Zen and the Art of Lawnmower Maintenance

[“When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it, and want to get on to other things.” pg 24, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance]


4:45 p.m. It started to sprinkle rain while I was cutting grass this afternoon. I continued to work carefully - no thought of running - knew I’d get damp and that my cleanup would take longer.

5:00 p.m. Finished cutting my lawn and the weeds in the shared back laneway. Shirt was sticking to me. I unplugged the electric cord. I bent down, turned the lawnmower onto its side in the rain - no thought of putting it inside The Annex where it is stored - and saw that a deep pad of wet, shredded grass was stuck to every nook and cranny inside the mower’s under carriage.




See, my electric mower, half the mower my retired 3.5 hp Tecumseh gas-powered used to be, needs to be cleaned after every use (Made in China: what a piece of crap) or else its thin metal will rot out within a few years. So I keep a garden trowel with a bad handle just inside the door of The Annex for the scraping and cleaning job.

5:10 p.m. The mower is clean. The clods of grass are spread about the back lane. My lawn mower maintenance job is done.


["I toss clods of grass and saw dust (from a well-maintained workshop) into the back lane.": photos by GH]

I think, it's time for a glass of red wine.

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