Here in the southeast area of the US, Spring is ready to start. That means I need to get out my lawn mower and give it a good going over to be sure it’s ready to start all my lawn care chores again. I like to get my young son involved in the operation because he’s about the right age to learn how to check the oil and spark plug.

Now you might think I’m a dad writing this, but no – I’m a mom. But the yard work are all mine – by choice. Spring lawn care is really essential because it sets the tone of how my grass will do once the summer heat and humidity get moving.

But back to my mower. Usually the first time I mow in the Spring is to cut down the weeds that have gotten a bit beside themselves. They usually grow faster than the grass this time of year, so I cut them down before they go to seed. Last year, I got the brilliant idea to mow one day when it was a little chilly and just about to rain.

Having sat in the shed for the earlier four months, my mower just wasn’t interested in starting for me. Usually, I put it on the south side of my house in the sun for an hour before I need to start it up the first time. It gets nice and warm and will start within a couple of pulls. But last year, there was no sun to be found. In fact, it started drizzling on me while I was pulling the cord.. and pulling and pulling.

Frustrated and breathing hard, I decided to think it through instead of seeing if I could give myself a heart attack. I merely needed to get that engine warm. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a super-easy solution – my hair dryer. I plugged it into the garage wall socket, parked the mower next to it and flipped the switch.

After I spent a few minutes of blowing the dryer on my mower, I decided to test out my theory about the ‘warm’ engine. First pull had that baby purring like, well, like a loud lawn mower. What do ya know? Every once in a while I come up with a really nice, simple solution.