{"id":107001,"date":"2025-07-17T07:06:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T11:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=107001"},"modified":"2025-07-17T07:06:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T11:06:43","slug":"the-old-coot-teaches-etiquette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/17\/the-old-coot-teaches-etiquette\/","title":{"rendered":"The Old Coot teaches etiquette"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By Merlin Lessler &#8212;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This is Old Coot article # 1,138. It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve written about lawn care etiquette. But the time has come.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Etiquette #1. I bring home chunks of wadded up, soggy, freshly mown grass about every time I take a stroll through town. From people who spew lawn clippings all over the sidewalk and leave them there! All it takes is to run the mower down the sidewalk and back \u2013 Presto! No grass left to be tracked home by the rest of us.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Etiquette #2. Stop! Hold your horses for a few short moments when you are mowing anywhere near someone on the sidewalk. That rotating blade is a lethal, projectile launching machine. My neighbor had her shoulder blown apart from a piece of bone a dog left on the lawn; it was hurled from a mower her husband was operating thirty feet from her.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Dog bone, rock, tree root, it could be anything hidden in the grass. The tip of that mower is a powerhouse, with a tip speed of 130 to 270 miles per hour. It\u2019s a serious threat to someone walking by or a child playing in the yard. So, when someone is near, take a pause, stand still. You don\u2019t even have to shut off your mower. Do the same thing with a leaf blower. You\u2019ll almost always get a thank you wave from a sidewalk traveler.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Etiquette # 3. Mow before your yard looks like a cow pasture. Enough said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Etiquette #4. Every once in a while, take a look at those shrubs growing alongside your sidewalk, to see if the branches project into the walking space. If you don\u2019t, they will infringe into the pedestrian lane. It\u2019s no fun pawing through shrubs and branches and getting a slap in the face or a sharp stick in the eye. I\u2019ve trimmed a few bushes that were out of control for months that the owner never did anything about. I\u2019ve had one sharp stick in the eye; I don\u2019t ever want to go through that again. And I don\u2019t want to carry snippers with me when I take a walk.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In summary, blow the grass off the sidewalk \u2013 stop when people are near \u2013 don\u2019t create a cow pasture \u2013 trim the shrubs. It\u2019s just plain, simple lawn care etiquette.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Send comments or complaints to the paper or to <a href=\"mailto:mlessler7@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mlessler7@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Merlin Lessler &#8212;&nbsp; This is Old Coot article # 1,138. It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve written about lawn care etiquette. But the time has&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":82349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Old Coot teaches etiquette - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/07\/17\/the-old-coot-teaches-etiquette\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Old Coot teaches etiquette - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Merlin Lessler &#8212;&nbsp; This is Old Coot article # 1,138. 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