the lawn , the mower , and other things

as part of the continuing effort to put , on the record , our memories of that hallowed place i give you this set of memories from big D and mr.t . the subject is the lawn and lawnmower from old 27 . this picture is the only one i could find that features the lawn , and the "daisys" , which i'm pretty sure are dandylions...

dan
gramma's lawn mower? At least that thing was tough. As long as the blade was sharp. Going in there, the smell of that garage...the wood, gas,etc. And like you mentioned Steve that white cabinet that had cracked paint, those torn blue shower curtains (because prolly used to have glass there) and little black wooden nob you turn to get the doors open. It had drawers with all that shit in there. But mowing the lawn, first we'd whack the tall grass next to the fence, or over on that 2 track leading to the dirt road. I never liked mowing around the garage, there were snakes sometimes, I ran over one once - yum yum! Damn daisy's or what ever the hell you call em mostly in the front yard. Front yard got pretty dry and burnt sometimes and when you mowed next to or on the other side of the hedges here comes the damn mosquitoes ya stirred up. Watch out for the hose coming from the basement sump. Later on gramma had a crapload of mole holes (Tom,insert granpa mole hole story here,haha) which we'd run over and dust would fly. Also had to mow carefully down the middle of the driveway and once in awhile hit stones that would fly out and hopefully hit my brother in the balls...er... I mean, unfortunately. Work up a good sweat and go in and drink some ice tea; either make it or was made already in the fridge (damn smallass fridge too) in that green glass heavy pitcher with swirled glass, ya know, right next to the carton of Borden milk with a picture of a human cow smiling at ya, hahaha. Food in the fridge, or the T.V.or radio seemed like the only sign of life of an outside civilization sometimes. You guys know there was an old well that had been filled in,in the grassy areas between the lawn and the dirt road? it was more toward the west of center almost to the 2 track drive that leads out to the dirt road. I found pieces of dark brown enamal/clay pottery there. I wonder how old that defunct well was? That's all I got right now....

toms reply...
As i remember, that well and that entire area was where grandma used to have us throw junk once in a while (that's the way recycling was back then). most important, I remeber being told that this grass area between the mowed lawn part and the now defunct gravel drive to the white barn was where Paul Noss's parents house used to be, thus why there was a well there. Not sure if it was torn down, blown down, or burnt down.
I can imagine Inaidna Jones mowing along Grandma's garage: "I hate snakes! Especially Amish ones!"

Elsie the cow was the cow on the borden milk cartons. remember the big milk tank truck tat would back to Nass's barn every other day? Silver, gleaming in the sun.

Lawn mower: I think is was gold colored brownish on the bottom and the motor was painted white? Often it would not run smooth but purr slow to fast. Never really knew why. Before Grandma had that one, she had an old one that you mixed the gas and oil with. Believe it was all old, greasy and red. Wonder if Steve remebers that one. Grandma got the new one around 1962-3 when the other one broke down. Not sure if Dad got it for her or Vane or someone else. i sure miss mowing that lawn, mosquitos, snakes and all. Moles- oh yeh - "poof!" there goes another dirt mound.

Garage: That's a whole subject in itself. Amazing what you could find in that garage. I'd forgotten about those cabinets and someof those amazing tools and nuts and bolts and nails. Remember how the boat motor used to hang in the garage on a rack. I don't think anybody used it after 1960 and i don't think the boat would float anymore. Grandma sold the motor around 1964 or so but the boat remained there for a long long time upside down in the fence area next to the cow pasture. There was a bed in the storage loft (attic) in the garage, a sled, and some other stuff I can't recall. the weed whacker. And don'tforget those banmoo fishing poles, we used to drga those out almost every weekend we were there in the summer. along with the block and tackle rope. Hey that reminds me of the large ropes in Nass's barn.

I remember the smell of the garage for sure. I think one time I practiced my trumpet in the garage during the summer after my senior year in high school. If I could go in that garage right now I bet it would have the same smell and all the memories would come back to my head crystal clear. The smell of the wood, grease, gas, oil, (and Dan farting, causing the entire place to explode into flames....). well, the smell of home.
We didn't need computers then to fuel our imagination. We had all the props in the basement and garage and an entire playground (still in our heads too). Now we have to rely on computer e-mail to perpetuate the memories, which is good anyway. We would all probably forget if it weren't for e-mail, photos, and computer technology. Unfortunately, that place north of Clare and it's memories will probably die with us. No one else knows that place from our vantage point as kids like we do. Well, that's good...that means know one else can take that from us but the man upstairs as long as we're alive. But we'd always want to share with someone. If they only knew....................