I haven't read the Crunchy Cons book

In fact I can't remember who wrote it, but I've heard him on the radio. But I must be a Crunchy Libertarian.

I bought a reel mower last year. Because I was sick and tired of gas mowers pooping out on me. My review: it does an okay job. I wish I could adjust the height. It takes about 25% longer to mow the lawn, and if you want it to look good, you have to mow more often.

On the plus side: Phew!! It cost me 70 Bucks and there's no cost for gas. No fumes from the machine (no guarantees about emanations from the operator), and although it is loud enough to interfere with a conversation, it doesn't make you fear deafness.

It is more exercise than my old push gas mowers. You feel the resistance of high grass. I don't mind exercise. In fact I look for ways to get it without going out of my way.

It's easy to store. It takes up about three square feet of floor space in my RubberMaid (or whatever the H that cheap plastic thing is) storage shed. Leaving plenty of room for my rake collection (the variation in the lengths of the broken handles would be a worthy study for any museum curator), my rototiller, my kindling for Rendezvoux, the jogging stroller and assorted hedge care tools. Oh! And the Fokker Triplane kite! [Red, naturally, though they left off the Urkraut markings. (Real Krauts don't use hyphens!)]

How else am I "crunchy"?

Well, my parents were both farmers as kids, and they made us grow a big garden. We never had anything but fresh or home canned green-beans and peas. Tomatoes were a summer and fall staple. We grew a lot of lettuce, and don't ever offer any of my siblings or I any zucchini nor anything made out of it.

Don't get me wrong. I like the stuff. But the s*** grows like a weed. There is no shortage of zucchini in the world. Free is too high a price.

Rhubarb too. Our rhubarb plant is already about 5 feet high. What the H*** are we going to do with it?! Maybe we should donate it to stranded sailors who are suffering from scurvy.

Okay, besides the rhubarb, this year I'm trying to grow cantaloup and sunflowers. We've planted the sunflowers two ways: directly, by digging holes an sticking the seeds in the ground, and indirectly, by feeding live seeds to the birds.

It's amazing how effective the latter method is. The last time I did that I ended up with a huge yardful of sunflowers. I had to mow down a lot of them, but where I spared them, we had a crop that kept the neighborhood squirrels and rabbits happy all winter. [There's a lot of sarcasm in that remark, but that's a whole 'nuther post.... Oh! And, message to somebody who's quite a bit more famous than I: it's not wise to encourage raccoons. National Lampoon's Summer Vacation really went rather easy on the little vandals. There's nothing like a giant german shephard for keeping all the preceding in their proper places. RIP Sunshine.]

Ah! Crap! I've gone and mentioned our beautiful dog whom I had to bury. I need to go visit her grave this year.