lawnmower

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A Community Schedule Is A Great Idea

We should collectively schedule things as a community. … That might sound a little controlling, but I think it would give us more peace in the long run.

a community schedule is a great idea

I’m certainly not advocating having to do everything at the same time as everyone else in the community. I just have one thing in mind. 

We are already sort of scheduled in our city as to when we can use our washing machines at home. The city charges us more money for using electricity and water at certain times of the day. They basically want everyone to do their washing in the evening or early mornings.  

It’s not a forced thing, but you pay more if you don’t bend to the community’s wishes.

At times the city has also issued a watering ban for households. We can only water our grass on even or odd numbered days, depending on our house numbers.

Therefore, we basically have a precedent for getting everybody on the same schedule. 

I’m thinking it would be nice to get everyone on the same grass mowing schedule.

It wouldn’t be necessary if everyone had an electric lawnmower, but with so many gas grass cutters, it would really help. 

At my cottage we are in a community and, though the properties are small, there are a lot of them. There is no mistaking the sound when someone pulls out their Briggs and Stratton and pulls the chord. 

The guy that designed the mufflers for lawnmowers must have once worked for Harley Davidson. Every gas lawnmower sounds like a 750 cc roadster! If you close your eyes you can picture the guys from the movie, “Easy Rider”, cruising down the highway.

A lawn doesn’t take that much time to cut. But what’s bad about it is that somehow the noise gives other people the idea that it’s time to cut their lawn too. 

They don’t get out there together at the same time. Instead, it’s more like a chain reaction. When one lawnmower stops, another one starts right up. 

You can hear the sound of lawnmowers for an hour or more. 

Especially when I’m at the cottage, I want peace and quiet. 

I want to hear the sounds of birds chirping, crickets cricketing, and paint drying. – Yes, I want that sound over the sound of some four stroke engine, winding up to top speed. 

And then there’s the guy who made the mistake of putting his weed eater gas into his lawnmower tank. That oil and gas mixture makes a lawnmower sound like a sixteen year old with an old car, trying to impress the girls by continually revving his engine. 

So if we could schedule everyone to get out there and cut their grass on Saturdays at, say, 11 am, well, that would be just great. 

We could all wear ear plugs or put in head phones and listen to music. 

… And I would have some peace the rest of the day.

Here’s the thing: There is a lot of sound in our world. All that noise will drown out hearing what God might want to say to you. Take time in the peaceful part of the day to read and listen to God for His guidance, encouragement and even His correction. God likes it when the sounds of other things are quieted in us. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When is the peaceful time of your day? Leave your comments and questions below.

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It Was Perfect Timing

Nothing is really perfect, but this week I experienced perfect timing. 

Perfect timing is a moment in time when different things come together with an incredible result. 

You could say it’s perfect timing when you take a picture of a sunset and a seagull flies in front of the setting sun just as you snap the shot. 

You could also say it’s perfect timing when two people see a Volkswagen Beetle and, at the same time, scream “punch buggy!” It doesn’t happen often these days, but there was a time when you could end up with a bruised arm or leg because of those words. 

… If you didn’t understand that last sentence, just ask a child of the 50’s or 60’s about it. 

Perfect timing is a marvel; it’s like you scored a goal, or set a new record. Perfect timing is one of those things that causes you to say, “Hey, did you see that?” 

A story of something that is perfectly timed has to be told. It’s not something you just forget about and move on from. 

No, perfect timing is legend material.

This year at the beginning of spring I knew we needed a new lawn mower. I had a hard time starting it, and it was rusting out … to the point that you could see through a section of the deck to where the blade was spinning. 

I had hoped we could get a little more action out of it, but the next time I used it, the mower was even harder to start. And once I got it going, it seemed really old … like an old dog that needs a little assistance to jump up onto the couch, or an old man who seems to be walking in slow motion. 

This mower just wasn’t cutting it any more.

But since it’s the mower for the cottage, I didn’t want to have to buy a new one. After all, my grass only takes me seven minutes to cut. 

The next time we were there, I tried – for longer than it would have taken me to cut the grass – to get that engine to turn over. I couldn’t get it going at all.

I told Lily that I thought the mower was dead, and that we needed to get another one. I looked on Kjiji but there was nothing. I looked for repair shops that sold used lawnmowers but didn’t turn up any results. 

We were just going to have to be on the lookout. 

About an hour later, Lily and I headed out to do a grocery run. We passed a house where a guy was rolling out a lawnmower to the end of his driveway. 

I said, “Hey Lil, look at that!” and hit the brakes. I turned the car around and pulled into the driveway before the man had even walked back to his house. 

We asked him if it worked well, he replied, “Give it a pull.” It started immediately.

I threw that lawnmower in the back of our SUV and handed him forty bucks – no sense haggling over that price!

I’m sure the only thing the guy was ticked about was that he went to the trouble of making a “for sale” sign to stick on it.

That’s perfect timing!

Here’s the thing: Lil and I had prayed that God would provide an inexpensive replacement for our mower. Within an hour, one guy was marching one out to the end of his driveway. Perfect timing is when you seek God for something and He delivers an answer. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What answer have you received that was perfect timing? Leave your comments below.

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Delaying the inevitable may not be the best.

It’s getting near the end of the grass cutting season, but I’m hoping the problem I’m having with my lawns can wait until next year to be dealt with.

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When we bought our cottage, we needed doubles of many things because, with two different places, it was impractical to take some things back and forth … like for instance, a lawnmower.

So I own two of them. Unfortunately, neither one is working all that well. I just wish I could get one of them to work properly right now, but in reality, I need them both.

The one at the cottage was inherited when we bought the place. The previous owner said he had mistakenly put a gas and oil mixture in the gas tank so the engine had a surging sound to it.

It sounded like someone revving their car engine at a stop light in hopes the guy beside him would race him off the line. The only difference was this engine never stopped revving!

I took it apart, cleaned everything, and changed filters, gaskets, spark plugs – you name it. For a couple of years it worked well.

But now it’s doing it again, with less power. If I walk too fast it stalls out.

As for my mower at home, I bought it new years ago, but it’s seen better days. I think it’s wearing out. But the big thing with it is it doesn’t cut evenly. With every strip of grass I cut, it leaves a bit of grass behind – sort of like a mohawk haircut.

I think if I could combine them together I might have one lawnmower that worked properly. My worry is that I’m going to have to replace them both at the same time.

Having two of the same thing, in one way, is a great help – I don’t have to move something between two places. On the other hand, I have two things that can break down, need repair or have to be replaced.

I have a real problem to solve. One solution would be to pave both lawns and do away with lawnmowers all together. I like the sound of that, but my wife, Lily is into the green stuff in the yard so I don’t think that will fly.

I wish someone would invent a tele-porter like they used on Star Trek. Then I’d just need one lawnmower that I’d send back and forth. I’d send Lily on ahead to be there, waiting at the other end, when I sent it.

If I was lucky, by the time I got up to the cottage, she would have already cut the grass!

I think what I’m going to do is bear with it for a month or so. I’ll figure something out in the spring … unless I can find a cheap, used mower in the mean time.

Here’s the thing: In life, sometimes we delay getting right with God. We know we need to work things out with Him, but instead we limp along trying to make do with life and its issues as best we can. We secretly hope it will all somehow magically work itself out. The problem is you can delay getting your life on track with God but, at some point, you’re going to have to do business with Him … better sooner than later.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you delayed working on that you really need to get at now?  Leave your comments below.