All Dads look forward to this in Spring in Western New York

The warm weather is finally here, albeit not to stay just yet as there is potential for snow again next week.  But lawns are starting to turn green, and soon it will be time for that time-honored ritual of the first mow of the season.

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Now, I am a guy that takes great pride in my lawn.  Every spring and summer, I get a knock on the door, or a flyer in my mailbox begging me to let someone else cut my lawn.  And to that, I say, "Get off of my lawn!"

As far as I am concerned, the fertilizer and mowing companies can take on my neighbors as clients.  I'm a do-it-yourself kind of a guy when it comes to my grass.  That DYI attitude though has presented me with the chore of being the first guy in the neighborhood that needed to mow his lawn. Guess that round of lawn food that I put down in November really paid off.

So I headed out to the shed yesterday, moved the lawn toys and firewood out of the way, and pushed my trusty red riding mower out onto the lush green grass.  I put the key in, turned it in anticipation of the engine firing up,  and.....

The battery was dead.

So I had to push it around to my garage, hook up the trickle charger, and tackle the mow with my walking mower.

But this year, my experience was different than any other.  My daughter who is now 20 months old, is now a walking, running, mimicking machine.  This means this year, I had a brand new helper when it came time to mow the lawn.  As I was pushing the mower through the yard, making sure that my lines would make the grounds crew at Yankee Stadium proud, she would walk her bubble-powered push mower in the opposite direction of daddy.  This went on pass after pass, until we met at the last strip of grass head to head, looking at each other with an approving nod to a job well done.

I've always looked forward to the first mow of the year.  The smell of the fresh-cut grass, and the satisfaction of knowing that my lawn looks better than any other on the street.

Now, I have to add having my little girl out there to help me to the top of that list.