The Grass Fire

The day we moved into the house was so exciting. We knew we had a lot of work to do... one being the lawn. It hadn't been mowed in three weeks and during the Spring, it was super long. We had a neighbor try to mow it, but his mower wouldn't cut it, so we had to have someone with an industrial mower try. His mower worked wonders, but he did it as a favor and did not end up bagging the clippings. So, we had a ton of grass with no where to go.

So, brilliantly, I said to Ed... How about if we use our mower and go over it again. It will mulch the stuff and it will make it look so much nicer.

Nolan and Nate are all about riding the tractor. They think it is the BEST. So, I thought... no cutting... they can't do too much harm... Have at it!!!! Plus it would save me some good time and I could get some things done in the house.

Well, after about 1 hour of mowing, Nolan got a bit fearless and instead of going SLOWLY over the piles of dead grass, he began trucking right along. It was fine until I looked out the window to see Nolan dive off of the mower and run into the house yelling.... I think something is wrong!

The mower stopped because there was too much grass underneath it and it got clogged. The muffler (which on a lawn mower is apparently in the front) was very hot because it had been in used for so long... and it started the grass on fire right where the mower stopped. The only thing I could think of was that it was going to flame and the gas would cause an explosion. I yelled for Nolan to get a rake. He ran all the way back to the shed instead of grabbing the rake from the garage. Meanwhile, there continued to be smoke billowing from the mower. I grabbed the one rake from the garage and began scooping the grass from beneath the mower. The only problem was that as I scooped, the burning grass was starting little piles of burning grass all over the yard.

Are you picturing pure panic yet. I must have looked like a crazy lady!!!! HA! (now.... certainly not then)!

Finally, it stopped smoking and I was able to rake out the rest of the little fires. They really didn't flame, just smoked a lot. The mower was fine. Nolan was a bit shaken up and now... Mommy mows the lawn!!!!!! Darn it... where is the justice???? :)