When Rob passed away, I realized how may things he did around the house that I had always taken for granted. I don’t feel guilty because I know that if the shoe were on the other foot, he would be coming to the same realization.
I had always been happy to help cut the lawn – especially because Rob worked hard(er) in the summer (than the rest of the year) and I was off so I always made an effort to cut it so he didn’t have to!
BUT – I am a female. For me, cutting the lawn means using the lawn mower to make the grass shorter, putting it back in the shed (likely empty of gas) then coming inside and expecting everyone to tell me how great the lawn looks!
Why, thank you! (Bat eyelashes here)
It did NOT include trimming with the 100 pound (yes – I am pretty sure that is accurate) GhostBuster back pack trimmer.
It did not include raking.
It did not include making sure that the fenceline was perfectly manicured.
Fast forward to now.
Now I am “the lady whose husband passed away”. I do NOT want to become “the lady whose husband passed away who can’t keep up with the lawn” so I am obsessed with the lawn this summer. (Never mind that we have a new puppy whose urine is burning the grass – that is a story for another day).
Now I cut. I trim (with a newer, lighter trimmer that I didn’t even know we had – not sure when Rob switched it up!) Last week, I even found myself on my hands and knees picking long grass from under the fence that I could not reach with the trimmer. Who DOES that?
AND…. I tried the edger! How hard can it be, I said to myself. I have 3 university degrees. I was determined to not let Black and Decker get the best of me! I plugged it in and took a 360 degree look around it. It didn’t look too difficult. There was only one lever so that is what I was obviously going to need to push to make it go. Step one figured out.
Step 2 – line up the front wheel where you wanted your new edge to be. Done!
Step 3. Walk slowly in a straight line – mmmmm … could be difficult but I thought I could also pull that off!
So, I put all of these steps into motion and starting slowing pushing along the sidewalk in front of my house.
At first, I was feeling pretty damn smart, I will admit. But then, the lawn was a little unlevel and all of a sudden… sparks and a burning smell! A LOT of sparks.
I stopped the edger. First to make sure no one was watching me! Second, to ask myself if this was ok. I decided yes – of course there are sparks when the titaniumgraphitesteel (woman speak) blade of the edger hits the concrete!
Nodding my head and feeling pretty landscape-y, I continued on until I had edged the whole front yard.
Burning smell and sparks aside, it looks AWESOME and I do it every other week now! I like it!
Lesson learned? If you are using a new “tool” for the first time, make sure no one is around – just in case you get yourself into an embarrassing situation!
Life with Clark and Coco 