Fourinarow.net

I went out on a limb this afternoon and mowed the lawn. Front and back. This wouldn’t be a big deal, except that a) I’ve never done it before; b) I wasn’t completely sure how to use the riding mower; and c) three of the four kids were conscious.

I had Jack show me the ins and outs of the mower. (Dan has shown me once before, so it was really just a refresher course.) Jack also rode with me for a while and pointed out the places I’d missed. While we mowed, Maria and Luke played outside. For a while. Then they disappeared into the house.

I knew I should check on them, but didn’t want to stop mowing. I sent Jack off and told him to bring me back a report. He did. “They’re eating suckers,” he told me. Well, that didn’t worry me too much, so I kept on.

After the back was finished and Jack got in some joyriding by himself, I moved to the front yard. Jack gave up and went inside to work on his trains.

Knowing that my luck couldn’t hold out too long, I mowed as fast as I could. Until I ran out of gas.

I went in to get Jack so he could help me fill ‘er up and found the entire bonus room littered with dum-dum sticks and wrappers. I didn’t bother to count them, but I think you could have built a tall building with the number of sticks there were. (We buy the BIG bag.)

Oh, well. The kids needed dessert after having had ice cream for lunch, right?

Closing my eyes to the situation, I went back outside. Jack showed me where the gas tank was located and and a few minutes later I was finished mowing. As were the kids.