Rub a dub dub.
Three men in a tub.
I can't remember the rest of it.

Nice '13 with accessory electric head lamps & battery box.

I guess they didn't mow back then, a lot of these old photos show cars on uncut grounds?

I cut a lot of lawns with an old push reel mower. OK for small lawns but bigger ones were a lot of work. When I went in the service my dad bought his first powered mower.

Sounds familiar - I'm the oldest of seven kids, six of them boys. We always had the rattiest lawn mowers in the neighborhood until the last of us moved out and my dad had to start mowing the lawn again. Then, he went out and bought a top-of-the-line Honda self-propelled, walk-behind mower.

You guys reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in a long time:

When I moved away from home and joined the U.S. Marine Corps in '63, I gotta' say, my Dad stuck with the ol' reel type push lawn mower (our house was on a 50' lot in suburban Chicago so not much of a lawn) but when the first snow fell after I was gone, he sure did go out and buy a proper aluminum snow shovel! All during upper grades and high school, one of "MY" jobs was always (besides lawn mowing) to shovel the sidewalks whenever it snowed. And, being the only son of a career railroader, about the time steam locomotives were being replaced by diesels, all my snow shoveling was done with a #10 coal scoop that my Dad got for nothing from you-know-where! NOT what I'd call a proper snow shovel!

Lots of folks just used a scythe but not too often.

We were in the Amish hardware east of Clare,Mi today and i saw a new reel push mower at $236.00 but that was as close as i got.Bud.

Damn,
Are all of you guys as old as me?
All of those statements sounds like me talking! We ALL lived the SAME lifestyles!!!!
I graduated in 1963 and yes Gary, Mark, Harold, and Warren all of those things hit home here too. Semper Fi Harold

The lads OUT & ABOUT and learning to smoke cigarettes.

Joseph, I graduated in 63 too. We're youngsters compared to some of the guys who post here.

For the curious:

`Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub. And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker the candlestick maker. Turn them out, knaves all three.'

Or, look here:

http://www.mothergooseclub.com/rhymes_parent.php?id=162

better reading than some newspapers!

My first job (1954) was working for a gardener on Saturdays. $3 for 12 hours. Most of the work was lawn care. A couple of older boys did the mowing and I mostly swept up clippings. The cutting was done with gasoline powered reel mowers. At home we used a push mower.

I still use a push mower. They don't take up as much room as a gas mower, and it's good exercise. The secret is keeping the blades sharp.
I'm not a fan of running board tool boxes, but that one looks like the one pictured in the Ford parts book. If I could find one of those, I'd buy it.

I mowed lawns all summer to buy my first car. (Model A) I'm allergic to grass. Push mower.

Unlike you city folks, we have four leg mowers called cows. They ear everything except some weeds that we hand cut or use a farm tractor with a mower if we can get at it.

I've nothing against push mowers but you need to pick up all the sticks that fell out of the trees first. I've got a couple of acres to mow and don't want that much exercise.

We kept the calves in little pastures all over the yard when I was a kid and Willie is right, they are good lawnmowers. I've thought about keeping sheep for the same purpose but finding a baby sitter for them is a problem if we want to take a vacation.

I'm 60 but the Mortensens were a bit slow to embrace new technology. F'rinstance, our first corn picker was an ancient J.D. 101 semi-mount that broke down about every other day so I've used a husking pin and tossed cobs at a wagon with a "bang board" on the far side. Frankly, we were better huskers than that 101.

Nothing like doing it the "old-fashioned way". Makes you appreciate the new approach... grin

It's amazing to read post here on how most of us have done a lot of the same things over the years of growing up.
I've cut grass from the time I was 8 years old, I too pushed an old reel style mower. I used to have to mow our yard every Saturday morning after breakfast, then and only then Was I able watch about an hours worth of cartoons on the old black and white TV.
I remember wanting a motorcycle at age 12 my Dad said you know your Mother will not let me buy you a motorbike, period.
But if you pick up a few more yards to mow she can't really tell you what you can and can't buy yourself...with your own money. At that point I was on a mission, I mowed yards all summer and was able to get a really sharp bike just before winter. I also graduated to a 20" push mower with a 3-1/3 hp brigs & stratton, I was really cutting grass then....
I learned at an early age to work hard for what you really want, and it can be achieved.

Oh yeah....I'll be 50 in July I've not got as much experience as some of you, but I remember very vividly going to the spring for water at my grandparents house and drinking out of the well at my aunt and uncles we would drop the bucket in and everyone drank out of the same long handle gourd (dipper) ,
I always dreaded the days my grandmother took a bath it was 1/4 mile to the spring and it took a lot of water to fill a wash tub...!
Then there was the out house, need I say more.... Lol
Yes those was truly the good old days... I can honestly say I miss them, and am very glad I got to experience part of that period in time. Not that I'm that old, just the fact that we was that poor and couldn't afford some of the finer things in life, but I still wouldn't trade my memories for any amount of money. I'm sure the money would be long gone by now, but the memories and all my early life lessons along the way, has always keep what money I've need coming in...
I'm very blessed.!

I guess it was my upbringing, by mine mirrors Steves above. My parents always told me if you want something, you buy it. They always helped me out when needed, but I had to pay them back. I mowed lawns, painted fences, pulled weeds and worked at a horse stable growing up.

My Dad was so keen on teaching me life lessons that he wanted to charge me interest on the money he loaned me to buy my first car when I got out of college (a 1972 Dodge Charger)! Luckily, my Mom wouldn't let him. I did have to pay back the loan during my first year of work, though.