Mowing The Lawn

[Matt K.]

I find that doing my own yard is therapeutic to me. I have never had a gardener at the places i have lived as i prefer to do my own. Its nice when to receive complements But, some just do not have the time to do their own. Do you do your own or have someone else take care of it?
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This is my 21st year in the Auto Body/Paint Game!
*Take a look at some of my custom paint: http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n119/mrpaint_2006/ .

[79SuperVert]

Before we bought our house 24 years ago, I swore I would not mow the lawn. I'd plant ivy, do whatever so I wouldn't have to mow it every week.

Turns out that after 24 years of mowing regularly, I credit it with keeping me fit all these years. If it wasn't for shoving that machine around every week for 10 months of the year up and down the inclines around my house, I would be in much poorer physical condition.

Once I had surgery on my hand and my daughter did the lawn while I supervised, and she said it was the most physically demanding thing she had ever done.
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Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[hitest]

My wife cleans around the house, does most of the kitchen work, general cleaning- all told, about 8 hours a week for 2000 sq. feet of house. I come along once a week, mow approx. 55000 sq. ft. of mature yard in a couple hours, walk in and brag about the comparison of visible accomplishments- of course I mow my own.
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[bugger101]

[drscope]

I'm too cheap to pay someone else to mow my grass.

But I am willing to pay anyone who knows how to neuter a sweet gum tree so it will stop dropping monkey balls all over my back yard!

I like mowing, but several times a year I have to rake up a full truck load of those damn monkey balls before I can mow back there. The tree is about 60 years old, so if I take it down and replace it with something else, I'll be long gone before it gets close to being as big as this sweet gum tree.

Anybody have any suggestions on how to keep it from dropping it's balls?
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Mother Nature is a Mean Evil Bitch!

[my59]

I used a rotary push mower and a weed whacker to keep the back yard down. We had a neighbor who was an obsessive gardner who would cut the front so it matched her yard (and in the fall I would deal with the leaves from her Norway Maple that shaded our house that she wanted to cut down)

Now we have 3/4 acre but luck has it my son developed a bit of a lawn tractor habit, and he takes care of the main lawn while I deal with the fenced area around the back- a few hundred sq ft that I kinda care about.

My urge to get a seed spreader and 100 lbs of rock salt has gone away.
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my59: Well son, my grandfather died before I got to drive it, so does that answer your question?
our79: sunroof bus w/camper interior and 2.0 FI
Other:'83 MB 300CD, '89 MB 190 2.6 5 speed, '93 Volvo 240, '68 Volvo 144s and yeah, '01 NB turbo

[JonF]

why stop mowing the grass when your yard is done and neighbours yard needs it! i mow my yard, and my neighbours yard to the south of me and dont charge him a single cent to do it but will always take him up on a glass of lemonaid when he offers it to me. sometimes i leave him a small piece to mow just because he likes to get out there and try to do it now and then even tho he shouldnt with his age and health.
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68 bug 1600sp 30/31
68 baja 1600sp 010 32ndix

when wishing for a type 2 make sure to include vw in the wish so its not diabetes you end up with!

[69 Jim]

I am a big fan of mowing my lawn. I will have it contracted out after APRIL 1st for the rest of the year due to a surgery I am scheduled for in mid May. I will hopefully still be able to smell the cut grass though...

[kamzcab86]

I don't have a lawn. Grass in the desert is idiotic; plus, I don't have kids or a dog. That being said, I don't pay anyone to do my yardwork (trimming bushes, hedges, trees, pulling weeds, etc.); I like doing it myself.
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~Kamz
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2000 Jetta VR6

[djkeev]

I mow my own most of the time. I've got three workers and sometimes they'll wander over and do the bulk of the cutting and trimming ....... a nice surprise!! Of course six packs of Corona helps to keep them coming back !!

Doc, I'd rather have the gumballs!! I've got Black Walnuts and also Shag Bark Hickory nuts! These things are enormous, the hickory nuts split open into multi segments and leave a nut, the Walnuts rot, go soft and turn an oozing BLACK color that stains everything it comes into contact with!! You've seen Black Walnut Stain for wood right?? Uh Huh..... I'm sure the stuff in the can is synthetic but I've got the real deal if anyone is interested!!

Dave
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1974 Super Convertible
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Creating a 69 1/2 Ghia Convertible out of a 69 Coupe and a 70 Convertible
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And the newest arrival!....... 86 Vanagon Westy!
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

[zozo]

I find the first 5-6 hours therapeutic. After that I shoot for the gratification of seeing the whole place mowed, after that, I bitch because I know it's going to grow back. It's worth it for the gratification. (The house is over to the right out of frame.

[notchback]

I just tell my wife it needs mowed and she goes out and does it.
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Brain Trust member #13

Sad, unnecessary & cruel.

Let's quit sending money to the middle east and let them hate us for free.

[HankScorpio]

Mowing is ok but landscaping is where the real fun is at.

I was surprised how much I love doing lawn work. Sit at a desk all day and going outside getting your hands dirty becomes a lot more fun.

The most fun was pulling up all the overgrowth when I first bought the house. Hacking out 6ft tall yews was awesome!

I'm running out of the destructive landscaping like that put planting is fun too...

[nerfer]

[yauchzee]

Mowing is the best part of the week. I love working outside which is why I got my degree in Landscape Architecture. Gives you time to think and the cold beer after it is done makes it worth it. Living in N Idaho only allows me to mow about 16 times a year, but when I am done, I can't help but see the masterpiece!



BTW...that pic was taken in December of this year. Seeing green grass and no snow is trippy!
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Stefan

1972 Super Beetle Convertible

[rusty57]

I grew up having to cut the lawn in our house. I always enjoyed the destination more than the journey. While I was away for 6 months, I hired a gardener to take care of the yards at my home. Now, I get the lawn done every Friday and it does not cost that much. My son is only 2 years old, but one day he will enjoy doing the yard too.
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67 Ghia coupe
www.TagDefender.com

[Cusser]

I do my own. Let it be known that it's only about 1100 SF though. For the first 12 years I used a push-mower. The last 10 I've had a Sears $200 gas engine mower.

Now, 100 miles up north, I have almost 2 acres, but it's mostly tumbleweeds and other weeds. I bought a Sears lawn tractor 42 inch in 2005, learned to be my own mechanic with it. The biggest thing to go wrong was the choke stuck closed, causing the engine to die as it got warmed up, black smoke, so I added a 20 cent spring. The choke lever even had a hole in the shaft arm for a spring, so I drilled on hole in the plastic housing and added it. I also could've rigged up a string to manually open the choke after 5 minutes of mowing.

I was going to take it to a shop for that issue (before I knew what was causing it), but the shop was backed up for three weeks. Sears would come out for $100 and provide a plan and estimate, so that would've been costly.
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[jspbtown]

A couple of hours on the old lawn tractor with some nice big ear protectors on is soooo soothing. Cutting in different directions, the low rumble of the motor, the smell of the grass.....ahhh, pure heaven.

[ach60]

My patch of grass is 8ft x 20ft, and if I don't water too much I only have to mow once a month.
I have a big tree with lots of shade, and a ugly concrete patio that I've covered with big ass potted plants.
I enjoy what little yard work I do, as opposed house cleaning so I have a cleaning lady come in every two weeks.
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Good Luck
Al

[cdennisg]

I have a 1/3 acre lot, but about half of that is covered by buildings and gravel parking. My wife and I share mowing duties, and in the spring it is twice a week or I need to bale it because it grows so fast. We don't water it, but my daughter likes to run the sprinkler in the summer sometimes, and I wash my cars in the front lawn so that helps.

I started mowing the lawn at age ten, and made some money that way all through school. I would not even consider paying someone else to mow, unless I had to.
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