[CAUT] using as ETD

[Jim Busby]

Susan,

Maybe we've beat this analogy to death, but I just gotta ask. Don't you sometimes wish that when the grass is really high, and you're just too tired to push, that you could sit on a 24HP riding mower and zip through it? <G> OK, Ok. I'll shut up.

Warm regards,
JB

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Susan Kline
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 8:24 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] using as ETD


>But I also have a push-mower that I sometimes use just because I 
>like the exercise. Makes me feel more involved. (And no, I'm not 
>being facetious...<G>)

And the push mower doesn't make a racket, waking up the neighbors 
from their Sunday naps. A push mower also doesn't force you to 
breathe fumes and it doesn't stir up dust and pollen as much as a 
power mower. And it doesn't burn oil mixed with the gas (power mowers 
used to do that, anyway) producing the same pollution as multiple 
cars; and push mowers don't waste fossil fuel. They take far fewer 
resources to manufacture, and push mowers last longer than an 
internal combustion engine, if they are stored inside and not allowed 
to rust. In the spring you don't find that you have to take them 
apart because you didn't drain the gasoline in the fall, and it 
gelled in the carburetor. And you never will throw out your shoulder 
pulling the starting cord of a push mower.

I think of the ETD-aural argument the same way. You put up with the 
drawbacks of a power mower when you have too much lawn to mow. If you 
just have a little bit of lawn, the push mower's a heckuva lot more 
more fun to use, especially if you keep it sharp, lubricated, and 
well adjusted.

There is something awfully pleasant about being in touch with the 
instrument, without the distraction of any extraneous non-musical 
data. People may call this a luxury --- well, it is, but a fairly 
innocuous one as luxuries go.

As they say, life isn't a rehearsal.

Susan who uses wetware ...