Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz for October 15, 2015

Good old Charlie Brown

Since I work as a Salvation Army donation shed attendant, I was given one of those mowers. It was so squeaky when you pushed it, you could hardly hear a conversation with someone (it really need a lot of WD-40).

I used to use one of those old reel type push mowers, doing my grand parents yard. They are not a pleasure to use, but I got paid a silver dollar for each time way back then.

Those are impossible to use on truly long grass, particularly of the type that just grew there, instead of being planted or turfed in.

It’s been interesting noticing all the differences since starting to follow these older Peanuts strips. The later ones that I grew up with don’t seem to have much about Charlie Brown’s relationship with his Dad.When I was a teenager, and we had a small yard anyway, I used to mow it with one of those old reel mowers. They work perfectly well if you keep the blades sharp, and there was one guy we knew of who would sharpen them.

Can’t blame him. My dad got a push mower when I was a teen. No problems for him, I was going to be the one to use the stupid thing. Funny how before then all our lawn mowers were either gas powered push mowers or gas powered riding mowers.. After about two or three years of my breaking my back with the stupid thing, him having to break his back a couple times when I was too sick to actually mow, and the damn thing rusting up to the point of not moving (we had put it in storage over the winter so it wasn’t outside to get snowed on), he finally decided it was a better idea to return to a gas powered mower.

I knew someone who had a very small yard – the back yard was about the same width and breadth of the house, adding just a couple of feet wider – and they had a riding mower. No, he was NOT handicapped…just that lazy.

Is Charlie Brown big enough to use a 1950’s style lawn mower all by himself?

All day long, he cuts hair. Then he comes home for a change of pace.

I too started out on one of these, then graduated to an electric (no fussing with gas or oil or anything— just plug and go). But I would still break out the push mower to do the tiny front yard: easier not to deal with the cords on a 12′×30′ plot.

I would try using a WeedEater on the long grass rather than a push mower. Then try to be more diligent in keeping the lawn mowed.

Of course, I shouldn’t talk since my wife hasn’t let me cut the yard since my heart surgery.

We used to sharpen reel mowers in our power equipment business, and when we were done and properly adjusted, they weren’t difficult to push. Also, we sharpened the Silent Scotts reel mowers, and they moved through the grass almost effortlessly when properly sharpened and adjusted! In addition, they made almost zero sound as they snapped the blades of grass instead of actually slicing the grass as conventional reel mowers did…

Charlie Brown, I’m sure Dad will be delighted to see what you did for him…