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We had a nice country home where we used to stay on weekends. The
house wasn't fancy, but it was situated on some scenic hilltop
acreage. The site had previously been used as a landscape nursery and some
of the
mature
trees and shrubs remained.
Even though I managed to drink a few cold ones over my summer
weekends, most of the daylight hours were consumed by yard chores.
Grass cutting was the Biggie, and there was also a good bit of shrub trimming in July.
Due to the scope of the yard work, and the short time span for
getting everything done, I used to hire some local teenagers to help
out. Freddie and Butch showed up most often and ended up being the
backbone of my crew. I gave each of the boys $2.00 an hour, which
was a pretty good rate for the mid-1960's.
During the first summer the boys worked for me, one of their jobs
was trimming the Privet hedge that surrounded the back yard. I figured
it would take them most of an afternoon, since the hedge was
probably 150 feet long and it stood shoulder high. The top was the
most difficult to trim. Butch said
they could handle the job.
I was back inside the house drinking a cold Iron City beer when
suddenly I hear the roar of my rotary lawnmower. It seemed odd since
we had finished mowing grass the day before, and the boys were
supposed to be trimming the hedge. When I walked outside, I couldn't believe my eyes!
Butch and Freddie had taken two of the long wooden poles my wife
used as clothesline props. They ran the two poles under the
lawnmower, with one pole just behind the front wheels, and the
second pole just inside the back wheels. The poles were long
enough that 3 feet extended out from each side of the
lawnmower.
Apparently, after placing the poles underneath the mower, the
boys started it up. Each boy must have lifted his two poles at the same time
the other one did, balancing the running lawnmower between them like
a rickshaw.
By the time I saw them, they were halfway down the top
of the privet hedge, one boy on each side, with hedge clippings flying
everywhere! I couldn't believe my eyes, and wondered if they had any
eyes left. I finally got them stopped two-thirds of the way down the
hedge. It was a surprise to find that Butch and Freddie were both
OK.
As dangerous as their stunt was, I must say, the mower was doing a
fantastic job!
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