OVER MY SHOULDER

As I look at the yard today I see that I will have to mow tomorrow or the next day---seems like I mow every 4 or 5 days----guess that I should not complain with that kind of moisture in Kansas in August----I am quite certain that there have been more times in August in my lifetime that I mowed only once or twice than there have been where I mowed 4 or 5 times. Dad always said never complain about rain in July and August if you live in Kansas.

Although I mow with a push power mower--(Christine says that I need the exercise), I do have a riding mower at my disposal that I could use. Then of course after I mow, I have to get the power string trimmer out and trim around everything from sidewalk to flower beds----and we keep talking about getting an edger to “keep the sidewalks neat”. Mowing the lawn is a far cry from yard care when I was a youngster. Prior to our getting a power mower, the yard was “mowed” with a scythe, a weed whip, the horse drawn mowing machine, the tractor mowing machine, or maybe grazed off by tethered cows or ponies.

Except in rare cases, most lawns did not have the neat trimmed look that most lawns have today. First, we did not have all of the different grasses to plant in our lawn. Some of the lawn or lawns were blue grass, which makes a good looking lawn, if it does not get too hot and it gets enough moisture. ----the balance of the lawn or lawns were weeds, prairie grass, wire grass, crab grass or foxtail.

My earliest recollection of lawn care was to see Dad mow the yard with a team on the mowing machine. Usually this would be when the “yard” had become 4 to 8 inches in height, or when Dad had the mowing machine out to mown hay. Later when we acquired a tractor and mower, it was used. Of course one could not get “close” to trees fences and buildings with these machines----usually, these areas went untrimmed, but in some cases someone would take the “weed whip” and “trim”. The mowing process of course left weed and grass stubble---not to mention the “hay”.

I recall that each fall in late August, one of the farmers near the rural school would mow, rake and haul off the prairie grass that had grown in the school yard over the summer----sometimes the hay would be left in the horse barn on the school grounds to feed the horses that were ridden to school. Again this would leave grass and weed stubble in the yard for the youngsters to run on----If you happen to fall on this stubble, it smarted some----after a few weeks, the stubble would wear down and break off from wear of children at play.

I recall that I was not very old when my brothers and I would cut and trim the yard with the weed whip or if it had gotten too large, with the scythe. If you have never used either of the two instruments to “do” a yard, you have missed a good experience----particularly on those hot summer days (and they all seemed hot). I recall that I would make a “game” out of the process---I would plan a plot and work to get that plot done, then plan another plot and do it and so on until the “assigned area” was completed. Then of course unless Dad and Mom would forget it, we would have to gather it up with a rake and pitchfork and carry it off of the yard. Thankfully, we had a lot of old large cedar trees in the yard under which very little grass would grow.

One spring, Dad “picked up” an old reel type push mower at a local auction---(I have one--which I hope that I never have to use--- just like it in my attic)----Dad filed on the blades some, but it seemed that the mower was always dull. This mower was not too bad on the patches of blue grass, if one did not let them get too tall. I figured out very quick that this type of mower created more work, as one needed to mow more often in order to get it to cut the grass.

My brothers and I again would make a game out of mowing---we would tie each end of a rope to each side of the mower, and take turns of pulling and pushing the mower. If you really wanted to do so, you could really make that reel spin and throw grass----however, every once in awhile, a stick or wad of grass would get stuck in the cutting area, and the wheels would slide until we stopped. Like all kids, ---”it was never our turn to mow”---so usually, we would have to do it together.--(however,It did beat gathering eggs after dark, or milking in zero weather).

I was in High School when Eddie (Doc) Hoppes developed (what at least for the Blue Mound area) was the fore runner to the today’s gasoline power mowers. He developed a three wheeled mower with a metal platform, a blade under the platform that was driven by a belt to a gasoline motor mounted on the platform. Prior to this time, some had mounted a gasoline engine to the “reel” type of mower, ---we never had one of these, and I never thought that they were very effective.

Doc taught Wood and Metal Shop and Drafting at the Blue Mound Rural High School, and allowed those in Shop to build one of the three wheeled mowers. Since I was in all of these classes, I built a mower, and Dad came up with a Briggs and Stratton engine for it.

The mower had two fixed rear wheels, and one swivel ‘crazy’ wheel on the front. The front wheel was supported by a cast aluminum ‘goose neck’ that was bolted to the platform---the blade was secured to the shaft that went through a cast aluminum housing that held the bearings and was mounted in the center of the platform. We cast the aluminum parts in the school foundry from scrap aluminum from the area, and from the pattern that Doc had developed.

Doc formed a company in Blue Mound and manufactured those mowers for sale for quite a number of years---until there were many other power mowers developed, he shipped mowers to all parts of the country. I worked in his plant evenings, Saturdays and a couple of Summers. I always enjoyed the foundry work, the spray painting, the grinding and the assembling of the mowers. I don’t recall exactly what I was paid, but I suppose it was 20 or 25 cents per hour---which I thought was very good at the time. The mower made the yard work so much easier, and I thought so much of “Doc” Hoppes--(who was also our Football and Basket ball coach-as well as our mentor), that I may have been willing to work for nothing.

Even then, our yard never looked as good as the yards today---first, it was not an important priority, and second, there was not the time and no one had the money to devote to the development of the lawn. We did have a few Iris and peonies in the yard, and usually Mom would have some flowers in the garden. Of course there a few lawns “in town” that would rival the lawns today,---but those of us on the farm always thought that “sure, what else do they have to do”? ----Well ---Christine says I had better go mow the lawn---after all what else do I have to do?