upgrade due

I've been a homeowner for about twelve years, and, until today, I have never purchased a lawnmower.

When I bought my first house, it came with a lawnmower.  I got about one season out of it, and the deck rusted through.  Being the cheapskate that I am, I had my Dad weld it, and stretched its use a little longer.

Knowing my mower was on it's last leg, my Mother-In-Law then got a great deal on a yard sale mower, and gave it to me as a birthday gift.  It has been a great mower, and I have since gotten many mowing seasons out of it.

It has gradually been coming apart a piece at a time... mostly safety stuff.  Being the cheapskate that I am, though, I figured, "who needs all the safety stuff?"

Well, perhaps I do.

I recently made the decision that Dylan is old enough to start learning about lawnmower operation.  I taught him basic lawnmower safety a few weeks ago, and it occurred to me that my "safety course" included many quirks about how to safely operate my particular mower, devoid of features that would make the experience safer for the young son that I love.

He has twice mowed portions of the yard, under my supervision.  Being the cheapskate that I am, though, I wrestled with the need to replace a mower that still has life left in it.  After all, I wouldn't let him use an unsafe mower... it's just not as safe as it could be.  I should probably do the responsible thing, and just replace it, right?

And then, I helped myself make the decision.  Last week when I mowed, it got dark before I got to the very back of the yard.  So, this week, the grass in that area was double height.  At some point, the end of a log had burnt off and fallen out of the fire pit, and was now obscured in the higher grass. 

THUMP!  Stalled mower.  Bent blade.

So, today, my mowing experience (and that of the young son that I love) was upgraded from the old faithful 10+ year-old (for me, anyway) Yard Machines yard sale mower (devoid of much of its safety stuff), to...

my first brand-new mower purchase... a Craftsman 3-in-1 bagging, mulching, side-discharge lawnmower, complete with ALL the safety features!  I'm looking forward to mowing this week, and hoping this one is as hard-working and long-lasting as the one it replaces.