There were a good number of honey bees then and I sometimes had to stop the mower to give the bees time to fly out of harm’s way. At that time, I counted twenty-one bees buzzing the white clover in the yard. Last week when I was in the yard, I saw one honeybee. Most diligent mowers of lawns do not even see the bees. But if the yard has any white clover in it, the bees are busy collecting nectar. With heavy duty, zero-turn mowers, one is going so fast that a little honey bee isn't noticed, much less thought about! The second reason to mow later is to let the morning dew dry off the grass. Wet grass sticks on the underside of the mower. My little rider chokes up easily and sputters death throes before dying. We had so many showers every day for a while that one had to mow between showers. (The bees stay home during showers.) My shoes carried matted grass into the house and deposited it on the carpets. I began removing my shoes before crossing the threshold. Taking one’s shoes off before entering the house is an ancient tradition of Japan to which I am now adhering. The third reason to mow late in the day is the heat! A friend died of heat exhaustion a few years back. Rosilee was not riding a mower but with the heat and humidity so high, just being outside with the heat index above 100℉ is dangerous. I have been cautioned by Rose Beck, “Be careful!” A good warning. In a college writing class we were given one word and asked to write a story based on that word. The word was “sunscreen.” I remember writing a futuristic story about how the climate had changed with the heat being so intense that only day workers were allowed outside to work in the sun. Most of society had become nocturnal creatures, going to work, doing their shopping, etc., after darkness fell, and sleeping in their air conditioned cocoons during the day. The outside day workers had to wear a thick colored sunscreen to repel menacingly harmful UVA and UVB rays. The tint in the sunscreen dyed the workers skin green or chartreuse and made them embarrassingly noticeable as lower class day workers. Couldn’t the sunscreen work just as well without the tints? Was this a method of control by the government to keep these workers within the confines of this particular unwanted job? Hopefully, civilization will not be forced into nocturnalism. The pandemic has taught us one thing. Air pollution recedes when vehicles and factories are shut down. To keep our world cleaner and cooler, we need government leaders with probity, leaders who are willing to start the process of changing to renewable energy immediately. Even mowing causes air pollution. Just think how many bees would survive if we did not have this passion and penchant for manicured lawns! Henry David Thoreau said, “ Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” [email protected] ©Ann Rains, August 2020
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