Do any American Boomers here remember the quality lawn mowers of old?

[Brad]

I'm a Boomer (born 1961). One thing I am not, however, is stuck is some fantasy that everything "back then" was better. It wasn't. I'll take my current Honda over any 1960's or 70's mower I had to deal with "back in the day."

But some of my generation seem to be caught is some sort of fantasy that only allows them to see today in light of a highly and selectively glorified yesterday. I'll pass.

 

[ammo]

Nobody is talking about the real enemy here....lawns!!!!!

How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns? - Freakonomics

How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns? - Freakonomics

freakonomics.com

Lawns are archaic water sucking symbols of suburbia. We HTers worship the wild untamed forests - do we retreat back to our cozy white picket fenced houses and our immaculately mowed lawns? I say nay!

In all seriousness I'm married to a water-conservation guy and the first thing we did to our non-middle-of-nowhere living situation was go completely xeriscaped. It's not attractive 80% of the year but also, I hate yard work so it's great.

Those 50s ladies with 10" waists can mow all they want, I'll be sitting on my porch drinking a beer and laughing.

 

[Jbotto]

In a past life I worked with a native habitat restoration company planting native plants in the Midwest. I took great pleasure when we got called to rip up turf grass to plant something beautiful. Lawns suck.

 

[nhenry]

I'm no boomer but my John Deere 14sb has been kicking for 30+. When the deck breaks I have spares ready to replace it.

My dad tried replacing his old 14sb with a new honda and it got stolen a week later while he was inside for a drink... right back to the Deere he went.

 

[JFish]

As an elder millennial (nay Xennial), I find the idea of a bright green lawn an absolute waste of water and time. I did 100% of the lawn mowing from about 8 to 12 until my brother got old enough then we split the duty...push mowing about 2 acres with a mower that used to be self-propelled but broken. In the summer, we cut trees Mon-Fri and mowed the lawn on Sunday. This spring I'm ripping up a chunk of my yard and planting native flower.

I agree about the part about the centerfolds though. Dad had stacks hidden...all from the 70s so they were invented before the mower.

You anti-lawn commies take your prairie yard rhetoric to the depths of Reddit! Everyone in my neighborhood gossips about my lawn stripes and it makes me feel better inside.

I’m not a complete monster though, I plant a pollinator garden.

 

[TheTone]

Combination of yard, xeriscape and native trees/grass/brush for me. I kinda hate my yard but that’s probably mostly due to my completely awful clay soil

This thread. I feel bad for contributing

 

[Gellar]

Nobody is talking about the real enemy here....lawns!!!!!

How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns? - Freakonomics

How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns? - Freakonomics

freakonomics.com

Lawns are archaic water sucking symbols of suburbia. We HTers worship the wild untamed forests - do we retreat back to our cozy white picket fenced houses and our immaculately mowed lawns? I say nay!

In all seriousness I'm married to a water-conservation guy and the first thing we did to our non-middle-of-nowhere living situation was go completely xeriscaped. It's not attractive 80% of the year but also, I hate yard work so it's great.

Those 50s ladies with 10" waists can mow all they want, I'll be sitting on my porch drinking a beer and laughing.

Tom would probably tell you less bitchin’ more kitchen.

 

[ammo]

As an elder millennial (nay Xennial), I find the idea of a bright green lawn an absolute waste of water and time. I did 100% of the lawn mowing from about 8 to 12 until my brother got old enough then we split the duty...push mowing about 2 acres with a mower that used to be self-propelled but broken. In the summer, we cut trees Mon-Fri and mowed the lawn on Sunday. This spring I'm ripping up a chunk of my yard and planting native flower.

I agree about the part about the centerfolds though. Dad had stacks hidden...all from the 70s so they were invented before the mower.

 

[noharleyyet]

^^^There exists a shiny coin that no man can shift gaze from...undefeated.

 

[gouch]

Nobody is talking about the real enemy here....lawns!!!!!

How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns? - Freakonomics

How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns? - Freakonomics

freakonomics.com

Lawns are archaic water sucking symbols of suburbia. We HTers worship the wild untamed forests - do we retreat back to our cozy white picket fenced houses and our immaculately mowed lawns? I say nay!

In all seriousness I'm married to a water-conservation guy and the first thing we did to our non-middle-of-nowhere living situation was go completely xeriscaped. It's not attractive 80% of the year but also, I hate yard work so it's great.

Those 50s ladies with 10" waists can mow all they want, I'll be sitting on my porch drinking a beer and laughing.

When the BLM/ Forest Service remodeled their building several years ago, they decided to become more eco-friendly. They replaced all the lawns with native plants and grasses and let it grow wild. I took one look at that and realized that it looked exactly like my lawn right before mowing. I was doing it right all along, if I would just ditch the old lawn mower.

I'm so much happier now.

 

[Hem]

Back to Opie, Beaver(Leave it to...), Lassie, white bread and peanut butter.

 

[hank4elk]

I'm a so called boomer,1955.
I 'preciate TT and his...whatever.
Got me remembering the ladies I worked for. LOL

My idea of a lawn now.

 

[LuketheDog]

I put down exactly one pallet of sod a couple years ago, the rest is dirt, native grass, and oak brush, I'm so happy with it.

 

[noharleyyet]

 

[TomTeriffic]

I give her props. The poor lady probably has a grandkid that sitting on his a$$ inside playing video games waiting for grandma to get done mowing so she can get him a snack.

I started mowing for my folks at age 11. It was 1975. Atari Pong was released in 1973. We never had one. My father said it would screw up people's television sets. We had some lawn mower called American Eagle or something with a 3-horse Briggs. Had that classic T handle instead of the newer shopping cart handle. Non-motorized push mowers still have that classic handle.

 

[WapitiBob]

I'm a Boomer (born 1961). One thing I am not, however, is stuck is some fantasy that everything "back then" was better. It wasn't. I'll take my current Honda over any 1960's or 70's mower I had to deal with "back in the day."

yep

 

[TomTeriffic]

Back to Opie, Beaver(Leave it to...), Lassie, white bread and peanut butter.

.... and Mary Ellen jams and jellies!!!

Aunt Jemimah toaster waffles. I was eight when this commerical was on ther idiot box:

 

[Gr8bawana]

Can we take a vote to kick Tom off the island?

View attachment 269327

Maybe the psych ward doesn't know he's missing yet.

 

[danr55]

Those were before “lawn mowers” were popular.

I always wondered where they found all those women with the staples in the bodies. I searched for years and never found one except in the magazines.

 

[Howie]

My uncle had the identical Jacobson reel mower in the 50s. Then he moved to Lawn-boy. I always had Lawn-boy till the 90s.