Rosie the Mower

If I had a donkey, I wouldn't expect it to work like a Clydesdale draft horse.

However, I do goad my ride-on mower to perform like a farm tractor.  It is billed as a Lawn Tractor, which gives me license to ask more and more of it.  People in the country don't have lawns; we have yards.  We try and keep the weeds mowed.

 This reproduction tin sign hangs in my workshop.

Because I  worked for a year as a riveter for United Airlines  in 1976 (not World War II!) I still consider myself a bit of a Rosie.
That's why I named my mower Rosie.  It's easier to say than ride-on lawn mower, too. I expect Rosie to do some jobs that my big Ford tractor did when I had the farm.  That requires a lot of coaxing. I did pick a lawn tractor that had the proper oiling system for hills.  Rosie's tires are big and smooth for not leaving tracks in the lawn, so they slip a lot on the steep hills.  Also there is the problem of honey locust thorns poking holes in them when I cut paths through the underbrush.

Rosie is now being pressed into service as a firewood hauler.  This wood is some I cut from the trees that the cottonwood brought down with it in April. So far this season, I've hauled and split a total of sixteen loads.

My son Chris cut up the walnut that was downed in the spring storm. He also cut up the big pieces of cottonwood. His chain saw is too big for me to even pick up. Here, he appears to be having yet another fun day at Mom's.

For days, Rosie and I hauled the heavy walnut up to the workshop, where I split the big pieces with my electric log splitter. Then we hauled it over to the wood rack I made between two fence posts.  It's looking good!  Just a few more small  pieces to cut with my chain saw and the walnut will be done. Next,  I'll be cutting more dead wood of a lesser quality.

The worst jam I got Rosie into was when I got stuck on a stump when going down a slope.  I couldn't push Rosie back up the hill, so I had to pound a fence post into the ground and use it to secure a winch to back Rosie up. A couple of weeks ago, a big anthill up in the hickory field stopped my path-mowing in the same way.  Faced with the need to hike back and get the heavy post pounder, a fence post and the winch, I really exerted myself and dragged Rosie back off the anthill.  It was possible because the ground was not so steep there.

"You can do it!" I tell Rosie frequently, when asking more than the equipment was designed to do.  Last week, I  broke down and changed Rosie's oil.  I also got her a new battery.  I had to check YouTube to see which terminal to do first.  I used to know all that stuff.

Rosie may be little but she is valiant. However,  I believe she is looking forward to snow, when I can't possibly ask her to work with those smooth tires.