Cable management

(Not exactly the same model as ours, this is

grabbed for illustration purposes from amazon.com)

Endeavoring to be good to the earth, economical and reduce noise pollution, we have been using a reel lawn mower for years. (Note the two e's. I frequently hear the word as real, and am momentarily distracted, wondering what a fictional lawn mower would be like.) This is one of those old-fashioned push mowers like my grandparents had, from the days before single-engine motors, ready gasoline, and a roar rising from the suburbs on Saturday afternoons like a neighborhood of cars rounding the bend on the Indianapolis 500. The reel mower, quiet, human-powered, compact-sized, near-zero carbon footprint, has meant that the yard has generally looked unkempt and over-grown.

It's not that we didn't mow, although the push mower takes, of course, much more effort to use than a powered mower. Or that it didn't cut well -- when it cut. HomoDommi had done his homework, and we owned the "Mercedes of Push Mowers", he said. But it doesn't cut certain types of rye grass well, or broad-leaved grass (and our lawn is made of about 300 different weeds, grasses and tangles). Despite repeat passes, every mow left a random scattering of round flowering stems towering above an otherwise smooth green carpet of lawn. Also, compact though it is, the wheels are taller than the reel, and so there is no way to cut alongside the edge of a raised bed -- every session would require another circuit round with a weed-whacker. And last, the spinning of the self-sharpening reels is "powered" by the turning of the wheels -- requiring that the wheels find purchase in the ground in order to cut the grass. This is fine in the long, dry summer, but every wet spring, the balance between long, thick grass and friction for the wheels would be breached, leaving divots of mud everywhere.



So, this spring we gave up, and the Texan bought an electric mower. A compromise between reel and gas-powered -- it is reasonably quiet, easy to push, cuts evenly and doesn't eat holes in the lawn. It deliciously turns on and off with an easy flip of a lever. It does have a cord, however. (Battery-operated were significantly more expensive, and solar-powered aren't even available here in retail outlets, not to mention even more expensive.) It's now a whole new ball-game, mowing the lawn with a 40foot tail.