HOT PURSUIT

“I want a riding lawn mower!”
For years those have been my exact words whenever my kids would ask what I wanted for Christmas, my birthday, or any other holiday in between. I know they got sick of hearing it, most likely scared off by the cost of such a beast.
It kind of became a running joke because I knew it was too big of an item for them to buy. I could just see the expressions on their faces along with the thought, “Dad, let’s get real.”
And I think I even scared myself when looking at the cost.
With John Deere always being in the family and growing up on the farm, I’ve always had my sights set on a John Deere riding lawn mower.
For years, I’ve slaved away pushing a Toro lawn mower around the yard. It always takes me nearly 3½ hours to complete the mowing.
The real question is, where were my kids when the lawn needed to be mowed. Nowhere to be found. With a few rare exceptions, the kids left Dad to deal with the yard on his own.
In all honesty, I really don’t mind mowing the lawn. It’s great exercise, and I love being outdoors away from the computer screen that often sucks up all my time and energy. But for me, the real challenge was always finding a large enough chunk of time to get the mowing done in one shot. I hate breaking it into stages.
Things are about to change.
Within the past two weeks, I found myself on the receiving end of another family member’s John Deere rider, which is less than 3 years old. He sold his house and didn’t need the lawn mower any longer. I jumped at the chance.
And so did my parents and children. They came up with enough cash to pay a big chunk of it as an early birthday and Christmas gift. Who says Christmas is only in December?
With the lawn looking a little parched, I haven’t needed to jump on the rider yet. But I hope to later this week. And I can’t wait!
After years of waiting and hoping, I will be riding like a king on my rider. Mowing the lawn will be done in a snap. I won’t know what to do with all my extra time.
It certainly will bring back memories of mowing the lawn at home during my teenage years. Yes, kids, I did mow the lawn on a regular basis.
Now let’s see what I can come up with to replace the lawn mower on my wish list. Look out kids: I’ll try to make it something affordable.
When I’m not busy working on the newspaper, I’ll be in hot pursuit of mowing my lawn. At least it’s finally on a rider.