Mowing

Taming the monster mower Are you a turf terrorist? You know who you are. Sure, the grass in your front yard looks lush and green right now, but in your hands, it'll be dead by the Fourth of July. It's not that you want to wipe out every blade. It's just that you treat the lawn mower like a horticulturally lethal weapon. How can you be stopped before you kill again? Dr. Trey Rogers, an associate professor of turf grass science at Michigan State University, suggests you stop worrying about fertilizer and sprinklers and think more about how you mow. "Seventy percent of the problems we have with lawns are directly or indirectly related to the way homeowners mow," says Rogers, a consultant to Briggs & Stratton, a manufacturer of lawn mower engines.

The secrets of saving boil down to three basic principles and an attitude. Here are the principles to use: You won't miss money you don't see. Small amounts add up to big amounts over time. If you lived without it before, you can live without it now. The attitude: Make savings a fun game and play to win. I've garnered these conclusions from the many ideas you keep sending for saving and building an emergency fund. As part of its "America Saves" campaign, the Consumer Federation of America has invited readers to submit savings tips (e-mail Nancy Register at nregisterconsumerfed.

Fitness can be as close as your own backyard. Who needs gym memberships and Bowflex machines when you have a yard to take care of? Lawn and garden work -- activities such a digging, planting and mowing -- can work the heart and other muscles just as effectively as more traditional forms of aerobic exercise, say members of the University of Akron's sport-science and wellness-education department. In some cases, yardwork is even more effective, said Ronald Otterstetter, an assistant professor who specializes in exercise physiology.

To help quell the low-grade panic that has arisen in our burg as a result of the Orioles' dull start in 1991, pushed anew no doubt by yesterday's news that Glenn Davis has a pain in the neck, here is a list of just some of the things that will occur before the long season ends:Mother's Day.Memorial Day.Several dozen "business" trips by John Sununu.Father's Day.Independence Day.Arena football!The Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.The U.S. Opens (golf and tennis).Labor Day.A Redskins-Cowboys game.

Havre de Grace.-- When I was at college in New England, I used to get especially homesick in October and in May. These are the two best months in Maryland, it seemed to me, and I didn't like not being around for them.Now, with the wisdom of age, I realize that while I was right about October I was dead wrong about May. If I had known what May was really like in these parts, I would have stopped mooning about it and enjoyed being where I was. In New England, May is manageable. Here it is maddening.

Raking and disposing of leaves is the one simple garden chore most likely to start an argument in our house. Can't I just mow the leaves without bothering to pick them up? My wife thinks the leaves look terrible on the lawn and will kill the grass.This is a classic yardwork marriage-buster. The answer depends on the number of leaves that fall on your lawn. If after mowing the grass you can still see most of your grass, then it would be OK to leave them. If the leaves completely cover the grass blades after they're mowed, however, your turf could be damaged.

Inmate road crews are strictly supervised YOU'VE PROBABLY seen them many times: inmates in orange vests working along the side of the road, a big yellow State Highway Administration work truck nearby. Chances are, a white inmate van isn't far away. Chris Pollard recently noticed inmates mowing and weed whacking along Route 103 in Ellicott City near residential areas. He wondered at the proximity of the inmates to the homes nearby. I checked with David Buck, SHA Office of Communications media relations manager, who confirmed that inmates from pre-release centers are used.

Moe died last week, and it's my fault. I drove him to his grave which, in Moe's case, was the local dump.There, I tossed his lifeless body onto the junk pile after removing a few of Moe's useful body parts, like the wheels, deck and spark plug.Lawn mowers make good organ donors, and Moe was no exception.I sold everything but the spark plug, Moe's heart, which I saved as a keepsake and placed in a jar in the garden shed.Moe was one of a kind.A cranky old power mower, he could be noisy and stubborn and gassy at times.

In the end, James Leard's lawn may end up costing a whole lot of green. In a civil case pending in Howard County District Court, the Glenwood resident is appealing a $1,040 judgment against him that was awarded this year to Marathon Mowing. What started as a simple contract between Leard and Ken Miller, owner of the Glenelg-based landscaping company, has turned into a battle of wills, with accusations of shoddy work and threatened violence being flung back and forth. "It's really kind of a drag for everyone involved," Leard said.

To toughen the town's ban on outdoor water use, Manchester officials have eliminated the practice of issuing warnings and plan to increase fines for violators from $25 to $100 and higher. Because $25 isn't what it was 14 years ago, when the fine was set, people might fill their pools, pay the penalty - and still finish ahead, said Steven L. Miller, Manchester's director of public works. At his urging, the Town Council abolished the practice Tuesday of issuing warnings and will draft an ordinance to increase the penalty.