I love green grass; always have.

It’s terrific for playing catch, wiffle ball, touch football, etc., and for having fun with the dogs; the color, btw, provides an especially attractive contrast for the copper color of my golden retriever Ruby’s coat.

Believe it or not, I also enjoy mowing it; I mean, it’s not my favorite thing to do, but it does have its redeeming qualities, which is nice because cutting our lawn is a two-hour job with my motorized but not self-propelled Snapper.

First off, it’s an excuse to listen to music. I never mow without my iPod and honestly can barely comprehend how I ever mowed in the pre-iPod era.

Second, it’s an opportunity for exercise. I’m not what you’d call a fitness nut, but I do like to avoid that gone-to-seed look, and shoving the mower around helps with that.

Lastly and most importantly, it’s a chance to think. Yes, I have rock and roll coursing through my earbuds, but I’m still plenty able to let my mind try to sort out whatever thoughts may have come its way that day or, in some cases, prior days.

Really, mowing may be the best of my three main methods of clearing my head. The others are running, which I don’t do all that often because it’s not that much fun (though I will definitely train for and enter next spring’s CARDV benefit race again) and motorcycling (during which you can’t let your mind drift too much, lest the bike also drift, like in front of a log truck).

So even though I reserve the right to grumble about mowing if there are things I’d rather do, or to try to get someone else to do it on occasion — I think I’ve succeeded with that about seven times in my adult life –really, it’s just another worthwhile activity on the greensward.