AArdvark's lawnmower project

[AArdvark]

( in movie-tone announcer voice)

The year was 1949. Thousands of world war II servicemen were returning home from overseas to find jobs and nice places to settle down and raise a family. They discovered 'the suburbs!'

(whiny bitch voice)
"But the grass is so green and grows so quickly out here! What ever shall we do to keep the grass under control?

( announcer voice again)
One company answered their cry: Sears, Roebuck and Co. With a partnership with Yard-Man Inc. they produced a machine so efficient, so durable so light yet so heavy that there are still hundreds of these still in use this very day.

Thanks to the miracle of internet I don't even have to post any of my own pictures or video this time. Here's a guy restoring the exact same mower I am. How convenient!

Note: I am not using the same color scheme

[youtube][/youtube]

[Tdarcos]

( in movie-tone announcer voice)

The year was 1949. Thousands of world war II servicemen [ ] discovered 'the suburbs!' [ ] One company answered their cry: Sears, Roebuck and Co.

'Vark, you don't know the half of it. Sears sold people actual houses out of their mail-order catalog. You paid what was a very reasonable price, for some reason the number $800 comes to mind (probably equivalent to about $20,000 today) and they shipped you everything, the lumber, the tools, the nails and fasteners, the house was pre-built and pre-cut, like build-it-yourself furniture from IKEA. The instructions told you how to put the house together or you could hire a contractor.

Those houses were sold from near World War I until about World War II and a lot of them are still in use, today.

Sears made great stuff back then, it was the reason so many people bought from them by mail order.

But Sears didn't change along with the times and fucked up so badly that they closed their mail-order catalog (JC Penney still has theirs) and ended up being bought by K-Mart.

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/ Sears Mail Order homes story where I found out a few things. I knew sears sold a few houses, I didn't realize it was more like 75,000.

[Tsummary]

( in movie-tone announcer voice)

The year was 1949. Thousands of world war II servicemen [ ] discovered 'the suburbs!' [ ] One company answered their cry: Sears, Roebuck and Co.

'Vark, you don't know the half of it. Sears sold people actual houses out of their mail-order catalog. You paid what was a very reasonable price, for some reason the number $800 comes to mind (probably equivalent to about $20,000 today) and they shipped you everything, the lumber, the tools, the nails and fasteners, the house was pre-built and pre-cut, like build-it-yourself furniture from IKEA. The instructions told you how to put the house together or you could hire a contractor.

Those houses were sold from near World War I until about World War II and a lot of them are still in use, today.

Sears made great stuff back then, it was the reason so many people bought from them by mail order.

But Sears didn't change along with the times and fucked up so badly that they closed their mail-order catalog (JC Penney still has theirs) and ended up being bought by K-Mart.

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/ Sears Mail Order homes story where I found out a few things. I knew sears sold a few houses, I didn't realize it was more like 75,000.

TSUMMARY: "I don't understand how conversations work, but I did see you used the word SEARS, so instead I talked about that. Also, I made up some numbers and facts along the way."

[American Disabilities Act]

It's come to my attention that a forum user is being pilloried for being unable to comprehend humor. Whether this disability is caused by autism or brain injury, it is important to not discriminate based on ones special abilities. I would suggest that we use the following tags when using humor related language: [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] , [humor] [/humor], [Fuck you Tdarcos] [/Fuck you Tdarcos], etc.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

That seems very fair, in light of recent events.

[Flack]

Hey 'Vark, is there an advantage or disadvantage to owning a manual lawnmower like that? To be honest, all I know about them comes from watching Moe mangle Curly's head with one. Are they efficient to use and easy to push? Other than the obvious (saving gas), is there any reason to own one?

[AArdvark]

Besides the cool wayback retro thing? A couple small things.

quieter, Less gas, more elbow grease ( more calories burned for those of me trying to burn off that Swadley's and Mama Rosa's).

It's supposed to be better for the grass as the grass blades are snipped off scissor-style rather than ripped by an overhead rotating blade.

It's certainly takes more work and more effort, which makes it a little more personal. I like the mower restoration part better than the actual work-in-the-yard part.

Other than that, not a lot really.

THE
THREE HOUR JOB
AARDVARK

[Tdarcos]

[Fuck you Tdarcos] [/Fuck you Tdarcos], etc.

Okay, "where are de white women"?

[Flack]

Besides the cool wayback retro thing? A couple small things.

quieter, Less gas, more elbow grease ( more calories burned for those of me trying to burn off that Swadley's and Mama Rosa's).

It's supposed to be better for the grass as the grass blades are snipped off scissor-style rather than ripped by an overhead rotating blade.

It's certainly takes more work and more effort, which makes it a little more personal. I like the mower restoration part better than the actual work-in-the-yard part.

Other than that, not a lot really.

THE
THREE HOUR JOB
AARDVARK

I forgot we had talked about this while you were in town. Allow me to introduce ... ROBOMOWER.

[youtube][/youtube]

At the time I bought mine we were paying a neighborhood kid $50/week to do our lawn and Robomower was $600, so we figured if it worked for a single season, we would come out ahead. It worked for five years I guess before it needed major maintenance and we figured we had got our money's worth out of it by then.

[AArdvark]

Do you know how totally cool that thing would look with a yard gnome riding it?

The gnome with the shit eating grin and holding a fishing pole!

With a carrot (or battery) hanging in front of the mower!


Oh man , that R/C owl- helicopter project might just have to wait!



THE
TALK OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD
AARDVARK

[AArdvark]

lawnmower update:

The push mower makes my yard resemble a golf course fairway. It even makes the crabgrass and the weeds look more presentable. Since that's the kind of mower the golf courses actually use it's little wonder, really.

Still have to keep up with it more than the gas powered kind.


THE
YARD SLAVE
AARDVARK

[Flack]

My buddy Jeff (who moved to Atlanta) has bequeathed me his riding lawn mower. I picked it up last weekend. So far, I have driven it approximately 30 feet, from the front driveway to around back.