Thanks so much to everyone that responded on my previous post. I spent a few days contemplating whether I should attempt it or not and read back through the comments.
I decided to give it a go, but still felt hesitant to try it alone. Because I didn't want to spoil the surprise by asking my boyfriend, there was only one person I could rely on- my best friend. She's a lesbian so I knew she'd know what to do, and she was already excited when I told her I was going to learn how to mow the lawn.
I video called her, and our first task was putting the petrol in and looking for the primer. We assumed it would have one because the mower is old and discovered it didn't. I tried to get it started and it wouldn't turn on despite cranking the pull string firmly 3 times. I tried this a few times but to no avail, and started to doubt myself.
As I was ready to give up, I received a message from my best friend's fiancé (see pic), who she had been messaging the whole time I was on the call. She's even more butch than my friend and offered to stop by after work to help.
She arrived 30 mins later and checked out the mower, and I told her that it wasn't turning on. She then proceeded to reach down and start it with only ONE CRANK, immediately emasculating me. I then questioned my sexuality for a hot minute while she showed me how to use it. She also made me turn it off and on again by myself, and she (along with my bestie still on video call) encouraged me and gave me pointers.
After she left, I spent the evening mowing it on the highest setting as some of the grass was long. The next day, I put it on a lower setting and cut it shorter. It took me hours, and I can see why my bf sometimes complains when he needs to do the gardening haha. It's not the neatest around the edges as you can see in the pictures, but ultimately I think I did a good job considering it was my first time. I've added pics in order so you can see the before, during and after.
I'm really excited for him to see it next week when he gets home, and I'm not going to say anything so it's a total surprise. Until then, I'll try and keep a good poker face when he says he's dreading doing the gardening when he gets home!
Again, thanks to everyone that commented with advice!
by Live_Organization_12
2 Comments
Looks amazing! Great work!
See one, do one, teach one. Now you have to help out all the newbies when they need some advice on getting started.
Lmao at that text.
It honestly just does take some raw strength to start old machines.
Also, regarding how you cut high and then went lower the next day: that’s not a great way to go about that, but it’ll be fine, just might be a bit brown for a week or 2.
The thing to do would have been mow high this time, then in 5-7 days mow a notch or 2 lower. And repeat until you get to the target height. When it comes to grass being stressed from taking too much off at once, it’s really more about taking too much off in a *short period of time*.