Intervention

So, I bought a Craftsman lawnmower from Sears. It has large wheels to manage “hilly terrain.” And comes pre-assembled, a big plus. It also came with a quart of oil. Yay. We had more trouble figuring out how to work the fancy new (non-drip) gas can spout than the mower.

My friend Diane, popped over to give counsel and advice.

She started mowing and I started lopping forsythia. Within 20 minutes, who should arrive but a landscaper. He walked the yard with me. He said he does bushes, lawns, stonework, mulching, everything! Wahoo. I hired him on the stop. He said he would have a crew at my house within 2 hours.

As I stood with him by the truck, the neighbor across the street came running over to see if he would mow for them also. Then the neighbor cattycorner from me came down to ask about driveway sealing. He does that too. So after 11 phone calls, and 1 lawnmower that is now residing in my garage, I now have someone to manage the lawn…and seal the driveway. He got 4 jobs from my one phone call.

Update:
The crew showed up and did a fine job. Winthin a few days they showed up again to start trimming my 14-foot forsythias. I came home that night and not only were they trimmed but shaped. Craig from Total Exteriors is the bomb!

I am going to break down and buy a mower.

I have now been looking for someone to mow my lawn for 3 weeks. Of the 6 people I called, only 2 bothered to return my call. Both declined the job because their schedules were full. One did offer up the name of a fellow who was just starting up. That guy did not call either.

What is up with that? Why has it suddenly become so hard to get tradesmen to even be interested enough, heck polite enough, to return a call? So much for the “free estimate”. You are suppose to get 3 estimate for any job. Bah! How can I do that if no one will call back? Some of my friends give the job to the first person that calls or shows up.

Another example. Back in the winter, a piece of the fascia came loose. I called a recommended contractor. He called back, he showed up. He fixed the piece that was flapping. He called and told me there was a piece on the other side of the house that was loose and he would be back to repair it too. That was in January. The loose piece has now ripped away from the house. I found it in the driveway. I called and nagged him. He still swears he will be back to fix it. At least it admitted that he has bigger jobs at the moment.

It is so frustrating. I am not saying that everyone is bad. My plumber, electrician and painter are fabulous. I feel like I need to keep a herd of people on retainer.

I have 3 more calls outstanding as of today. If you know of a good landscaper…please let me know. The grass is ankle high again. Sigh.

A Lawn Mowing Decision

I decided this year I would mow my own lawn. Never mind that I do not own a lawnmower and I haven’t mowed a lawn in well over 10 years. Heck, I think I have only mowed for 2 out of the last 20 years. But, never mind. I CAN do this. I called and cancelled the lawn service.

I own an old-fashioned rotary wheel push mower. No engine. It is better for the environment and will be good exercise. I would use that. But on the off-hand chance that pushing the mower up the hill (you know I live on a mountain, right?) may be too much for me, I checked out the Consumer Reports.

It so happened that lawnmowers were in the May issue, see, it is in the stars. I read all about torque (I still don’t get it.) and big rear wheels versus small ones. Then I got to the part about the type of lawnmower you need depends on the type of lawn you have. Hmmmmm. According to CR, my non-power rotary push mower is only good for small flat lawns. Not good news, mine is neither of those. So I moved on to electric mowers, a better option in my mind than gas. But, it is only good for small lawns of about 100 ft max. Rats.

Ok. So I would have to get gas. I went to my local Sears Hardware to browse the options. They were all gas. CR must be right. STOP.

Then I left for Alaska.



Without the lawn service, the grass was literally knee high when I returned. I still didn’t have a mower. Then Bill Up the Hill, my neighbor, offered to bring down his tractor to mow it on Saturday. My Hero. In the meantime, Jonathon my next-door neighbor on the uphill side showed up with his self-propelled gas mower and did the first cut. Bill started to tidy the front, then the tractor started to careen out of control down the steep part of the front lawn. Thank heavens there are rocks (who knew I would ever say that?) The tractor’s front tire got stuck between some rocks and stopped. Whew. Scary. Bill had to get his bigger lawn tractor to pull the little one out of the mess it was in. Even so, 2 of the neighbors had to help push.

After watching all of the struggle and looking at the red sweaty faces, I decided to rely on their advice. “Bev, hire the man”.

Know any good lawn guys?