Quite possibly the worst part about owning a home is keeping up with the yard and flower beds. My raw seething hatred for mowing the grass, edging, weed eating, and weeding is rooted in my childhood. Join me as I share with you the misery of my traumatic experiences in lawn care!

By the time I was old enough to earn an allowance my family lived on roughly one acre of land in Double Oak, TX. Having that much space at my disposal was fantastic for hitting baseballs or playing tag but sucked to no end when it came time for yard work. The job included mowing the bulk of the area with a tractor (riding mower), breaking out the push mower for the sections too small for the tractor, weed eating around the wire fence, flower beds, house, and trees, and finally edging the driveway and sidewalk. The entire process took about two hours minimum but the worst part was most definitely the crappy equipment I had at my disposal. There was always something wrong with some tool be it a flat tire, dying motor, dull blade, or flooded carburetor. Once the initial problems were solved and the equipment was running I looked forward to two hours of breathing dust and grass clippings due to the dry Texas climate and first degree burns from the crappy weed eater. OK, receiving first degree burns is an exaggeration but the damn thing got very hot!

Now flash forward to the present. I’m an adult who owns about .18 acres of land. I still hate taking care of the yard with the burning passion of a million suns and I now make enough money to pay someone to do it for me. For the first couple of years I did it myself but I noticed that I did a pretty crummy job. Even my best work only looked so-so compared to the neighbors who spent a few hours a week on their yards. So I hired a professional and I noticed several things:

• The guy did a fantastic job! Our yard looked like a golfing green and outclassed every other yard on the street. He even beveled the perimeter after edging which I had never seen before.
• The equipment he used was commercial grade and absolutely did not come from the hardware store. The trimmer string gauge was ultra thick, the motor was very powerful, and his commercial push lawnmower was extremely efficient which meant he could run it all day long without overheating and it used less gas and oil.
• He completed in thirty minutes a task that usually took an hour for me to do.
• I got to hang out with my wife and play with my kids!