New lawn mower!

When we bought this house my most important tool was my Honda lawn mower.  I'm really loyal to brands (Horseware, Levis, LG, Chevy, Japanese cars starting with H or T) so for me a mower has to say Honda on it. That was 5 years ago and I must tell you what I learned.

It's not just the engine, but the chassis/everything else must also be reputably designed. Our poor lawn mower was a now-defunct German hardware store brand (with a Honda engine). It started needing more and more repairs, which were costing us 100E each year, so this year we took it in and said, "Fix if worthwhile."

Today we went in and our little work order had "SCHROTT" written on it. Junk. OK then let's see what was kaputt:

• All 4 wheels
• The single axle (It only had one? Oh dear) (So that's why it stopped rolling!)
• The self-propel system (It worked 1 out of 7 tries, not nearly often enough, and I'd run right into it because I'd expect it to move and it wouldn't.)
• The handle (It broke clean in half - not at a joint!)

If I'm not mistaken that is pretty much every part of the mower that was not the engine. The engine still works fine! Still a Honda fan, we started shopping.

I wanted an upgrade, something that wouldn't fall apart in a few years, so we got a Honda Izy (pronounced "easy") which is manufactured by Honda - the entire thing. Woo! It was only 100E more than our last one, and seems sturdier.

I mowed with it today and realized we need to order the mulch flap because I don't use the bag (we have too much land for me to bag and transport grass waste). Without the bag attached, the grass shoots out the back, toward the ground, but if it's on a hill (we have nothing flat here), sometimes it spits grass directly at my legs. I was intimidated by this, knowing a branch or rock could really hurt me. One piece of beauty bark was painful enough. So J ordered the part.

The salesman was nice, aiming his sales speech at me because J said, "She's the mower." He pointed to the Izy and said, "Start it up." I said, "Not indoors!" so he rolled it outside for me to start. I think it's interesting that they have their floor models oiled and fueled for customers. I did my entire lawn on that tank.

I noted it was made in France. Yikes. And it has the same sticker as my old one, "Not legal for sale in the United States, Canada, or Australia." I pointed to it and asked my burning question, "Why is that? Germany has stricter emission and noise laws!" I'd been wondering this for years. It turns out I was looking at it from the wrong perspective.

Can you guess why European mowers are not allowed in America?

Because they lack a type of engine cover that prevents burns and Americans will hurt themselves and sue Honda. In Europe I guess people know not to touch the engines. *lol*

Here is a picture. It seems tiny but I have to be able to maneuver it on our complex property.

Looking forward to a less frustrating season of mowing...