Aaaagh -- the perversity of inanimate objects

[pameladean]

It's a cool, almost cold, June evening, with a bit of a breeze to help keep the mosquitoes away. I've been uneasily aware all week that I really must mow the lawn. I had to get over the irrational resentment that it had grown while I was out of town.

The lawn mower died, about a swatch and a half in. This is hardly surprising. The lawn mower in question is a Sears electric mower from, I think, the 1970's. It originally belonged to Pat and Jim Wrede. Pat lent it to us an embarrasingly long time ago, and then gave it to Jim during her divorce. Jim has come over at least once to replace the brushes for us, but he hasn't got much use for an ancient lawn mower and has reportedly moved to Oklahoma without it.

We did not take the mower to Sears to be repaired, because our own original Sears electric mower, acquired in the 1980's, had used up its first allotment of brushes, and when we took it to Sears they told us that they could no longer get the parts. We bought another much newer Sears electric mower from carbonel when she upgraded to one with a battery rather than a cord. However, this one has never worked for us. It worked fine for her, and when we took it in to Sears they said there was nothing wrong with it. It's still in the garage. Not working. The ancient one was lent us while we resolved this problem, but we couldn't quite figure out how to do so, and the ancient mower worked fine.

Tomorrow I get to call a couple of places like Cedar Small Engine and see if they have any interest in repairing either of these objects. I suspect, however, that we are going to have to get a new mower. And not from Sears. Sears is Just Not Supposed to be unable to get parts for any Craftsman device. They fell down on their duty. Since they also abandoned their huge Minneapolis store when the going got tough, and one has to drive to Burnsville just to be told there's nothing wrong with one's non-working mower, I think we'll just give them a miss next time.

Does anybody want to recommend an electric or manual mower, or a place to find one? I refuse to consort with a gasoline engine, and I'm the one doing the mowing.

Pamela

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We've got a reel mower from Clean Air Gardening (online -- I believe it's .org, but it might be .com), and so does C.J. C.J. and Timprov and I all like it very much. Mark, not so much, but I think he forgets that other mowers are a pain in the butt, too, just in different ways. If you're interested in one but want to give ours a try before buying, it fits easily in the back of our car and can be brought up to lend to you.

[pameladean]

I just realized that I had very ungraciously failed to respond to this handsome offer. If your mower can actually cope with 8-inch grass, I'd love to try it out; even if I decide not to get one, the lawn would get mowed once while I was figuring out what to do. It's really got to be able to deal with tall grass, though, because the stuff is quite out of hand.

Pamela

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, we can give it a quick push on your lawn and see if it's doing what you fear it will (won't), and if it is (isn't), we'll just tuck it back in the car again right away, no harm no foul.

If you want to borrow it in the next few days, I'll have a Kev with me when I bring it. We're having T's folks for dinner tomorrow night and going out with Stella and her family Monday night, but other than those times I can make plans to run it up and either stop to say hi and grab a cuppa with one or more of you, or else just drop it off, hug, wave, and run.

[pameladean]

I assume that the Kev does not bite.

Tomorrow or Monday afternoon between, say, one and two would work admirably. Chances of a cuppa are fairly good -- I keep forgetting that we can't ask you in without making you dreadfully ill, but there are lots of places hereabouts. I don't know David and Lydy's precise schedules but will inform them forthwith when we have made a plan.

Raphael and I are trying to keep our hiking schedule flexible, but we wouldn't be leaving that early, which is why I specify the times I do. (Earlier yet, well, noon anyway, can also be made to work for me.) It will probably be too breezy Sunday and Monday anyway.

If this works, let me know which day suits you.

Pamela

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'll be along tomorrow, with one or more boys in tow. We'll come after lunch, so it should be around oneish. If you or David or Lydy could remind me of the proper exit to take from 35W, that would be a comfort.

The exit

[pameladean]

It's the 35th/36th Street exit.

I'll notify the troops.

Pamela

Re: The exit

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No need to ready the boiling oil -- you will not be be-Ceejed today.

Re: The exit

[pameladean]

Oh, good grief, I read that within five minutes of getting up. I think you are not strictly correct about your phonetic assertion, though I believe the literal one. *groan*

Teach me to use military metaphors.

Pamela

<i>I assume that the Kev does not bite.</i>

[greykev.livejournal.com]

This kev would only bite on request. :D

It was fun chatting with you, David, and Lydy. I hope your mower issues are resolved before the yard needs haying rather than mowing.

reel mowers

[(Anonymous)]

Lee Valley Tools, who sell direct (online or mail order) in the States, have two sizes of reel mower (http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=10190&SID=&ccurrency=2&category=2%2C2160) for which they also sell clippings catchers and sharpening kits. (That link shows prices in USD.)

They have a snazy Austrian-style scythe, too, but I don't imagine you'd want to deal with that.

-- Graydon

Re: reel mowers

[pameladean]

I have thought of a scythe, more in the way of thinking, Now, that is a nice simple tool that won't go wonky on you. It would be a Very Bad Idea for me to get within a foot of one, though.

Pamela

Re: reel mowers

[(Anonymous)]

Scythes are something I remember as being much harder to use than it looked, but not actually all that difficult, rather like learning to ride a bicycle.

The golf club style serrated blade thistle-whacker, on the other hand, was completely straightforward, even to a nine year old.

Definately something to wear sturdy boots around, though.

[laurel]

I was pricing reel mowers just a couple of weeks ago and a well-reviewed one was selling on amazon.com for $100 and it looked like Home Depot or other stores of that sort may very well stock them for right around $100, too.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I've owned a reel-type mower, and tried to use it, back at my first house. And I don't think the lawn here is really in good enough shape for that type of mower, either from the grass angle or from the soil flatness angle.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I just use a manual push mower. No gas, no electricity, it gives you a workout, and all you have to do is get the blades sharpened at the hardware store.

Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[pameladean]

I don't necessarily want a workout every single time the grass is long enough to be mowed. My energy levels are erratic, and I want to get the grass mowed on its schedule, not mine. I get PLENTY of workout from using an electric mower, anyway. The yard is enormous, and it slants to the south.

Pamela

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I can't very well tell you to go to your local Canadian Tire and see what they've got for electric lawnmowers (I have no idea if "Yardworks" is their brand or someone else's), and my own experience when I had a large lawn to deal with is that not running over the power cord is a pain in the fundamentals, on the one hand, and that on the other, the current generation of reel mowers are a far cry from the ancient form of the device, and on the third hand of hypotheticals, the just run of prices for electric appears to be about double that for the (known to me to be really good) Lee Valley reel mowers.

So as a recommendation, and without having made the acquaintance of your lawn, it seems a straightforward conclusion.

-- Graydon

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[pameladean]

I've never used anything except an electric mower with a cord. Dealing with the cord is second nature. I've mowed this yard with one since 1995.

I don't think I'm prompt or organized enough to cope with the different limitations of a reel mower. The grass regularly gets to be six or eight inches high before I get out there to deal with it, if the weather is very hot and humid. This isn't likely to change.

I've often wanted to be able to go to Canadian Tire, though!

Pamela

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Mark intends to get an electric if he gets up the energy to do so -- Timprov and I both prefer the reel for allergy reasons and don't find our 15-pounder particularly hard to push, even on our front slope, which you have seen is not tiny. We both have back issues (mine from a car accident, and we're still trying to untangle the source of his), but this is a pretty tiny light mower.

I looked at the price on the Brill 33-something-or-other that week and said to Mark, "Look, hon, you can buy an electric if you hate using this one, but I need something I can comfortably use when you're out of town." So if he gets up the energy and inclination to go to Bigdale or Burnsville and buy an electric and you still haven't bought yours, I'll be sure he gives you a review.

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[pameladean]

I don't have back issues, just energy issues. Ironically enough.

How DOES your reel mower do when the grass is longer than it should be?

We're annoyed at Sears because they failed to provide the parts for our Craftsman mower, and because they make everybody in the Twin Cities go to Burnsville, so we probably won't be getting a Sears mower this time. But a review is always helpful. I've seen a couple of new nifty features mentioned in reviews found via Google -- a reversible handle, for example, wow, what a great concept -- but they are only on mowers out of our price range.

Pamela

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We've had to go over some of the longer spots more than once, and it doesn't give as even a look as an electric or gas will. But we've gotten it through longish/thickish grass.

I'm sorry Sears is stupid. Do they not do service stuff out of their Bigdale store? That's where we got our water heater. But I don't blame you for not rewarding their lack of customer service; I wouldn't, either, and I probably should just send Mark to SuperTarget if he decides to go get an electric at all.

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[pameladean]

I don't care about the way it looks, really, to be perfectly honest. And I generally have had to go over really long grass twice with the electric mower too, or at least to make sure I'm only mowing a swathe about ten inches wide, which is just a slightly more efficient way of doing the same thing.

Sears is only intermittently stupid. They've been great about the washer and dryer we bought from them in Massachusetts in 1983. But they couldn't get mower parts. For their own mowers. After all that advertising about the gloriousness of Craftsman products.

Is Bigdale -- oh, do you mean the Mall of America? We hates it, precious, but I will allow that that is a reasonable alternative to Burnsville. I just want to go to the Lake Street store, dammit. Some ideas are very tenacious.

Pamela

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Bigdale is indeed Mall of America, and we hates it, too, precious. We hates it forever. I won't go there on weekends at all now. But it's 10 minutes from the house, and sometimes one needs a water softener (not heater, silly me).

Re: Wow, the unanimity is a little startling

[lalouve.livejournal.com]

If you have a slanting yard a gas mower might not be an option anyway: if you put them on too steep a slope, the gas all sloshes to one side and the engine sputters. Useless critters.

[marileeann.livejournal.com]

According to Amazon, TrueValue hardware stores carry electric mowers. There's a store locator at
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J52E23A98 .

Good luck!

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

We use a reel mower for the community garden, except during plantain season or if it gets too high -- then we borrow a gas mower from an obliging neighbor.

The problem with plantains is that their flower heads just lie down in front of the rollers and the pop back up and jeer at you.

The other problem with a reel mower, which doesn't give me any more of a workout than the gas mower when things are going well, is that it's more or less useless in tall grass.

All that being said, we bought one at the Home Despot for about eighty bucks.

(Note to self: Must borrow gas mower from Rich one evening next week)

[pameladean]

Plantains can do that with any mower. I've got a bunch of them myself. Luckily, I like them. I like darn near anything that covers the bare dirt, can be walked on, and isn't poison ivy or its relatives.

We often have long grass, because I am dilatory. And if I had to borrow something every time the grass was long, it would end up coming up to the eaves.

Pamela

[sraun]

We got an inexpensive corded electric mower from Menards last summer - Irene has been quite happy with it. It's a Yard Machines from MTD - here's their web-site - http://www.mtdproducts.com/home.jsp

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

500 error with extensive stack traceback at that URL :-).

completely unrelated

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I think you might get a kick out of this:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/juanfandango/22949.html

Re: completely unrelated

[pameladean]

Indeed I did. That's very well done. I started giggling at the name of the letter-writer, and didn't stop until the end.

Pamela