Ray with Power Lawn Tools

Well.....

For about 4 years now, I have been unwinding, untangling and dragging a 100' electrical cable around my yard so that I can edge my lawn and trim back the grass that likes to grow next to the house. It actually took me longer to "weed eat" and edge than it did to mow the lawn.

For just about the same amount of time, I've been talking about ditching the electric tools for gas powered ones. Well, this weekend I took the plunge.

First, I bought a Weed Eater brand 2-stroke edger. When I got it home, I found out that I needed to have a gas oil mixture. Crap! I didn't have a separate gas can.

Well, I still needed to go get an electric line trimmer since my goal was to get rid of the electric Black & Decker Grasshog line trimmer. So I did some searching on Lowe's and Home Depot and found one I liked at Lowe's. Nancy and I swung by there and picked up the Line Trimmer, Gas can and I got some much needed gloves.

Finally, I have everything I need and I'm putting the tools together while Nancy mowed the law (her choice of exercise for the day). It took awhile to figure out how to start up the edger, but once I did, it just tore through the grass. I had grass, dirt and mud flying all over the place. But once I got the hang of it, I had a nice, crisp edge that a professional landscaper would be proud of.

So the front yard was done, so now to do the flower beds in the backyard. I made quick work of that. So now to try out the line trimmer. It definitily was longer and heavier than the electric one. I'm still trying to get the hang of it, but at least it isn't a bump model. It has one long, thick wound strand that fits in the head. It only take a few moments to replace.

Well, after hosing off all the equipment, I was ready to plop down on the couch and cool off in front of the TV. I fire everything up and..........black!

I check everything again, but still no change. It couldn't be that I cut the cable. The cable was buried at least a foot below grade. But just to be sure, I went out and had a look. Sure enough, I tore right through the sucker.

Nancy suspects that when we had the sprinklers installed, they installers moved the line and didn't put it very far below surface.

Well, next installment will be about me patching the cable