New Mower

The title mentions a new lawn mower but it is not the "featured" photo. That shows you I am as lazy as these two in recent days but I am starting to feel that "motivation train" about to pull out and have me outside pulling weeds. Ava continues to do pretty well by you will see below that she had a "puppy incident". (Fetching photos below)

You may have heard me mention that something is different with me this spring compared to the past 30 years in mowing lawns of any size with either a push mower or in my current case a 22" self propelled mower that I bought when I moved into this house. It is hard to explain but two other friends in two entirely different locations have experienced the same thing this year. 

In February I had the normal head cold that was gone in 6 days and I was feeling great by day 10. In March I came down with a cough. A different cough though. It was dry and only happened as if I needed or wanted to clear my throat. It lasted around three weeks and during that time I felt exhausted, I slept a lot. It never felt like it was in my chest and I never felt I was out of breath. 

Well the first time I go out to mow the yard this spring, 10 minutes later I am feeling exhausted. I wasn't short of breath, wasn't panting, heart rate was 115 but felt like I had to go sit down or lay down. So I did until my pulse rate decreased to 90, which didn't take that long. I took 3-4 more breaks that day to finish mowing the yard that would take no more than 50 minutes last summer even in the hottest days of July. 

After some research and talking to friends and one of my neighbors, I found a used John Deere at a local family owned mower shop full of new and old mowers, chain saws, weed eaters etc. My issue was I had  installed two gates of only 4' wide on my fence in 2021. When the mower cuts at 42", that is not a lot of room to play with when the specs say it is 55" wide with the grass shoot down.

I walked into the shop on Monday around noon, told them what I was looking for and he told me they just had one come in last week for service. The owner came back on Friday to pick it up but decided to trade it in for a zero turn mower and this used LA115 was up for sale. Due to the prediction of rain on Monday they had not set it outside for sale. I did rain later that day and that is why he delivered it Tuesday night around 7pm.

My main inspector, Watson gave it a thorough inspection and told me it was okay. With it parked in that space, who knows, that might prevent me from buying a second car.  LOL

I caught myself a little to over confident with Ava, who is still only 15 weeks old tomorrow. She has free run of the house with the other dogs, will go outside on her own when she needs to, and does NOT get into as much stuff as Henry and Watson did at that age. She is not a hound but she is still a puppy.

So while having coffee and reading the internet the other morning, I hear a strange sound and walked out to see this. With a broom and some paper towels it was an easy clean up. When I asked her what this was all about, she knew ... tucked her tail and went sprinting for the patio deck. 

It did show me I needed to repot it anyway because it was low or out of potting soil ... unless Ava and Watson ate the dirt that fell out of the pot. I did not see any mud on their jowls, so it must have been out of dirt.

I haven't been able to take a picture of her doing it yet, but she has figured out there are things to see through the window with them open, hearing all the birds in the neighborhood. So when she stands on her back legs at the window, her nose is not quite as high as the window but her eyes can see out a little.

When I told Todd that I needed to find a way to get this 42" cut with an overall width of 55" in the spec sheet, to fit inside a 48" gate ... we both got on our hands and knees with a tape measure, to see if that was possible, with me on one side and him on the other. If that flap was lifted there is plenty of room. How to do that with an engine running??? 

In a flash, I thought of this. That paracord will never wear out and since the photo was taken I have burnt and melted the two ends of the cord. Without bending over I can lift that grass shoot with my right hand, steer with my left and get through the gate into the backyard without tearing my fence down. There was plenty of room to spare.

Yesterday my only plan was to drive it around a little to familiarize myself with it but since I have been mowing the backyard every 4 days, it needed mowing. I decided, IF, I can get that mower into the backyard I'll mow it. Well the rest is history ... I mowed the whole yard in half the time it normally took me with the smaller mower and that included trimming around the landscape stones and both sides of the fence.

Notice those weeds in the flowerbed ... they will be gone later today.

ONE trip and to me it was well worth the price of the mower. My pulse never reached 90, I didn't feel tired after I was finished, I didn't take a siesta later ... and it was easier than I thought it would be to turn it 90° and to fit in small spaces. 

I finally agreed with my friends who for years have been telling me as we get older we needed to do things that make life easier, no matter the cost. Within 20 minutes I found out that every activity doesn't need to be an exercise and it is better to do things easier.

I pulled weeds today. Zoysia grass roots spreading out under the barrier mats in the southern flowerbed and popping through or spread to the foundation of the house and grow up along the concrete blocks. Hands are sore but I finish all the flowerbeds.

Tomorrows plan is cut the growing bushes on the other side of my fence so I can continue to mow that area between the fence and the berm. I will have to do the far left corner by hand unless I splurge and buy another 100' cord to go with the one I have so I can use my electric trimmers. Now that sounds like a plan.

Ava and Watson did a little fetching this afternoon, while Henry watched and Walter slept in the computer room. 

We had over 5" of rain in April, above normal averages. Overall though the weather has been beautiful here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.