Althouse: There's a reason why we have so many lawn mowers.

July 8, 2025

There's a reason why we have so many lawn mowers.

107 comments:

Gerda Sprinchorn said...: When a daddy lawnmower loves a mommy lawnmower very much, they ....; 7/8/25, 12:50 PM
Original Mike said...: "There's a reason why we have so many lawn mowers."

Some kind of sorcerer's apprentice spell?; 7/8/25, 12:51 PM
tcrosse said...: Do tell.; 7/8/25, 12:52 PM
PM said...: One for every day of the week. Not uncommon.; 7/8/25, 12:52 PM
Anthony said...: GAWD, I do not miss mowing a lawn. When we moved to AZ there was a patch of grass in the back and dug it out as soon as possible, although I still had to mow it for a few months.

Unfortunately, one advantage of regularly-watered grass here is that it tends to keep the scorpions outside. . . . .; 7/8/25, 1:01 PM
WK said...: Leader of a precision lawn mower drill team?; 7/8/25, 1:14 PM
boatbuilder said...: You are trying to find a push mower that actually works for longer than a few cuts?; 7/8/25, 1:15 PM
Lance said...: Meade reely likes mowing.; 7/8/25, 1:16 PM
Bob Boyd said...: You're running a lawn mower rescue and shelter?; 7/8/25, 1:20 PM
Bob Boyd said...: You didn't get your first one spayed?; 7/8/25, 1:22 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: Art display? All you need is a backstory about "trying to start a conversation about..."; 7/8/25, 1:24 PM
Bob Boyd said...: They feature a belly dancer at the local lawn mower shop?; 7/8/25, 1:26 PM
Rory said...: Tom Sawyer had a bunch, too.; 7/8/25, 1:27 PM
Duty of Inquiry said...: How big is your lawn?; 7/8/25, 1:28 PM
Derve said...: You didn't marry a fix-it man...; 7/8/25, 1:32 PM
rhhardin said...: I have a couple dozen scythes. A dozen if you count snaths. Favorite blade 36"; 7/8/25, 1:37 PM
mccullough said...: Tools make the job.; 7/8/25, 1:38 PM
rhhardin said...: Trying to find a decent courtroom drama book, like Connelly's Mickey Haller series. Everything I try has mysterious pasts that some character has to come to terms with and turns into crap. A drinking problem, how interesting. Just stop it, to quote Bob Newhart. Maybe they're all written by AI now.; 7/8/25, 1:45 PM
Joe said...: Synchronized lawn mowing?; 7/8/25, 1:46 PM
Breezy said...: Hoarding affliction; 7/8/25, 1:47 PM
Clyde said...: Is it for communal lawn mowing, the Wisconsin equivalent of an Amish barn-raising?; 7/8/25, 1:47 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: One of them is backwards. Why?; 7/8/25, 1:56 PM
tcrosse said...: The Althouse Amazon Portal has opened to another dimension.; 7/8/25, 1:57 PM
Yancey Ward said...: The mowers fool around when you guys aren't there.; 7/8/25, 1:59 PM
Sheridan said...: Law students are on summer break and you're providing them with important insights about their instructors and classes and they are mowing your lawn(s) as a form of payment.; 7/8/25, 2:08 PM
bagoh20 said...: What's grass?; 7/8/25, 2:13 PM
Eva Marie said...: The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter; 7/8/25, 2:17 PM
Quayle said...: They're all set at different heights.; 7/8/25, 2:20 PM
BG said...: I don't know how many lawn tractors we have. Hubby uses one or two and the rest are kept for spare parts. Though with these push mowers, I wouldn't think Meade needed any for spare parts. Or maybe he does.; 7/8/25, 2:21 PM
rhhardin said...: I have three reel push mowers in the basement but the modern ones don't cut every kind of grass but rather rise up over it and leave a growing clump there. Unlike old push mowers that just stopped with their wheels locked at such grass. So the rising-up move makes it easy to push but also leaves the grass uncut.; 7/8/25, 2:22 PM
boatbuilder said...: If this is a cafe thread, Coffee and Covid has some very pertinent questions about the Epstein matter and the recent DOJ memo.
I'd link but I cant figure out how. I believe that you need to subscribe (free). coffeeandcovid@substack.com.; 7/8/25, 2:23 PM
Whiskeybum said...: Meade is working the gardening section of Consumer Reports now?; 7/8/25, 2:34 PM
Nicholas said...: Looks like the starting grid for a lawnmower Grand Prix.; 7/8/25, 2:37 PM
Rusty said...: Only one is sharp enough to cut grass.; 7/8/25, 2:40 PM
Peachy said...: uh - no idea.
Do tell.

Coffeeand COVID; 7/8/25, 2:41 PM
narciso said...: yes it doesn't really make sense,; 7/8/25, 2:43 PM
Peachy said...: from the link: (I like this writing)

"As always, I suggest that you avoid the hot takes and wait for the facts. This story is still developing, and is much more than it appears. The memo and video drop are not normal.

🔥 Something else occurred to me. Democrats’ crocodile tears about Trump’s “kingship” seem even more hypocritical in light of the furious MAGA response to the “draft memo.” Democrats guarded Biden’s cognitive jello like an army of Praetorian guards around a fortress of silence. Any slip of Biden’s forked tongue was explained away as “folksy charm” or “deep empathy,” while press access was rationed like Soviet sugar.

Staffers carried flashcards, press conferences had pre-approved reporters, and the man was literally escorted off stage by Easter Bunnies and pop singers. That’s what royal protection looks like— a royal court shielding a senescent monarch.

Meanwhile, the MAGA base saw one sketchy, unsigned memo contradicting a months-old Bondi quote and immediately began storming the digital barricades. Far from worship, that’s healthy suspicion. They’re not defending the throne— they’re angrily confronting the stewards, torches and pitchforks in hand. That’s hardly king worship. It’s republicanism in action (lowercase “r”).

Which party acts like their President is a king? To answer my own question, if “acting like a king” means blind loyalty and ritualized denial, the Democrats wrote the script. Love Trump or not, MAGA just proved once again that the President is not above fire from his own side.

I’ll bet he was surprised."; 7/8/25, 2:44 PM
planetgeo said...: Meade, I think you've got the makings of a great country song here..."I fought the lawn, and the lawn won."; 7/8/25, 2:48 PM
Rocco said...: Gerda Sprinchorn said...
“When a daddy lawnmower loves a mommy lawnmower very much, they ..”

I think the mommy mower is called a tradmower.; 7/8/25, 2:50 PM
Scott Patton said...: Neighbors kept borrowing them and now they've been returned.
Actually, I think Quayle hit the nail on the head, at least partially.; 7/8/25, 2:51 PM
J Severs said...: Dress rehearsal for Madison Precision Lawn Mower Team?; 7/8/25, 2:52 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Meade's the coach of a synchronized mowing team?; 7/8/25, 2:53 PM
selfanalyst said...: Agree with Eva Marie on the Steven L. Carter book for rhhardin.
All of his books are good.; 7/8/25, 2:58 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: planetgeo said...

Meade, I think you've got the makings of a great country song here..."I fought the lawn, and the lawn won."

Cuttin' grass in the hot sun
I fought the lawn and the lawn won [x2]
HOA was mad because it hadn't been done
I fought the lawn and the lawn won [x2]; 7/8/25, 2:59 PM
tcrosse said...: The mind reels.; 7/8/25, 2:59 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: I’m going to guess that Meade has convinced several of your neighbors of the benefits of push reel mowers, and they have brought them over to be sharpened.; 7/8/25, 3:01 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: If you don’t budget a new mower, the lawn budget gets cut. A real cut, not a cut to the lawn rate of growth either.; 7/8/25, 3:04 PM
boatbuilder said...: Thank you, Peachy.
I've been rewatching Homeland. The first time, I thought it was great, but also thought that the conduct of the intelligence agencies involved was a little far-fetched. Now I think they sanitized what really happens.; 7/8/25, 3:13 PM
tcrosse said...: Remember Marie Antoinette brought the cake out in her reign.; 7/8/25, 3:16 PM
Rocco said...: Rory said...
“Tom Sawyer had a bunch [of mowers], too.”

A modern day mower
Mean, mean stride
Today's Tom Sawyer
Mean, mean pride

(Jamming)

No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful, yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent
But lawn care is

(More jamming); 7/8/25, 3:18 PM
narciso said...: the vice president, who was the former national security advisor who is targeted by damian lewis's character?; 7/8/25, 3:20 PM
Ann Althouse said...: No one has got it yet.

Clue: All the mowers belong to us but only three were bought by us. I’m saying us because one is the one that I bought on my own before I met Meade. Only one of the Fiskars mowers was bought by us.; 7/8/25, 3:35 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I would like to help Fiskars…; 7/8/25, 3:37 PM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: Other people upgraded or moved out and were going to throw away perfectly good mowers?; 7/8/25, 3:57 PM
Bill Crawford said...: Wedding presents?; 7/8/25, 3:59 PM
tcrosse said...: You inherited from some deceased garden store owner?; 7/8/25, 4:02 PM
Inga said...: Now that the migrant lawn cutters have been removed by ICE, there’s a need for red blooded American citizen grass cutters. It might be the start of Meade Mows Lawns. The extra mowers are for the high school kids he’ll employ.; 7/8/25, 4:05 PM
FullMoon said...: FYI. Project Farm Best lawn mower blades
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROcZWx9_0jI; 7/8/25, 4:06 PM
MadisonMan said...: Was this part of the parade on the 4th?; 7/8/25, 4:09 PM
lonejustice said...: I normally don't read the comments on Althouse, because too often they are just Trump ditto-heads yelling in agreement with each other in an echo chamber, but I really got a kick out of these comments. Keep it up!; 7/8/25, 4:09 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Gerda is on the right track; 7/8/25, 4:22 PM
n.n said...: Dull blades make enchanting mower gardens.; 7/8/25, 4:26 PM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: I love Fiskars blades.; 7/8/25, 4:27 PM
MOfarmer said...: fiskars is a quality brand. I use their pruners and loppers; 7/8/25, 4:28 PM
Whiskeybum said...: Orphanage for unwanted mowers; 7/8/25, 4:28 PM
robother said...: Does Meade tell the other mowers he has a favorite?; 7/8/25, 4:32 PM
Aggie said...: When it comes to grassy Border Control, mower is better. Meade sez Mow America Green Again !; 7/8/25, 4:33 PM
Josephbleau said...: There is no unique combination of the sources so there are multiple solutions. Ann had one before marriage and one fiskar and two odd balls were purchased after marriage. So the three left are owned but not purchased by “us”. They could have been bought by Mead or acquired without being bought by mead before marriage. Or acquired without being bought by “us” after marriage, or Ann before marriage.

We have no information as to why they were acquired. To guess:

1. Acquired for future resale after appreciation.
2. As capital equipment for a mowing service.
3. Spare parts.
4. To start a push mower museum.
5. To reduce the need for maintenance and resharpening.
6. A problem with letting go.
7. The yard has seven different cutting conditions and instead of readjusting the mower seven predjusted mowers are kept.
8. A chop shop for stolen mowers.; 7/8/25, 4:53 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/8/25, 4:55 PM
wendybar said...: Inga said...
Now that the migrant lawn cutters have been removed by ICE, there’s a need for red blooded American citizen grass cutters. It might be the start of Meade Mows Lawns. The extra mowers are for the high school kids he’ll employ.

7/8/25, 4:05 PM

WOW!! Imagine that!! American workers doing America's work!! What a concept!!; 7/8/25, 4:56 PM
BudBrown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/8/25, 4:57 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/8/25, 5:02 PM
Biff said...: This week, in a very special episode of Hoarders...; 7/8/25, 5:05 PM
Ann Althouse said...: CLUE: There were 3 more as well, all 3 were not bought by us and 2 were Fiskars. We no longer own these.

The ones that Meade bought include one that he owned before he moved here and 2, including one Fiskars that he bought after he moved here.

The Fiskars mower costs at least $250. What’s going on?!; 7/8/25, 5:19 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The ones we didn’t buy were acquired free.; 7/8/25, 5:20 PM
Aggie said...: Have the Fiskars been fixed, and has the fixing of the Fiskars been fisked?; 7/8/25, 5:23 PM
gadfly said...: with apologies to Tom Smothers, "Mowers always liked you best!"; 7/8/25, 5:31 PM
Joe Bar said...: Have they acquired sentience?; 7/8/25, 5:33 PM
R C Belaire said...: Maybe some were on the premises when Althouse moved in.; 7/8/25, 5:37 PM
Whiskeybum said...: Meade has opened a repair shop; 7/8/25, 5:40 PM
Mr. T. said...: Inga blathered...
Now that the migrant lawn cutters have been removed by ICE, there’s a need for red blooded American citizen grass cutters. It might be the start of Meade Mows Lawns. The extra mowers are for the high school kids he’ll employ.

Wow this must be the most pathetic self-own I've seen her since the good old days of Garage Mahal! Now we don't even have to point and laugh at Dinga's moronic, vapid hackery-she does it to herself for us! =); 7/8/25, 5:45 PM
Peachy said...: You're opening a push mower museum.
Push mowers thru the decades.; 7/8/25, 6:10 PM
Peachy said...: We all managed just fine without Crook Joe's open border.; 7/8/25, 6:12 PM
Peachy said...: It's fun to say Fiskar.; 7/8/25, 6:13 PM
Peachy said...: I-nag - the hive racist... assumes only brown people mow lawns.; 7/8/25, 6:14 PM
Howard said...: RHHardin: Steve Martini; 7/8/25, 6:22 PM
Ann Althouse said...: CLUE: This is not a commercial operation of any kind. No exchange of money has taken place or will take place.; 7/8/25, 6:53 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Aggie is kind of on the right track.; 7/8/25, 6:53 PM
Aggie said...: Is Meade the Fiskar Whisperer?; 7/8/25, 6:55 PM
Peachy said...: You lend them out to neighbors?; 7/8/25, 7:21 PM
Peachy said...: You secretly own several acres of land. To keep in shape - Meade spends a great deal of time Push-mowing various acres of various grasses... and various types of edge work.; 7/8/25, 7:24 PM
Milwaukie guy said...: Meade, like myself, checks out neighbors who are moving to see what tools they leave behind. I've gotten mowers, numerous rakes and shovels, etc., by just looting the trash.; 7/8/25, 7:27 PM
mongo said...: We had a Fiskars reel mower that was perfect for our small townhouse lot, until a strain of very thick Bermuda grass started taking over our lawn. I couldn’t get the mower through that patch even with a running start. I replaced it with an electric mower.; 7/8/25, 7:47 PM
mongo said...: I also check out my neighbors’ sheds when one moves. I had enough grill size propane tanks to go into business for myself.; 7/8/25, 7:50 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Meade is getting broken mowers from neighbors, fixing them, then giving them away to others. He’s scavenging parts from some mowers to fix others.; 7/8/25, 7:51 PM
Bob Boyd said...: He's scavenging the mowers for parts?; 7/8/25, 7:58 PM
Bob Boyd said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/8/25, 7:58 PM
Breezy said...: A blended family, which then spawns the smaller half sibling-mowers.; 7/8/25, 8:34 PM
Biff said...: I'm enjoying this thread more than I have any business to.; 7/8/25, 8:47 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “ Meade is getting broken mowers from neighbors, fixing them, then giving them away to others. ”

This is correct!

Meade is finding mowers that people are putting out to the curb as trash. He knows how to fix them and the people who are throwing them out think they’re just no good anymore… or so I infer. And he does give them away to other people as you guessed. Very good!

I think Fiskars ought to know that people are getting highly frustrated with these expensive mowers. They’re touted as working really well, which they do when they’re new, but there’s some kind of maintenance that’s needed to keep them going and people aren’t doing that. They’re just throwing them away. Meade has collected so many in just a few blocks around our home.

Maybe some people are reading this who put their Fiskars mower out to the curb and are now frustrated to see it completely restored to its proper working order. Be assured that your rescue mower has been or will be rehomed.; 7/8/25, 8:52 PM
Peachy said...: oh!; 7/8/25, 9:06 PM
Mason G said...: "Maybe some people are reading this who put their Fiskars mower out to the curb and are now frustrated to see it completely restored to its proper working order."

Because going online and asking "How do I fix my Fiskars mower?" is too much trouble?; 7/8/25, 9:50 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: If he sold them all he could afford a nice lawn tractor.; 7/9/25, 12:02 AM
donald said...: When I think of America and its bountiful resources…; 7/9/25, 5:53 AM
Rusty said...: "The Fiskars mower costs at least $250. What’s going on?!"fall in love with the idea of a reel mower. Then reality sets in on a hot day in June.

Quality costs.

People fall in love with the idea of a reel mower and then a hot day in June comes along and they find out it's work.

"He knows how to fix them and the people who are throwing them out think they’re just no good anymore… or so I infer."

You are correct. The vast majority of window air conditioners you see on the curb are just dirty. Give the coils a good wash and they work fine. The same goes for gas mowers. It won't start because the owner left gas in the tank all winter and the carburetor is varnished up. Clean the carburetor and off you go. That goes for any gas powered lawn equipment.; 7/9/25, 8:36 AM
Hannio said...: Most of the mowers I have owned in my life were throw-aways from people who preferred the idea of a brand new lawn mower over repairing their old one. In just about every case it was just a matter of cleaning the carburetor, putting in a new plug and sometimes a pull rope, et voila! A perfectly good lawn mower.; 7/9/25, 9:29 AM
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