Hempology

About one year ago, Crystal and I had a knock-down, drag-out via cell phone regarding the purchase of a new riding lawnmower. To set the stage, however, I think I should jump back even further.

Since moving to the Portland area in 2001, we have lived in (this is fun): Beaverton for six months, Scappoose for a year and a half, Sherwood for two years and downtown (east side) Portland for 10 months. Though we enjoyed our stint as urbanites, the simple life drew us out - west of Newberg - where we purchased some land on which sits a 50+ year old house that has been our home since November of 2005. While I realize two and a half acres is not a great deal of land to a real farmer, having grown up in the 'burbs, it seems like a lot to me.

One of the perks of having so much land is that our neighbors' homes are far enough away that I can yell at our dog, Katie, without disturbing them. I can even take practice golf shots from the backyard without fear of hurting anything (aside from my pride). There is plenty of space to mess around on two wheels. And soon I will be making some calls to start us on the path to viticulture.

However, while having so much land has a great deal of benefits; it doesn't come without a cost. A multi-faceted cost, actually, with layers, levels and forms of payment that will no doubt be recompensed continually for as long as we call this home. Perhaps the most obvious and visible cost being the need to maintain two acres of grassy field.

I'm certainly not complaining about the costs. Without hesitation I can say that we both feel very blessed to own property in such a wonderful place with such amazing views that stop me in my tracks almost daily. However, caring for the land can be a tedious and time consuming exercise. As such, I do all I can to reduce the time, energy and money required to keep it up.

Our first step was to acquire a riding lawnmower. Fortunately, we found out that my wife, Crystal's Grandparents had a riding mower that they were no longer using. Unfortunately, that mower only lasted for a few hours before its engine gave up the ghost. How thankful we were, then, when we discovered that one of our neighbors, a family we know from church, had rebuilt a mower and was selling it. Once again, however, my mechanical ineptitude shone through as the mower was apparently burning most of its oil and seized up on its second use. At that point my frustration with used lawn mowers grew to an unrecoverable level. I was done.

Immediately I began a search for a new mowing implement. I considered Zero Turn Radius (ZTR) mowers, compact tractors with mid-mount mower decks, and even fully-automated robotic mowers. Ultimately, however, all my research and analysis led me to an old farm favorite: John Deere. While the Deere may be more expensive than other brands, they have an impeccable reputation and a huge variety of equipment for every need. Once I discovered the top rated X304 with four-wheel steering and a reasonable price point, I was sold. Now all that was left was to convince Crystal that such a purchase was both feasible and prudent - which is where this post started - with a very lively cell phone discussion as I sat in the parking lot of our local John Deere dealership.

Me: "I found the perfect mower for us, and..."
Crystal: "No."
Me: "it is not the most expensive one..."
Crystal: "No."
Me: "but has all the features we need, including four-wheel steering..."
Crystal: "No."
Me: "which will cut down mowing time a lot."
Crystal: "No."
Me: "I really think you'll like it, and it's affordable!"
Crystal: "How much?"
Me: "$3500"
Crystal: "No."

Convinced that her negative responses were based on a misguided belief that that day was, in fact, "opposite day", I headed in to initiate negotiations, and walked out the door the proud owner of a brand new lawn tractor.

And that brings us to the real reason for writing this post (took a while getting there, I know.) As part of my purchase I included John Deere's "Maintenance Plan Plus" - a $500 (MSRP) investment in my new mower's health, which includes two at-home maintenance services, a third year of extended warranty protection, and free transportation for all warranty services. Honestly, the extra year of warranty coverage and free transportation didn't carry much weight for me, but getting that in addition to two at-home services is clearly a great deal.

Almost a year after our purchase, we recently had the first of two at-home services performed. Here's what they did: 

It was wonderful. I didn't have to take any time off work to haul the mower to the dealer. In fact, I wasn't even home when they came - Crystal is home with Cora so I had her show them to the mower. After that, they drove it up into their truck, performed the service, and returned the mower to our shop. All without leaving our driveway. The value of having these services done for us, without any effort required on our part is immeasurable.

We both really enjoy our John Deere mower. It does an excellent job of tackling our over-grown field, is easy to drive, has plenty of power, and always fires right up. But my favorite part is knowing that someone else is going to maintain it. Now if only I could get them to maintain our cars, as well.