I also LOVE mowing the lawn! We're on an acreage here too so I have plenty of opportunity. We just got a fancy new lawn mower this year. Oooooh. I was excited, and only one of my female friends "got it". he he he.

Happy (and safe) mowing!

kitten said...

OH! MY! I'm glad it all worked out okay and you are fine. I would have been nervous myself.

Jenni said...

I'm glad you got that mower out of the way. That would be pretty scary!

All the mowing right around our house has to be done with a push mower because a)we don't have a riding mower and b)it wouldn't do any good with all the little hills and curves and things in the way. I spent 8 hours working on the lawn this week and still have some areas to weed eat. I do love doing yard work though. It's very relaxing and I can feel all the stress just melt away while I'm out there. It also gives me time to work out little problems in my brain. After fellowship today we're stopping by my mom's to visit with her and for me to mow her lawn.

Walker said...

Oh I love to mow the grass too! It's one of those chores that get me out from in front of my computer and enjoying the outside. Love it.

And, I really hate it when I run out of gas, too.