Government Lawn Mowers

The purpose of today’s post happens to be more of a observation Patrick and I have made which compares and contrasts our old life to our new one.

When we lived in Minneapolis as owners of a house in the city, we were required by law to maintain our front sidewalk and gutter area. This meant mowing in the summer and shoveling in the winter and ensuring none of the lawn clippings, snow, or other debris ended up in the gutters. As a matter of fact, after living there a few years, the city started charging us (everyone) a city sewer few based on the size of our driveway (this was separate from our typical sewer usage few) to cover the expenditure of added debris in the sewer system. How rude!

In Big Lake, we lived in a subdivision without sidewalks or extra fees.

This morning we Patrick and I heard a loud whirring noise (like a chainsaw) coming from the area of our lower house. We headed up to the balcony to take a look. From that vantage point we could see four city workers with weed eaters cutting down everything and anything in site. This is the third time they have been in our neighborhood trimming our front drive. At first I thought it seemed crazy that the city does this for us, but I’m starting to warm to the idea. If they charge us for this service, I have yet to see the bill.

We have paid our taxes for the year and I’ll try to remember to cover that in a later post.