Actually it wasn’t bad working in the garden over the weekend even if I did get a little suntan/burn on the back of my neck. I really have the farmers tan now – but I think that is mainly because the rest of me is so white, anything non-white sticks out quite drastically 🙂 On Saturday we borrowed Kristen’s parents mower and I spent about 100 minutes mowing the back and front garden whilst Kristen and Mom weeded and raked up the fallen leaves that were left in the flower beds. By the end of the day we had sore backs and 10 lawn bags and 2 bins full of grass cuttings and leaves for the green disposal lorry to come and take away today. I’ve been trying to decide on whether to get a ride on mower (called lawn tractors nowadays) or whether to get a self propelled walk behind mower. The cost difference is pretty big but the ride-on would be much more comfortable but starting at $900 its a big outlay. The other thing is that there doesn’t seem to be anywhere you can actually try a tractor (although John Deere’s are all over the neighbourhood but I can’t afford one of those). I was favouring the craftsman mowers from sears until we found out that their cheapest one doesn’t have a gear system that you can change whilst driving – apparently you have to come to a stop to change gears (according to the sales person) but that strikes me as odd as you always move away from a standstill in first, so coming to a stop doesn’t make sense.
A google search for reconditioned, second hand or used mowers does not come up with anything in the vicinity and I am not aware of any mower shops (unlke Haslington mowers or Congleton Mowers back home in England). Any locals got any ideas or want to let me borrow their tractor for a test drive (I’ll even cut YOUR garden if I can try out your mower!)
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Alas… Haslington Mowers is no longer with us…
I liked hearing that you put the bags out “for the green disposal lorry”. Sounds like you’re getting to be a redneck too. [Here’s a site to view some redneck “culture”: http://boortz.com/more/funny/redneck_pics.html.%5D
What you are looking for is typically called a “riding mower”. I would avoid buying a used one, especially if you do not have much experience with small motor maintenance.
We just picked up (and will be paid for in a year!) a riding mower from Lowes that cost about $1000. In the past it took my wife and me about 2 1/2 hours with a push mower. You are on the border between needing a riding mower or self-propelled.
I would recommend the self-propelled as you can get a decent one for half the price of a riding mower. You may want to see if you can rent one from an equipment rental shop, to see if you like it, or maybe even ask around and find a neighbor or lawn mowing service that would let you try one for a nominal fee.
What you want ma boy is a sheep! 😉