Mowing The Lawn In Luxury
A Rolex on your wrist or a pair of Manolo Blahniks on your feet used to be the ultimate status symbols. But believe it or not, these days a fancy lawnmower in your yard is what you need to keep up with the Joneses.
The Early Show, correspondent Melinda Murphy gives us an eyeful of the best of the best.
Richard Errico is a happy man because his own one-acre lawn is this science teacher's lifelong dream come true.
"I grew up in Brooklyn," he says, "and I always wanted to have a nice piece of land and a garden tractor."
But this isn't your father's garden tractor. Nope. This backyard baron is the proud owner of the John Deere X585, the Porsche of mowers.
Says Errico, "I don't have to pay anyone to do it. My John Deere and I do it."
But it's not really about saving money. This beauty retails for a cool 12,000 bucks. Heck, you could buy a new pickup truck for that.
"Actually, my wife was trying to get rid of the John Deere tractor, but my son said he would be very upset if I did it."
So he really did it for his son and not for himself?
"Well," says Errico, "I did it for both of us."
Aw. Boys and their toys.
The John Deere X585 has a 25 horsepower, twin-cylinder liquid-cooled Kawasaki engine and more than 40 attachments that go with it.
Who buys them? Steve Glickman, who sells these lawn chariots, says, "Two customers buy this: the king of the back yard who has the biggest and the baddest and the best lawnmowers and lawn care tools, or weekend farmers."
You name it, you can add it, even a cell phone, and when all is said and done, you could spend as much as $25,000.
In many ways, these monsters are easier to use than your basic gas-powered mower at Home Depot. But in case you are afraid of falling off, it helps to know about the X585's safeguards, like the seat that knows if someone is in it. So if you do fall off, the tractor won't run you over; when you stand up, it automatically shuts off.
The X585 has lots of other fancy features like front and back halogen headlights and even cruise control.