Pickle ball? Ever heard of it? It’s a variation of tennis played indoors. Perry Atkinson is an avid player. In fact, when not overseeing his $1.6 million company, he likely can be found on court, honing his hand-eye coordination.

"I’m not ashamed to say I only work about 20 hours a week now," says the owner of 4-A Landscape & Irrigation in Bend, Oregon. "I’ve never been a workaholic."

Do you have a brand? We're not simply talking about having a creative logo, a catchy tagline, or trucks and uniforms all the same color. No, we're talking about something that truly identifies your company, sets it apart from competition, and hopefully attracts smart, hard-working people to be part of your team.

"There’s a reason you see so many Walker Mowers on trailers around here and why we have three of them," says Paul Isaacson, sexton for the Wendell, Idaho, cemetery. "They live a long life. In fact, we recently sold one of ours that had 8,000 hours on it to a homeowner for $1,500. He figured it would last him forever mowing once a week.

In this issue learn about the new Walker H38i big block mower, our 2017 calendar contest with $2,500 up for prizes, and get a free copy of our latest brochure.

Sometimes things happen in patterns. This last August, within two weeks of each other, we had two 11-year-old boys and their families come to our factory for a visit and a factory tour. One was from Alabama and the other from Pennsylvania. Given a choice on other adventures they might have had, both told their parents they wanted to come to Colorado to visit the Walker factory.