These days its hard to drive down the road without almost hitting a lawn care service trailer parked along the shoulder.  They are everywhere.  What happened to cutting your own grass?  I love to cut the grass!  Of course this was not always the case.  As a kid, pushing a mower up and down hills with those dreaded pine cones bogging me down those dang squirrels left for me still makes me sweat.   I waged a small war on those varments, insert image of Bill Murray in "Caddyshack" as a 12 year old boy with my Crossman pump BB gun.   As I got older, I would mow out at my grandparent’s farm on their old John Deere Oliver tractor, well before hydraulics and power steering.  It was an honor to get to mow their fields and up on that thing I felt like I was King of the World. 
 
Today is another story.  I still love to cut the grass but have graduated to a small John Deere riding tractor and have never looked back to the push mower days of the past on Ellicott Drive.  You could say I have turned soft in my older age and you would be correct….I have.  But in this fast paced world the time on the mower and cutting the grass is all mine.  I grab a cigar, my cowboy hat, sunglasses and put in my ear buds to jam to some Widespread Panic or Jerry Garcia (my most recent go to picks), all while I make my little part of the world a little better and a little prettier.  Of course this is usually interrupted by a hidden stump, slipped belt or a limb that slaps me in the face when I'm paying more attention to my tunes than what’s going on around me but that is all part of "cutting the grass".  Other than that, I'm kind of in fossil fuel nirvana. I'm sure neighbors riding by  look at me and wave saying, “Bless his heart, he still cuts his own grass."
 
Sure, I get it…we are all so busy working, hauling kids around and general life that eats up our spare time.   And yes, I could be out on the boat or doing something fun, but to take a couple of hours and block out the world is okay with me.  I can go out on the boat when I’m done (if it's running - but that's a whole different story).
 
You know, most rewarding things in life generally involve some time and effort.  At the end of the day, I crack open a "cold beverage" (thank you Lewis Gizzard) gaze out upon my fresh cut centipede, mulched sticks, fallen limbs I didn’t pick up and shaded bare dirt patches that won't grow grass under the live oak trees and smile with a satisfaction of a job well done.  Ahh…it’s the little things in life.  If you haven't cut your own grass in a while, give it a try.  I promise it's not as bad as when you were twelve and when you are done you will feel like you are King of the World.