Up to my (behind) in grass

Posted by Andrew Hartsock May 31, 2010 at 8 a.m.

I was riding to racquetball the other day, rounded a corner and was surprised to see a man in the middle of a semi-busy street with a lawn-and-leaf blower, blowing fresh grass clippings from the curb on his east side of the road all the way to the curb on the west side.

At least he had the decency to ease off the trigger as I rode through the maelstrom.

On the way home, I rode by a commercial establishment where a lawn-service worker was cleaning up after his mow. He was blowing off the sidewalk that ran adjacent to the road upon which I was riding.

He, too, eased up when he saw me coming, but seemed to grow weary of waiting for my slow bones, shrugged, then sent a wave of grass and sand and leaves pinging off my shades and sticking to my sweaty brow.

Thanks for that.

That same night, I was riding to work in the gloaming and saw a vacant lot that had been allowed to go native — I’m talking waist-high, grab-a-machete undergrowth here — finally had been mowed. The clippings that weren’t in huge, clumpy ricks had been shot into the street, creating a thick, green carpet extending several feet into the roadway.

I know, I know. It’s spring. It’s cool and wet and sunny and, well, photosynthesis happens.

But is the concept of keeping one’s yard waste in one’s own yard a thing of the past?

I recall my youth, when I first learned to mow. My dad imparted several dad-isms about lawn care: Never service a running engine (from the guy who nearly lost a finger to a running engine); don’t mow wet (from the guy who rarely has the sense to come in out of the rain); and always make the first couple of passes around the lawn with the side-discharge chute pointing in, so the clippings get mulched as you mow, but more importantly don’t end up in the neighbor’s lawn or the street. Common courtesy, doncha know.

Seems quaint now.

I’m reminded of how many people I see blowing their leaves into the street — illegally, I believe — so they become somebody else’s eyesore, or the folks who shovel their driveway snow into the roadway for the street crews to deal with.

I’ve nearly wiped out on wet leaves in the street, and this winter one fine fellow who had waited days to clear his driveway of snow waited until the streets were nearly pristine before attacking the icy mess with his snowblower. Rather than blow it into his lawn, however, he went to great pains to shoot it straight into the street — and nearly took me out in the process.

Aw, maybe I’m just being a grouch.

Keep blowin’, guys, and I’ll keep dodgin’. After all, a little grass never hurt anybody.

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parrothead8 2 years, 11 months ago

It IS illegal in Lawrence to cut grass so that it is blowing into the street/storm drains.

UfoPilot 2 years, 11 months ago

Some one had better tell Parks and rec...

YouPeopleAreCrazy 2 years, 11 months ago

........and bicyclists wonder why people hate them. You sound just as entitled and self-centered as the guy who blows his clippings into the street. If a little grass never hurt anybody, why did you write this again? So you could feel better about yourself and your own lawn etiquette? Boring.

parrothead8 2 years, 11 months ago

If it's so boring, why are you here reading it?

thefisherman 2 years, 11 months ago

This is one of those stories that lures you in with a somewhat catchy title, then two to three paragraphs later you are kind of hooked, hoping it ends up going somewhere. By the time you finish it, you realize it was a total waste of your time.

NewbieGardener 2 years, 11 months ago

"and bicyclists wonder why people hate them." really? what about the pedestrians who have to walk through flying grass clippings? it's actually not a bicyclist-specific complaint. i also don't think it's self-indulgent to discuss fair treatment and mutual respect.

YouPeopleAreCrazy 2 years, 11 months ago

No, really, it's petty. We are talking about grass clippings here. Suck it up and drive on. Be thankful that you even have the time to sit down and write or read a blog about something as insignificant as grass clippings. It has a catchy title but fails to deliver anything beyond that. Nobody is more enlightened or emboldened to stop this travesty, they just became annoyed that they spent time reading a worthless, bitchy blog

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