Tikkabik

I have the kiss of death when it comes to lawnmowers.

In the last ten years I've murdered three of them -- one brand new one from Sears, one used one from Sears, and another used one we bought with the house when we moved in five and a half years ago.

I can't quite explain why I have such a hard time with mowers. I generally try to take good care of them -- add oil as necessary, change it according to the owner's manuals, stabilize the gas or drain it (or run it dry), and so on. Still, they die. A friend noted that lawn mowers are built very much to be disposable items, and he's right: The cost of rehabilitating a used mower is often one half to two thirds the cost of its replacement. So what's the point?

Anyway, Mom bought me my Father's Day present a bit early this year -- the Craftsman 80th Anniversary Edition from Sears. Quite nice, too: Briggs and Stratton motor, front-wheel drive, rear bag and -- best of all -- an electric starter (it has a pull-cord starter too but that's strictly for backups). On sale, too.

I did the yard when I got home, and it worked really well. The electric starter uses a battery that charges off a household current (fortunately the shed where it will live has a power outlet). Unlike a car, there's no alternator, so the battery doesn't charge up when the motor's running. So at least for today, I simply used the cord to start it up, and it worked like a champ.

Let's see how long I can keep this one before it dies. Maybe next time I'll just buy a goat. Or perhaps by then I can realize my dream of just living on the road in an RV. We'll see.

So Bonnie had me run an errand to our friends' house, to drop off some borrowed equipment and copies of DVDs. When I got there, John was unloading a bunch of gear from the back of his pickup that he'd taken from a relative who was moving. Among them was a gas-powered weedwhacker.

"Want it?" he asked. "All it needs is a new spark plug."

Of course, I jumped at the chance to get one. I have an electric one that works quite well, but it'd be fun to have a gas-powered whacker for a change and not have to worry about the damn cord.

After I mowed, Mom, James and Emmeline spread about half a bag's worth of Scott's Step Two, which comes highly recommended from my neighbor Chuck, with a disturbingly perfect lawn.

Chuck said that tries to do the Scott's Four Step stuff with each major warm weather holiday -- Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. So I'll go with his regimen and see how it works. Though admittedly, he's invested a lot more in his lawn than I have in mine: When he first moved in, he had yards of really finely screened loam brought in; he told me he spent a ton on top seed too. And it shows -- it looks like the outfield at Fenway Park.

Under Mom's stewardship, the garden in the front looks great -- we have an abundance of flowering plants growing in our little rock garden near the street and the shrubs near the house look better than they have in years. She's particularly excited about the peonies we have growing on one side of the house, as they have buds for the first time she can ever remember.

Last year we picked up a yard's worth of red bark mulch and spread it liberally on one side of the yard (bordering our neighbors, who used the same type for that side of their yard, so it offers a nice symmetry). We also used it underneath the giant holly tree that dominates the front yard.

I thought the mulch made a huge difference in how the front looked, and I'd like to lay down another yard's worth this year. The color fades after a while, so it's looking a little bleached out, but I'd also like to build it up a bit to contour and define the edges of the yard and the tree a bit more. We need another yard of pine chips in the back for the kids' playset, too.

I love mulch and pine chips -- they add great definition to the lawn, don't cost a lot and help to keep weeds and low growth under control.