Thursday Night Mowing League: Sean C. In His League Jersey At AEW, Jon In Key West & Tim G.'s Golden Hour
Thursday Night Commissioner Report:
I was back on the mowing grind last night as the armyworm issue seems to have subsided after I dumped six gallons of a special cocktail on those little bastards. Now comes the reconstruction process to rebuild the turf that was destroyed. All the experts say to get on a watering schedule and the grass will return. The only problem is that we haven't seen rain here at my house in approximately two weeks.
So there I was, hauling the garden hose around the yard to get the job done before losing daylight. As TNML members, we have no choice but to forge on, especially at this house where it's going to be an amazing 85 Saturday afternoon and then well into the 90s on Sunday. I saw people closing up their pools after Labor Day. Uh, this is the best time of year to have the pool open. Are you kidding me? Oregon-Ohio State from the pool. NFL from the pool.
I'm rolling into the weekend with the yard freshly mowed, the armyworms are gone (fingers crossed), and it's going to be blazing hot just how I like it. This is heaven.
Speaking of heaven, we took the kids to cut flowers last weekend so they could run through the field amongst the butterflies. I have to say that it was pretty relaxing to have them leave my wife and I sit at the picnic table as they took off running. Go be kids!
• Dave in Hicksville, OH wants your advice on how he should handle fall leaves on his three-acre property. I bet Beau in Toledo will have some advice. Wasn't he the one who had a jet fuel suggestion? I'll have to look back in the archives:
As we wind down the season here in Ohio let’s talks about leaves. I downsized several years ago from 5 acres with one tree (mowed 3 acres) to 1/3 acre lot surrounded by very old trees on 3 sides of the lot. Needless to say this changes the way I have to attack fall mowing. Usually I like to mulch the leaves with the mower and leave them sit but sometimes the leaves are so deep it will clog the mower or come up over the top of the mower. My lawn goals are making it as easy and fast as possible. I spent years trying to control 3 acres of grass from weeds, moles, and other nefarious pests. Over time they wore me out and won the war. Now I just want the mowing to get done as quickly as possible. I was wondering if you could survey the league for tips and tricks with dealing with an inordinate amount of leaves.
###
Any advice for Dave can be sent to the email and I'll forward it: joekinsey@gmail.com
• Paul in Bethlehem, PA writes:
Threw in for TNML and forced my neighbor into a wet lawn miserable cut ..as he didn’t want to go…after we were done I apologized and he told me no need..when you choose the TNML lifestyle, you have to adjust…so no pics…we’ve had 13 plus inches of rain over last 2 weeks or so…
###
Thank you to all of you who send in reports and continue to support TNML. I'm constantly surprised by how much care you put into the reports and how you take your time to make it one of the great projects going on the Internet. Keep it up. The first freeze will be here before you know it. Enjoy the final few weeks we have left.
Thursday Night Mowing League Member Reports:
There have been TNML MVP moments and then there's this from Sean C. in Granger, IN. The guy has been with us since his first email back on May 20 and rarely misses a league night. A nuclear bomb could be dropped on the United States and I'd still receive a mowing update from Sean. That's just how dedicated he is to this project. So imagine how happy I was today when I opened his latest email and there he is at an AEW event wearing his league jersey. What a moment. It has me speechless.
Sean writes:
Well, I was up against it this week. I finally finished cleaning up from the aftermath of my Labor Day Weekend Party, and I’m getting ready to head to Vegas for a work conference tomorrow for a week. So TNML or not, the lawn needed to be mowed tonight. But almost out of nowhere, I noticed these dead spots popping up. I wonder if I’m getting some of those worms people have gotten this summer. So I’ll have some work to do upon my return.
On another note, I’m glad the topic of when and where to wear your TNML gear came up last week. I’ve been wearing my shirt in town and out of town, as I want to spread the word and generate conversations. I’ve worn it twice to Chicago over the last couple of weeks. Once was to an AEW Wrestling event on Sept 1st. I know (OutKick writers) Bobby Burack and Matt Loede have written about pro wrestling before, but I couldn’t remember if you were a fan. I grew up with it in the ’80s, went away for a while, came back during the “Monday Night Wars” in the late ’90s, then only watched periodically for the better part of the last 20 years.
But I have been drawn back into it by AEW over the last couple of years. I secured some camera-friendly seats for last Wednesday’s show, and even though the pics below aren’t super clear, I was able to get some exposure for the TNML to a live TNT audience at least for one night. They also taped a YouTube show that same night, where the crowd wasn’t as intense, so there were some clearer shots of the shirt.
Indy Daryl is back home after his big hiking expedition with the guys and he's back to thinking about beer and mowing. He wants to know about beer seasonal sponsors. At this point, I cannot comment on sponsors. Hopefully there will be more I can say in the very near future:
Good evening and happy start of the NFL season! Finished up my mowing duties tonight and as I was mowing I had an idea for the beer sponsor of TMNL: instead of just one, I think we should have seasonal sponsors. Drinking after the first mow in April requires a different brew than the dog days of July and August or the starting to cool down days of September. To that end, I nominate Indianapolis’ own Sun King Wee Mac Scottish Ale as the official TMNL September/Early Fall brew. A beer light enough to handle the last hot days, but malty enough to handle the trees starting to change color and some cooler evenings.
Here’s to my Denver Broncos being mediocre once again! Happy Thursday and to all a good night.
Mike in Eagle, Idaho is just living the life. He's in his early 60s, has a beautiful yard, has a massive fire pit, a great house, and what comes across as a great life in Idaho. Then out of nowhere, he starts firing off iPhone pics that look like paintings. This is exactly what I was talking about when I asked readers to submit out-of-the-way places in the U.S. that this community needs to know about.
Mike is excused for missing league night.
Greetings from Eagle Idaho. We’ve been experiencing a small heatwave here, highs are normally low 80’s and it’s been in the lower 90’s. Very nice.
So my wife and I decided to take our annual Fall trip up over the Rockies, into the Sawtooth National Wilderness area. Specifically, Stanley, Red Fish Lake, and into Ketchum and Sun Valley. Beautiful drive, a little smoky from the Northern California fires, but still staggering!
Sorry I missed mowing, but we had a great picnic and really enjoyed the views. Traffic was light, a real plus.
Sawtooth mountains outside Stanley Idaho, elevation 11,000 ft above sea level!
Red Fish Lake, home of the Idaho salmon run
Sawtooths from outside Stanley, Idaho
Candler in Duluth, GA has been documenting the TNML action in his neighborhood and I'll just go ahead and say it -- Candler is really good at these reports. Like really, really good. He's even getting quotes from one neighbor's wife, Abby. At this point, Candler's a beat reporter. I'll need him to get a quote from Abby on her mowing shoes. Those look so white. Perfect white shoes. Did she sacrifice walking shoes too early to the mowing game? I need quotes, Candler!
Joe- This middle school football season is really hurting my mowing schedule. My sons had another Thursday night game, but this week I planned ahead and got a Wednesday night mow in. It definitely didn’t have the same feel as mowing with your teammates across the country on Thursday, but it’s light years ahead of a Saturday mow. And I can’t be upset with the middle school football schedule makers. They’re really just taking a page out of the TNML handbook. Nobody and I mean not even the players, wants to be at a middle school football game on a Saturday afternoon when you should be watching college football. Get your games in on Thursday nights and then your Saturday is free. It’s a smart plan that I fully support.
Last week you may remember that I introduced some new TNML recruits. I wanted to give an update on Robert who, with the blessing of the Commissioner, skipped the TMNL to celebrate his wife’s birthday. It was definitely the right call. As you said last week, “happy wife, happy life.” Robert pulled off the birthday with flying colors and got back on schedule this week with a Thursday night mow. This is a real quote from his wife Abby:
“In my head I didn’t want Robert to skip Thursday Night Mowing League in just his second week, but in my heart I did. Robert skipping the TNML to celebrate my birthday was the start to the best weekend of the year. I’m glad the Commissioner sided with Robert on this one because he definitely doesn’t want that smoke! Go Dawgs!”
It looks like Robert even got a little help from Abby in the yard this week. Robert’s gonna have to contact Maxx ASAP and get that girl a t-shirt!
I don’t know what everybody else around the world is doing this weekend, but here in the USA we’ll be watching college and NFL football and admiring our freshly cut lawns. America, baby!
Tim G. in Ohio is the king of sending in golden hour photos. I'm talking about that hour of the day where you've put in the work, calm has set in and another day is in the books. But there's a big plot twist in this week's photos -- he has chickens! After all these weeks I learn that Tim has himself a little farm going on and now his golden hour photos have taken the next step. Here I thought my Ohio patio was peaceful. Then Tim comes off the top rope with this:
Another strong 4” cut with the EXMark on the yard. Mowed the chicken run at 5” (I only mow the chicken run every other time in summer and fall / just like the field part of our property). I had a little help tonight from the girls, as you can see.
We got my Dad’s yard cleared after the storm in southern Michigan and he’s up and mowing again! He’s gonna join the TNML for the stretch drive but after he and Mom go on a 2-week trip out west to Wyoming and Montana. God Bless em - 78 years young and going strong :)
Beau in Toledo writes:
The Cleome's are 5 ft tall and in full bloom; got the Maumee Lawn mowed and sprayed for bugs today. 'Lil Woman hates the (lack of) work from a certain lawn car service out of a certain Southern area of LuCo (sorry, Joe; they ain't impressing me anymore).
"They're bugs, Wyatt. All that talk about live and let live. They're ain't no live and let live with bugs."
Yeah, guess which movie is in my Top 5 Remote Drop set.
Anywhos, drained some rain barrels into the planters (#TNML Member recommendation shows: LIFE BELOW ZERO and PORT PROTECTION ALASKA; the stuff You'll learn!) and gonna shower (you don't wanna watch that, but they're WILL be #ShowerBeers!) and hit the bed early... got 3 more lawns tomorrow and OT work on the JobbyJob at 6 a.m. Saturday
Be Well #TNML Brothers and Sisters!!
Speaking of golden hour photos, look at the sky Mother Nature dialed up for Ryan S. in NW Ohio:
HAPPY THURSDAY
First off, my sincerest apologies for your armyworm dilemma. It doesn’t seem right that the commish of such a prestigious league should have to suffer through that. On the flip side, the anticipation of putting down new seed, watching it grow and starting off the spring with 4” mows must be exciting.
For a moment today, I didn’t think I would be able to participate tonight. But, I was okay with it, after all one of my little rockstars had a soccer game that I wouldn’t miss.
The evening ended perfectly, she and her team won and the fam and I got home just in time. I had about 30 minutes to give the backyard a fresh cut. Finished just after the sun went down and capped off the night with a trusty Coors Light.
Paul B. sent a very important email Thursday because it addresses the Name, Image, Likeness subject that has changed the collegiate landscape. Paul is promoting his son as a possible TNML NIL target. I think we should start by hiring Paul's son to be an honorary starter. That would be the logical move here. I'll have to create some copy for Paul Jr. to read and he can help fire up the engines.
I had a thought about getting young talent lined up for the future TNML. As we know moving from college to the professional league is a dream of every young athlete and once Paul “Isaiah “ Brown finishes his small college career at the University of Valley Forge, he can be a top draft choice. He is a two-sport athlete (basketball and volleyball) in college and with his mowing prowess, a three-sport athlete. He has mowed in Mesa, Arizona since he was 12.
He has mowed in temperatures in excess of 115 degrees as well as the arduous task of preparation mows for the winter grass transition. Isaiah has also mowed in Augusta, Ohio for the Brown, Turnipseed, and Kinsey family as well as Elizabethton, Tennessee for the Nave and Treadway families. He recently has become even more inspired as the family acquired a German shepherd in a supplemental draft who loves soccer. So this young man trims and mows to exact specifications so the soccer ball moves at a quick pace as Alaskas’ speed, quickness, and anticipation have increased with her age. I know he would be honored and a great ambassador for TNML and OutKick sports through NIL.
I had a few other ideas like a TNML Hall of Fame and I would submit Frank Giaccio the 11-year-old young man who mowed the White House Lawn for former President Trump. Rodney Smith Jr. from Huntsville, Alabama who travels around mowing lawns for free and started Raising Men Lawn Care Service encouraging kids 7-17 to go out and help others through free lawn care. I also thought a young mentorship page or minor league to show off future TNML young prospects.
I have really enjoyed the TNML pictures, stories, and marvel at the great lawn care by the members. I salute you all and look forward to many more great TNML years!
Doug J. in Omaha mixed in some football, travel and root beer for this week's report. Good stuff.
Hey TNML! Last week I had to call an audible since the military had something for me to do all day last Thursday. Thanks to Labor Day weekend we had Friday off, so I got an early morning start and knocked out the stripes. This set us up to make the 3 1/2 hour drive from Omaha to Iowa City last Sat. My 2 daughters and wife weren't that excited when I woke them up at 5:30 am to hit the road for the Iowa vs Indiana game. I didn't go to IU but I grew up in Indiana and was excited to see the Hoosiers play after the great year they had last year. Plus I, like many others was pumped to be in a stadium again! My wife found the Hamburg Inn No. 2 to stop for brunch and they sat us at the Ronald Reagan table.
This place is fantastic and our waitress was amazing. This was a first trip to Kinnick Stadium and the Hawkeyes were putting on a pretty awesome tailgate/party. Everyone was kind except a few frat boys. We got to the stadium as the gates opened and the girls were amazed by the great seats and how big these guys are up close. Great showing by the Iowa fans, the stadium was packed and ready to rock. IU was not. Rough game for the Hoosiers. The highlight was the Iowa Wave to the children in the Children's Hospital windows after the 1st quarter. The wife, daughters and I all loved that tradition. Even both teams took a minute to wave to the kids. Excellent and classy tradition, Hawkeyes. Thanks for beating the Hoosiers up so we could get back to Omaha much earlier than planned.
Got back on the saddle early this evening and knocked out the stripes to get back on League night The temps were much cooler and the mowing went quick. Topped it off today with some 1919 Root Beer! Ready for the weekend and some more college football! Time to go ride some mountain bike trails with my daughter, and yes there are some mountain bike trails in Omaha. It isn't CO, but we make do with what we got.
Robert S. in North Carolina got a mow in while living the latte lifestyle. Love to see it:
Adam F. got a mow in before the huge battle of Iowa consumes all of his time today and tomorrow...he also includes a pic of a mole that won't be bothering him this weekend:
We just got a quick mow in this evening before 9U softball practice tonight. The grass is starting to green up again in central Iowa after a much-needed two inches we got a week ago. It’s been a while since my last post but with all the folks dealing with pests in the lawns I thought I would share mine. I’ve always had a small issue with moles, living next to a creek, but this year has been especially bad for whatever reason. I have six of the yard destroyers so far this season and haven’t seen any new runs in over a week. Anyway, I love your work and keep it up! The screencaps are a must-go to for me every morning. Go Hawkeyes!!
