We have 3 mowers — a small riding mower, a powered push mower, and a reel mower. I use a combination of all three. Last summer I used the reel mower quite a bit, but time has passed, I have started using the riding mower more, mostly because it is faster, and I have realized that my time might be better spent cutting wood rather than cutting grass. However, the reel mower is much more pleasant to use. Last week I was looking for a little exercise after getting home from work, so I used the reel mower some. I will list all the advantages:

1. It doesn’t pollute at all (except maybe for some odor coming from my armpits)
2. It doesn’t use any gas
3. It is fairly inexpensive
4. It is quiet
5. It actually cuts the grass, unlike rotary mowers (Golf courses use reel mowers too, though they are big ones that are pulled by tractors)
6. It gives me a good workout using it
7. It scatters the cut grass uniformly around the lawn, instead of leaving clumps
8. It is not as dangerous as powered mowers

I also want to say that the reel mower is much better than I had thought it would be. I had never used one prior to last year, but my friend Sean had one lying around that he gave to me. I had always heard about how hard they were to use, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that it wasn’t that hard to push. I had also heard that they can’t handle very tall or thick grass. The tall part is true, but I feel that it handles fairly thick grass and weeds just fine. It does help to have sharp blades. My dad gave me a handy little mower sharpening tool. If I spend 3-5 minutes using it before I mow, it works much better. I also recommend mowing in overlapping lines. Sometimes the mower does not get all the grass in one direction; instead of cutting it, it just pushes it down. Going back over half of the previous row will get most of this grass that was pushed over before.

If you haven’t tried one, I would highly recommend it, especially if you have a small lawn. You can buy a decent one for $100-$200, and even if you only use it every other time you mow, you will still be helping to reduce carbon emissions and noise pollution, and will be giving yourself a good workout.

p.s. I am not in any way implying that women are not real, or that women (or children) who use reel mowers will become or already are fictional. I am merely playing off a cliché