Oops

This is an unintentional selfie. I guess I knew I was going to be in the image but that was not my intention. This morning as I was doing my daily routine of pumping my hand bike I noticed a little commotion across the driveway under “my” tree. The new reader must understand I've adopted a tree on the other side of the drive to the back parking in my apartment. The tree resides on city/County land a park. I glanced up and saw one of the ruddy lawnmowers that park maintenance guys like to see him around on. I knew today was a grass cutting day because of all the noise and that's okay I had my tablet on and was listening to whatever the noon show is. I often listen the Fresh Air which usually airs at 1 PM here in Salt Lake. Anyway, I look up and the lawnmower looks like it's wedged between the fence and the lawn. And sure enough that was the case. It's not like I was waiting for this to happen but I always wondered every time I saw these guys/kids zooming around on these industrial lawnmowers what happens when they get out of control?

The incident was not dramatic or tragic. There is no staff personnel flying feet overhead like a drawing from the Sunday comics. Something that happened and the lawnmower casually slid down the side of the hill and lodged between the fence in the hill. Part of the cacophony I heard was the poor lad trying to power himself out of his predicament. He of course, with the more power he used revving his engine and pop in the clutch was only getting him deeper and deeper in the wedge. Finally, I saw defeat in his body language as he pulled himself out of the pilot seat and walked away. I hadn't really started my regimen yet been thought to myself if I don't take a picture of this I will regret my action or inaction. So I am strapped my gloves reposition my legs and grabbed my camera and took off out the back door turning the corner to see the lad had returned with an elder maintenance guy, someone who'd been around the block a couple times. I initially thought about taking the image from my bedroom window or even from the patio that I thought instead venture on to the sidewalk or even better the driveway right in front of the tree. They wished I had acted sooner when there is nobody in the area especially on the lawnmower but now there was. In fact, I heard the kid may comment that “hey there's one of the guys from the apartment complex…” I pretended not to hear them sure the thought I was deaf anyway. I took some innocuous images of the building in the parking lot. I took images like I was taking purposeful images of my apartment – – which I was. That was when I got the idea for to take a selfie I could incorporate the troubled equipment in the background. I didn't feel as being too covert but I did think I was pretty clever.

I went back to my hand pumping and in the few minutes I noticed a nondescript white utility truck that was obviously a county vehicle coming up alongside the wedged lawnmower. Obviously, it was the old guy, probably the foreman of the they call them these days “field manager”. He was the guy who knew how to do the problem-solving as he was older than everybody else haven't seen it all and sure enough in less than five minutes he had the lawnmower hooked up to the back of the truck and he gently pulled forward in the lawnmower was free. The kid whose job it was to mow lawn walked back to his grass covered steed and his supervisor walked around the truck shaking his head and pulled himself in the cab of the truck and headed back to the shop…