Keeping up with the Jones"

   It has been many years since I've had a neighbor that seemed to care what I did.  When I owned my second home my next door neighbor duplicated everything I did.  That included the planting of trees, digging of a drainage ditch, to building a fence.  They had the nicer house with a deck out back while all I had was a utility closet that wasn't big enough for anything except for a few long handled tools.  When I decided to move my hot water heater out of the laundry room to the utility room so I could have a full size washer/dryer I suppose the neighbors had had enough so they sold their house and moved.
  My neighbor across the street isn't exactly like that but he does keep up with me when it comes to mowing the lawn.  Every time I mow, he will mow later that day.  The only difference is I have a riding mower and he has a walk behind.  Sometimes it takes him two days to mow because it gets too dark for him to see.

   I mowed my grass last Monday.  I had gotten behind in my mowing duties due to my surgery recover period of six weeks and it is more than just tall grass.  Weeds took over the flower gardens and vegetable gardens and it is impossible to get a smooth cut on tall grass because the moisture holds the grass flat so it doesn't cut smoothly or evenly .  I got my okay to resume working in the yard on a Monday so I cut my grass the following Tuesday and the first of the week ever since.  
  I prefer to cut my grass on Thursdays  because I'm used to going to swim class M-W-F and I like my yard to look nice for the weekend.
   The week after my vacation I had cut my grass on Monday and when my neighbor got off work he cut his grass also.  Knowing that I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and my wife had one Tuesday and the weather man was calling for some rain on Wednesday I made the decision to mow again on Saturday so if I didn't get to mow this week it would not look so bad the following week.
Again, my neighbor mowed his grass on Saturday as well.  I wondered if it had dawned on him he had mowed twice in one week?
   I'm not complaining about him mowing on the same days I do except that he mows in the evening when everyone is in for the day and having supper, preparing lessons or reading or even watching TV and the noise is distracting.  Even so I'm glad I have a neighbor that takes care of his yard.