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A comment on What Comes After the Roomba?. Parent comment

Re:What Comes After the Roomba? by keiferski on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @04:36PM (#18296117)
Only speaking personally, but I actually enjoy cutting the grass. It’s a sort of zen-like pattern game. I feel like this is a common sentiment.

Sweeping and vacuuming, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as interesting.

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Re:What Comes After the Roomba? by KineticLensman on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @06:16PM (#18296946)
I'm also in the Zen camp for lawn mowing. It's an hour or so of nice exercise, pushing the machine. I also experiment with patterns that minimise the number of turns, etc.

20 years ago, when I bought my Atco Balmoral lawnmower, the user guide said 'change the oil every 25 cuts'. So I started a small logbook to count the cuts. Now, even though I'm on a newer machine, I have 20 years worth of grass cutting data. Recently I digitised it and cross-referenced it with some local climate records. I proved to myself that in years when it rains more, the grass gets cut more. I wish I'd started logging my use of the BBQ at the same time.

I've also integrated grass cutting with leaf management, to get good mulch. One day perhaps I should blog about my overall compost management strategy.

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Re:What Comes After the Roomba? by NikolaNovak on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @05:03PM (#18296362)
It's an extremely personal preference,and people seem to be on the extremes. I know people who absolutely enjoy mowing the lawn, find it relaxing and zen.

For myself, every second I mow the lawn (shovel snow, etc) is a moment of my finite life forever lost :<

I suspect it _may_ be related to growing up in condos/apartments until a few years ago, and having my residence historically be a "low-maintenance base of operations" from which I do fun/interesting things; and not a "black hole of maintenance and cleanup where I spend all my time & money" that a house now seems to be :P

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Re:What Comes After the Roomba? by rhodysurf on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @04:49PM (#18296240)
I didn't understand this feeling until I owned my own house, but I feel the same now. Mowing the lawn is one of those chores you can lose your mind in and I always feel better when I finish the task.
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Re:What Comes After the Roomba? by kaybe on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @06:37PM (#18297066)
Vacuuming is good when you've waited too long and can really really see the difference it makes (not just a little).
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Re:What Comes After the Roomba? by udkyo on Thursday October 25, 2018 @03:35AM (#18299156)
Having a vacuum cleaner that's not a complete PITA helps too (e.g. light, cordless and powerful)

I don't enjoy any housework and used to use a robot vacuum cleaner more or less exclusively, but it can't have been off its dock more than twice in the last 6 months. I actually enjoy doing it myself when I don't have to lug around a big heavy device with a power cord trailing out of it. Never thought I'd see the day.

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