Size and length actually matter....

Most mowers have adjustments for raising and lowering the mowing height. Be sure to set your mower on a solid surface such as a driveway or sidewalk and determine what height you get from various settings. Then, set your mower’s cutting height to match the appropriate height of cut for your particular grass.

I  have been mowing lawns since I was a kid, and have never really liked it...at least that is what I tell myself. Neither did my dad (in his t-shirt, shorts and dark socks with dress shoes).

My first source of income was mowing lawns. Ahhh...the joys of mowing and getting paid for it. So why do we do it? The thing is that lawn mowing makes absolutely no sense, if you think about it.

Power mowers are dangerous, loud, and probably bad for your hearing (maybe that’s why I don’t always answer JoJo sometimes). They also put out lots of emissions (far more per gallon than your catalytic-converter-outfitted car). At least that's what I tell myself while I put the mowing off until another day.

Lawn mowers also kill off the plants that would otherwise serve as homes for insects, birds, and usually other animals as well. And they sometimes kill the animals (snakes, frogs, etc.) themselves. Yeah that’s it…”back to nature.”

From what I gather, talking with neighbors and friends, a lot of us mow because we feel we have to fit in, or because some towns have so-called weed ordinances (laws that specify how wild our lawns can get), or because our wives tell us to.

Go ahead, by the way, and tell me I'm sexist (see "wives" above), but the reality is that mowing has, since I was a kid back in the 60s and 70s, always been primarily a man's job. When I see a woman mowing, I usually figure she's lesbian, or single, or, if the lawn is really long, that she's pissed off enough at her husband for putting the mowing off that she's taken matters into her own hands.

There's always the occasional man or woman who claims to like mowing. I sometimes hear people actually say they like it for the fresh air or exercise. Of course if people really mowed for fresh air and exercise, they would use natural, emission-free, hand-powered push mowers—the reel kinds, with no engine.

So why do we really do it?

For most people, though, the main reason for mowing is aesthetic. People think the lawn should look a certain way—i.e., "look nice." Or they think their neighbors feel that way (which they probably do).

If the motivation is genuinely aesthetic, though, then something just doesn't make sense. An uncut lawn actually has variety to it. It can have anything you want, from wild cup plants to luscious fruiting and flowering bushes—the kind of stuff people drive off into the country for hours to see when they're on vacation trying to "get away from it all."

Sometimes with a glass of iced-tea I still see my dad in my mind's eye... in his dark shoes and socks mowing our lawn when I was a kid. I was actually shy about his appearance then, but sometimes long for those days now as an adult. Thanks dad for teaching me how to mow the lawn properly and actually enjoy doing yard work properly. I too want my lawn to look as nice as yours always did years ago…I will just be doing the job in tennis shoes instead.

And my next book? "How to mow the lawn." --Fixing a faucet. --Carving the Thanksgiving turkey. --Impressing the fairer sex. --How to behave when a lady faints. --Mixing the perfect martini or mowing the perfect lawn. Being a man has become a lost art, but help is on the way. With more than one hundred "lost arts" documented throughout the book, “How to Mow the Lawn” will never let readers feel as if they don't know what to do should a manly situation come up.

Things I can use in everyday life....*The Great Outdoors: how to defend yourself against wild animals * The Perfect Host: getting rid of guests politely. This is a book that teaches men the basic survival skills they need to win the hearts and minds of the women they love and get through the pitfalls of life.

I guess my dad was right....mowing the lawn is important.