Hello! My name is Tyler Mower. I am an aspiring author who hopes that my creativity can bring a piece of enjoyment to the world. From fictional stories to historical non-fictions I hope to ignite imagination, shed light upon areas and people we know little about, and create uplifting literature for all to read.

This article is not about my stories, but rather about myself in case you are curious about who I am. I hope you enjoy. First I have to have a little fun with my own name: Tyler Mower.

A Joke in a Name

I have a last name of which I am proud despite the populace’s constant mispronouncement of my surname. It has been suggested, by countless people, that I should name my child Lon. Indeed the comedians of nomenclature have often swapped my given name, Tyler, and replaced it with Lawn as well. Both jokes are as intriguing to me as the question, “How tall are you?” is to anyone over 6.3. Coming in at 5.9, I am grateful I do not have to answer height questions.

If you think about it, the lawn industry is what has soiled the pronouncement of my last name. Just try this little experiment. Read the following sentence out loud, which word sounds amiss?

Stepping out of the shower in her lofty tower, the princess looked down on the castle garden and saw the powerful lawn mower cutting diagonals in the grass next to the colorful beds of flowers.

To be fare, you could also read: The widower was slower than the baseball thrower who dogged the lawn mower. But that sentence may insinuate a gruesome outcome. English, it’s a constant rule breaker - words with the same ending coming in with different pronunciation.

The Facts of Tyler

Tyler, meaning Tile Maker, is my given name. No I do not make tiles, however, my wife and myself along with my father tiled the whole ground floor of our townhome. Tiling is an art form. I now have a deeper respect for those who have mastered this skill. Kings to you. I believe we did our floor justice, though not every tile is perfectly level. I’m very pleased that we got all the tiles laid down straight.

Another experience I had with tiles is I helped remove tile from many homes in Brazil. During one such project the owner of the home said, “You know if the tiler did the job right because the tile comes out shattered.” Ninety percent of all tile we removed came out in whole squares. Apparently whoever installed it did a poor job.

With those tiling experiences I feel I am doing the definition of my name some justice.

Tyler is listed as a neutral name. I was sure I had a solid, 100%, no girls allowed boys name until I came across a female named Tyler when I was in college. I was working at an improv comedy club and was letting those who had reservations in. I had a clipboard with all the reservation names and as people approached the front door they would say their name, I would find it on the list, cross it off, stamp their hands, and let them in. At one point a lovely woman and her date stepped up and she said, “Two under Tyler.”

It was not odd for any member of a party to declare the name under which their reservation was labeled, however they almost always did so by mentioning the last name. Only those who made the reservation ever said the first name. I was taken aback and looked at her and then at her date questioning with my eyes if he was Tyler. The guy looked at his date, and the woman said, “My name is Tyler, I’m on the reservation list.” I said, “My name is Tyler. You are the first female I’ve met with the same name.” She smiled. I stamped their hands and let them in. Turns out a name I was sure was completely masculine is not. Since, she did pronounce Tyler so eloquently I guess it’s cool to have a neutral name.

The Facts of Mower

My patriarchal ancestry hails from Germany. Then the surname was spelt Maurer. Go back 8 greats and you’ll find my first Mower ancestor who left his hometown to cross the sea and start a new life in colony of Pennsylvania. It wasn’t until the Revolutionary War, roughly forty years later, perhaps to distance themselves from association with the Hessian troops, that my ancestors changed their last name from Maurer to Mower.

Originally, Maurer was an occupational name that denoted a builder of walls, specifically by means of stone or brick. According to the Dictionary of American Family Names it is said that in the middle ages dwellings were usually built of wood or plaster, and a Maurer denoted someone building castles, churches, other public buildings, or the defensive walls to protect such important edifices. Kaching, that’s solid work and a good last name. Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that sand castle defensive systems is my speciality and favorite activity when at the beach. I can spend all day building walls, castles, and towers. Though mine only stand the test of the next high tide, whereas the work of my ancestors may still be standing hundreds of years later.

Questions & Answers by Tyler Mower

This section is meant to be fun and interactive. If you have an appropriate question please add it to the comments below and I’ll do my best to add it here!

What is your favorite color?

That would depend on the time of year you ask pose the question. Durning winter, my favorite color is most definitely snow-white. It glistens, sparkles, is brilliant white in the sunshine, is a soft blue in the shade, and can go bright reds, yellows, oranges, and pinks during sunset and sunrise. Ask me in August and it will be what I call Icelandic Green, a vibrant almost florescent green found in the mosses that cover the ancient lava flows in that beautiful country. My closet would suggest that Blue is my favorite color in a variety of shades.

What do you do for fun?

I love the outdoors. I am an avid hiker and am always on the lookout for a new trail to explore. When I travel, one of the first things I research in the area where I am going is if there are any good hikes to enjoy. The trails I seek are often paved, single tracks, a scramble, or from time to time an adventurous bushwhack. Anything that gets me surrounded by nature is fine by me.

Skiing is another love of my life. My parents took me to ski for the first time when I was about four. I moaned and whined as soon as they put ski boots on me. So dramatic were my cries and such a scene made that my parents questioned if they should take a loss with the ski rentals they got me and just take me home. The decision was made to give me at least one run and see what happened. They could not get me off the slopes. One of my parents favorite stories today to quoting what I told my dad later that first day when he stopped to take a picture, “Come on dad, you’s wasting ours time!” Steep and deep, groomers, moguls, tree runs it is all epic and fun. The only conditions I don’t enjoy are ice sheets and wind.

What is your favorite movie?

How about my top four. Coming in fourth place and just off the winner podium is Disney’s Miracle the one about the 1980 US Olympic hockey team. What a superb motivational movie. I can watch it anytime.

Taking the bronze medal is The Last Samurai. Yep, the one with Tom Cruise. It is the only movie that I watched for the first time on DVD and then immediately watched it again with the director commentary. It has such a beautiful message about slowing down in life, seeking perfection in the way you contribute to your community, finding personal peace, and standing up for what is right. The quote at the from emperor, hmmmmm. Pure wisdom. I can watch this one anytime.

Second place and the silver medal goes to the 2002 version of The Count of Monte Cristo. What a perfect blend of the novel by Alexandre Dumas and creative adaption for film. I can watch this film anytime. This one was my number one movie for eight years, but then was dethroned by the current gold winner.

In first place is the brilliant work of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Wowzers. Creativity on an epic scale. I have never seen a movie end that caused such a dramatic gasp from the audience followed with exclamations of, “What!” “What just happened?” I ended up watching this movie every month for over a year. I would happily sit down with a bucket of popcorn and watch this anytime. PS, the movie script is just as enthralling.

What is your best meal you can make?

Most people would say my homemade popcorn. None of that wanna be microwave popcorn. I use a turn popper, melt the butter, and salt to perfection. It’s simple, but I’ve yet to experience someone try it and then not go back, and back, and back for more.

After popcorn, I would say grilled salmon, lemon rice, and steamed vegetables probably stands as the best meal I can make. There are three versions of salmon that I enjoy making: cracked pepper, lemon zest, or brown sugar.

What is your favorite travel destination?

This one is like asking do you prefer beaches or mountains? My answer is yes, I require both. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity travel to various corners of our lovely Earth. My parents made sure to save funds to provide our family at least a week long family vacation every summer. It was our tradition to go somewhere new each year. Over the years we did return to places we had been before, but for the most part we were explorers seeking out new things to discover. As a result I grew up enjoying a diversity of travel options: theme parks, national parks, cultural centers, museums, historical sites, and long drives cross country. We only ever flew once.

Since those blissful days, I have kept that fire for discovery alive. I prefer to go where I have not gone before, but should I go back I will hit what I consider the highlights and then go see what else there is to find that I had not found before.

Some of my favorite destinations have been:

Ireland, where my wife and I took my parents on a counter-clockwise road trip around the entire beautiful island. It was a vacation of miracles. So many things worked out in ways that are too wonderful to explain. One, is that it did not rain on us the entire trip. The weather was “Irish wet” the week before we arrived, and much like a monsoon the week after we left, but while we were there sunny and delightful. Even the locals commented on the bizarre good weather all week.

Peru - backpacking the Inca Trail. My roommate at the time and I found an amazing Black Friday deal and jumped on it. I have to say, though I was very impressed with Machu Picchu, I enjoyed the experience of the other ruins you get to see along the Inca Trail more than the famous city atop the mountain. Why? Because we had those other ruins to ourselves, no crowds, no lines, no instagramers everywhere, just our little group, lofty mountains, cloud forests, dense jungle, and the silence of nature. So amazing.

Iceland. Three friends and I made a week long road trip to see as much as we could. Waterfalls, volcanoes (none erupting), glaciers, icebergs, hot springs, deep canyons, and a completely unexpected night filled with the aurora. It had been cloudy all day, it was still summer (i.e. not aurora season), but when we found a place to camp a circle opened up in the clouds and dancing in the black sky were green and purple ribbons of wonder. I’m very glad we went before tourism really took off. Many of the places we went were still rugged, no boardwalks, railings, or grassy hills devoid of their green life from the constant footsteps of tourists.

Australia. When my wife graduated with her doctoral degree we went to Australia to celebrate. Two weeks of complete adventurous delight in the off season. Rainforests, the Great Barrier Reef, cultural centers, mystical caves, a night at the Opera House, and the most splendid tide pools we have yet found. We even got to see lone whales playing off the coast (quite unexpected because according to all the online information, it was not the right season to see them).

Do you speak any other languages?

I do! I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in São Paulo, Brazil. It was there that I learned Portuguese. I have sought to keep the language alive with my brain and tongue ever since then. I majored in Portuguese with my undergraduate degree in college, have gone through the Pimsleur Portuguese course, and seek to read at least two books in the language each year.

In junior high took French. By high school I had forgotten all of it. In college I was pursuing a History degree with the intent on becoming a professor of history. To do that you need to speak two other languages in the area of your expertise. I was focusing on the age of exploration (1400’s through 1800). Already speaking Portuguese which was beneficial for my area of focus, I took French up again thinking it would be easy to get that one back, plus it was pertinent to many voyages of exploration during the time period I was studying. (I didn’t choose Spanish because it is so close to Portuguese that I thought I would end up getting the two confused as I would be taking both languages at the same time). I ended up going on a study abroad to France to speed up my graduation and get through the French language course. What a superb fun summer. France, like Brazil, will always hold a piece of my heart.

Today I am pretty confident in my abilities with Portuguese. My French still struggles, but I do strive to read at least two books in French every years. As of this writing I am half way through 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in French.

That’s a little about me, Tyler Mower. If you have a question for me please drop it in the comments below!

Have a great day!