The third sound of Rainy Season in Southwest Florida — the trilogy of sounds as it were, is the Lawn Mower. Just a few weeks ago, you might hear one a day grooming some neighbor’s parched yard down to an aesthetic nub. Now, you’ll hear several machines a day buzzing around the neighborhood.
When I first moved to this neighborhood about 10 years ago, a friend gave me a used and temperamental lawn mower as a housewarming gift. About a week after I moved in, my yard looked like a pasture: all the grass had grown to about a foot high, and it was starting to tassel. I had never mowed a yard before and I also hadn’t had any experience in starting a lawn mower. But I had to get my yard mowed because the code enforcement had given me a warning. I’d been trying to start this darned machine for about an hour and I was exhausted. While I was looking at the machine and gathering my wits to pull the rope again, I heard a lawn mower. I walked toward the sound.
The lawn mower was moving to another property, the sound had changed from back and forth rows, to a straight run. I followed it some more. I crossed several neighbors back yards and finally found the mower. I waved. They stopped. (There were two people working. One riding a mower, the other wacking-weeds.) I explained my plight and asked if they could mow my yard. They agreed to do so, but said it would be the next day. We knew they could find my house because it was the only one in the block with grass a foot high.
I walked home and put the used and temperamental mower back in the garage. I went to work the next day and when I returned, my yard had been mowed and looked great. I was saved from code enforcement! I felt like the Shoemaker and the Elves!
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Whale Maiden-Suburban Shaman 