Mow in Peace

Last week after I ran interference and all but tackled the gardener in the courtyard to make him turn off his industrial, 90-decibel weed wacker before he scared the baby goats, I decided to dismiss the gardener from courtyard duties and tend to them myself. My first order of business as the new master of the courtyard was to find a hand-powered (translation: quiet) lawn mower. I expected to pay around $350 for a decent mower but was pleasantly surprised to find one for only $70. As I clicked "submit order" on the web page, I felt nothing but doubt. I've been burned by many an unsuccessful gadgety purchase. But since it was only $70 for a lawn mower, I rolled the dice.

My mower arrived today. Assembly was simply snapping the handle into the mower (30 seconds). I took it for its inaugural whirl around the courtyard and, hey, whaddya know? It works perfectly! (Caveat: this might not be the best option if you have a large area to mow.) I love my swift, silent, hand-powered mower. Interestingly, Fenway does not. Gentle, docile Fenway kept attacking it, and I don't think he was playing. I finally had to put him inside the house so I could mow without risk of slicing his button nose.