Getting Creative With a Cold Lawn Mower

Here in the southern part of the US, Spring is ready to start. That means I need to get out my lawn mower and give it a good going over to be sure it’s ready to start all my lawn care chores again. I like to get my young son involved in the procedure because he’s about the right age to learn how to check the oil and spark plug.

Now you might guess I’m a dad writing this, but no - I’m a mom. But the outside chores are all mine - by choice. Spring lawn care is really significant because it sets the tone of how my yard will do once the summer heat and humidity get cracking.

But back to my mower. Normally the first time I mow in the Spring is to cut down the weeds that have gotten out of hand. They usually grow faster than the grass this time of year, so I cut them down before they go to seed. Last year, I got the bright idea to mow one day when it was cool and just about to rain.

Having sat in the storage shed for the previous four months, my mower just wasn’t interested in starting for me. Usually, I put it on the south side of my house in the sun for an hour before I need to start it up the first time. It gets nice and warm and will start within a couple of pulls. But last year, there was no sun to be found. In fact, it started drizzling on me while I was pulling the cord.. and pulling and pulling.

Frustrated and breathing hard, I decided to think it through instead of seeing if I could give myself a heart attack. I only needed to get that engine warm. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a super-easy solution - my hair dryer. I plugged it into the garage outlet, parked the mower next to it and flipped the switch.

After a few minutes of blowing the dryer on my mower, I decided to try starting it. First pull had that baby purring like, well, like a loud lawn mower. What do ya know? Every once in a while I come up with a really nice, simple solution.