Freshly-cut grass

I woke up earlier than usual this morning and found myself feeling rested, calm and sans cold. Last night I started to sneeze, get congested and otherwise feel a cold coming on. Luckily I had a reserve of NOW Elderberry & Zinc lozenges and dissolved 3 of them in quick succession along with about 2 liters of water before bed. By this morning, my cold was gone and I felt great. And to further the remedy my neighbor (Bob) greeted me this morning while I was cutting the lawn and admitted that he was fighting a cold of his own.

That lead me to put 10 – 12 lozenges into a small zipper bag with instructions and where to get more and take them over to him. He was grateful and I knew that they would do the trick as he smiled. A little zinc and elderberry can be magic. And it’s really cheap. Spread the word. 

Before cutting the small patch of grass in front of the house, I wanted to do some maintenance on the mower. I  bought a new blade set for it at Home Depot 2 years ago and  kept the blade set  next to the mower as a reminder that the original blades had been abused long enough.  It spent its life cutting brush, hitting rocks, and failing to cut ragged pieces of metal that were just above the surface of the old field I used to mow. The blades were dented and gouged beyond a simple sharpening. They had already been sharpened once or twice before, and I knew it was time for a new set. Before I could replace the blades, I needed to dump the gas that remained in the tank to keep it from spilling out onto the ground when the mower was turned over. The gas was old – yes, gas gets old and when it does, it turns to varnish which gums up carburetors and clogs fuel lines. The old gas needed to be dumped in order to make room for fresh fuel. I remembered a metal gas can on the north side of the house (along with an older, owner-provided mower left outside in the rain and weather) and found it empty. It became a receptacle for the used fuel. I easily lifted the mower to one side to drain the gasoline into the metal jerry can. Once that part was done, I was ready to flip the mower upside-down in order to remove the old blades.

First, I removed the spark plug wire from the spark plug. This would prevent the engine from starting while I was spinning the blade by hand in order to put it in the correct position for removal. I found a scrap piece of wood (a 4″ x 4″ about 18″ long) to block the blades in place while using a 14mm socket and wrench to remove the 2 bolts holding the blades in place. The bolts were hard to break free but after applying steady force, both bolts came loose and the blades were free. Blades? Yes, blades with an “s”. There are two sets blades on this mower, one beneath the other, which enable the re-cutting or mulching feature which transforms the grass clippings into a vapor – well, almost. I removed the old blades and set them aside carefully in order to make sure I installed the new ones in the same order and direction. The instructions indicated that a torque wrench was required so once the bolts were installed and snugged slightly, I used a torque wrench to apply 35 – 43 ft-lbs of turning force to each bolt as specified in the instructions. I cleaned the deck of debris and removed the wood block before flipping the mower over again. I filled the gas tank with fresh fuel, replaced the spark plug wire, and checked the oil level before giving the engine two quick pulls on the starting cord. As expected, even considering that I had just flipped it upside-down, drained the fuel tank, and refilled it,  the engine started without hesitation and continued running smoothly for the 15 minutes it took me to cut the grass.

Maintaining the mower took more time than cutting the grass itself! But I wanted to see what a fresh set of blades would do. This was prompted by my recent visit to the VA Palo Alto last week where I sat on freshly-cut expanse of lawn under a shade tree where I eyed the depressing result of dull mower blades. Each blade of grass was brown at the tip and ragged, split into no less than 10 fibers, a direct cause of using a less-than-sharp cutting blade. Why should I care? I enjoy the process of cutting grass. I always have. Cutting grass is something I used to get passionate about having spent many summers as a kid cutting my family’s yard (which was at once 12 acres of weekly-trimmed lawn) and cutting my neighbors’ lawns for a fee. I noticed the difference between a lawn cut with sharp blades and dull ones. I remembered the sound of the mower deck becoming raspy and dissonant as the blades lost their edge, as the blades of grass were torn instead of shorn. The effects were plainly obvious in a matter of days: ragged tips turning brown and tarnishing an otherwise beautiful sea of green. I sharpened blades often and listened for that smooth-cutting sound. This (and rain) ensured the grass would stay green.

One example of a California Native garden

The smell of freshly-cut grass is one of my favorite memories and it’s been decades since I’ve cut grass, real grass. The sharp blades did their magic – each blade was clipped precisely and evenly. The clippings were captured by the mower bag and recycled as compost. The lawn is a deep emerald but it won’t last forever. If I buy this house, I’ll remove most of the lawn to reduce the amount of water used to maintain it. I’ll plant California native plants in its place. Perhaps I’ll reserve just a little, just a path. Maybe there will be a manicured walking path of green and no more. A part that will remain for no other reason than to give my dog a place to pee, a reason to use my mower for the smell of summer, freshly-cut.