“Sweat” Is Not A 4-Letter Word

Because my knees are degrading quicker than the popularity of the NSA, my nephew now mows our yard.  When I mowed it took me 45 minutes.  And that was knowing I had more yard work to do when I finished, and I wasn’t getting paid to mow.

It takes my nephew at least an hour.  For you non-mathematicians, that’s a 33% increase in time.   Why does it take a capable teenager longer to mow than a middle-aged man?  Here are some of the reasons why:

• My nephew feels the need to stop every 10 or 15 minutes to get a drink of water.  When I asked him why he stops so often he told me “I’m sweating”.  SO???  You are SUPPOSED to sweat when you work!  I blame this directly on the AMA when they declared ‘obesity’ a disease.  Give me a break!
• My nephew will spend 5 minutes looking at a problem instead of working through it.  Due to heavy rains our pool overflowed a bit into our lawn.  He looked at the water in the grass for some time.  Maybe he was waiting to see if the water would dry up, I don’t know.  He eventually came over to tell me “It’s flooded over there.  I can’t mow it”.  I went to check it out – there WAS a little water.  I think two ice cubes had melted.  Now, with the mower set up high, my nephew would mow right over it.  But, he spent more time looking for a reason NOT to mow instead of mowing.  Ugh!!!  Like Nike used to say, “Just do it!”
• He doesn’t prep the yard.  Before I mow I go and move anything out of the way.  Lawn furniture, swings, the landmines that keep the neighbor kids out of the yard. This saves me time because I’m not stopping the mower to move the items as I get to them, as my nephew does.  I’m waiting for the day he tells me the mower cord has worn down from all his stopping and re-starting.  Of course, THEN he won’t be able to mow.  Maybe he’s smarting than I give him credit for.

A little preparation, a little more determination, and realizing that sometimes your body exudes water, and he could get the lawn done in 45 minutes, too!