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This article speaks to me. My neighbor is retired and his only purpose in life seems to be keeping a fairway quality lawn which means he's cranking the social

This article speaks to me. My neighbor is retired and his only purpose in life seems to be keeping a fairway quality lawn which means he's cranking the social contract to 11. I don't know how much he spends in weed killer and fertilizer. Maybe he doesn't want to lay on his deathbed and regret, "If only I'd mowed more..."

leecarraher 10y ago
sounds like you neighbor is obsolete https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man
DougN7 10y ago
I wonder if we live next to the same guy :) Seriously though, I think it's just a hobby and a way to remain active and valuable. Definitely helps the property values...
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
refurb 10y ago
Jesus Christ! Someone is getting enjoyment out of something you see no purpose to? You need to get him to stop!! And right now! What's next? Putting up bird feeders? Ugh!!
- Fricken 10y ago
  My father had one of those miniature farms, he worked very hard to maintain it (and conscripted me into assisting). Every week he would ritually harvest a useless crop which went directly into the garbage. He was a very proud man, and used the condition of his lawn to signal his moral superiority. Often in the evenings around the dinner table he would single out malingerers in the neighbourhood and proclaim them to be substandard human beings. These proclamations weren't typically backed up by action until he was appointed an administrator on the condominium board. Newly backed with institutional authority, he took to logging lawn care infractions, and hand delivering customized warning notices to scofflaws with great zeal.
  - refurb 10y ago
    So he was kind of doing the opposite of what the author of this blog post is doing. Guy who hates lawn looks down on guy who likes lawn, guy who likes lawn looks down on guy who hates lawn. It's all circular!
- ourmandave 10y ago
  I didn't mean to be so harsh. It's his Happy Place and who am I to judge. But there's no fence, so you could take a picture and use it in Refurb's Lawn Care brochure as the "before and after" spread. (Mine being the wah-wah-waaaaah side.) The social contract to keep up is untenable.
aaron695 10y ago
You shouldn't belittle the hobbies the old have in an attempt to give their life value. You to will be old one day and some youngster might belittle you for doing something dumb like playing old, redundant Xbox games when you're so bored life is losing meaning.
- ourmandave 10y ago
  You're right. Re-reading it does sound harsh and if extreme lawn care is his thing then more power to him. To some I already am "old one day." My daughter used to pretend to be David Attenborough and narrate aloud whatever I was doing while drawing unkind pictures to document it. "And this is the Dave in his natural habitat. See how he struggles to climb under the car to reach the oil pan."

leecarraher 10y ago

sounds like you neighbor is obsolete https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man

DougN7 10y ago

I wonder if we live next to the same guy :) Seriously though, I think it's just a hobby and a way to remain active and valuable. Definitely helps the property values...

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

refurb 10y ago

Jesus Christ! Someone is getting enjoyment out of something you see no purpose to? You need to get him to stop!! And right now! What's next? Putting up bird feeders? Ugh!!

Fricken 10y ago
My father had one of those miniature farms, he worked very hard to maintain it (and conscripted me into assisting). Every week he would ritually harvest a useless crop which went directly into the garbage. He was a very proud man, and used the condition of his lawn to signal his moral superiority. Often in the evenings around the dinner table he would single out malingerers in the neighbourhood and proclaim them to be substandard human beings. These proclamations weren't typically backed up by action until he was appointed an administrator on the condominium board. Newly backed with institutional authority, he took to logging lawn care infractions, and hand delivering customized warning notices to scofflaws with great zeal.
- refurb 10y ago
  So he was kind of doing the opposite of what the author of this blog post is doing. Guy who hates lawn looks down on guy who likes lawn, guy who likes lawn looks down on guy who hates lawn. It's all circular!
ourmandave 10y ago
I didn't mean to be so harsh. It's his Happy Place and who am I to judge. But there's no fence, so you could take a picture and use it in Refurb's Lawn Care brochure as the "before and after" spread. (Mine being the wah-wah-waaaaah side.) The social contract to keep up is untenable.

aaron695 10y ago

You shouldn't belittle the hobbies the old have in an attempt to give their life value. You to will be old one day and some youngster might belittle you for doing something dumb like playing old, redundant Xbox games when you're so bored life is losing meaning.

ourmandave 10y ago
You're right. Re-reading it does sound harsh and if extreme lawn care is his thing then more power to him. To some I already am "old one day." My daughter used to pretend to be David Attenborough and narrate aloud whatever I was doing while drawing unkind pictures to document it. "And this is the Dave in his natural habitat. See how he struggles to climb under the car to reach the oil pan."