Dreams of Homeownership

From time to time on my blog, I will do reviews of websites I've been asked to look at, sort of like a survey where I share the results with people. I receive compensation for doing these reviews, but they don't tell me what I have to say, or even that I have to say nice things. All the opinions contained herein are entirely my own.


Back right after Robert was born, I had a catastrophic hard drive failure on my computer. I was lucky, both in that most of the files were recoverable and that the computer was still in warranty, but I did lose all my links. One that I lost and just found again is called "Lovely Listing", which is a site devoted to bizarre pictures from real estate ads. It's a hilarious site, but invariably when I read enough of it in one sitting, I start looking at the real estate ads myself, and thinking about houses. Sometimes I think it might be nice to buy an actual house, where the mortgage payments would be lower than our rent and we'd actually be building equity in something. Then I think about not wanting to live in Kentucky forever, and having to do my own repairs, and it seems less promising, but it's still a nice thought.


One good reason to buy a house would be to get a lawn. I would love to have a lawn with a swingset and a big garden, and some fruit trees. Of course, to have a lawn, you have to mow the lawn, and to mow the lawn, you need a lawn mower. A company I've been looking at lately for lawn mowers is Mountfield Lawnmowers. Mountfield is a British-based lawnmower company that's a subsidiary of Textron, so you could have a lawnmower that's made by a company owned by the same company that owns Bell Helicopter and Cessna Aircraft, with a motor that's made by the same company that made my car, Honda. That's like a corporate synergy Yahtzee right there. 


Mountfield mowers are mostly push-mowers, which is not the type I'm used to, not with the giant lawn I grew up with. There are all different kinds though, mulching mowers, scarifiers, rotary motors, and all sorts of things I've never even heard of. Mountfield petrol lawnmowers are nice and all (and I think it's awesome that they call it petrol, because I am a nerd), but I'm more interested in their electric mowers. I remember the old gas push mower we had, and it was so stinky and nasty. That's been about twenty years now though, so I imagine the technology has come quite a ways. They're all a very cheerful red color that seems very appropriate for lawncare equipment, but I've got to admit that with the prices all in pounds, I have little idea of what they cost. I think when it's my turn to have a lawn and get a mower, I will probably buy a brand that is more easily accessible, but I certainly like the look and sound of these mowers.