As I get older I find that my muscles and bones just don’t always align with my chores at hand so I have to find ways to cope. A good part of that lately is to find tools to enable me to complete my many yard and garden tasks. What was relatively easy a few years ago is becoming more of a real chore today.

For that reason I am starting to assemble a seemingly barn full of tools to cope. Of course at the front of that is my garden tractor with its 56″ mower deck. I can’t imagine being able to take care of my 2+ acre homestead without it. I also have a snowplow, sprayer, large wagon, and other miscellaneous attachments for the tractor.

Next down the line are the various hand-held motorized tools: weed whacker, blower, chainsaw, tiller, and then so many simple hand tools that I can’t imagine counting.  One thing that has always been a “pain in the…” are the small gasoline engines.  My weed whacker is acting up like it frequently does. I spent about fifteen minutes pulling the starter cord trying to bring it back to life! No matter how much care I give these small engines they never seem to co-operate :)

After waking up with a very sore arm this morning I decided to try a different route. After about thirty minutes on Amazon I finally found an electric whacker with a 6.5AH lithium-ion battery. It has good reviews so I am hoping for the best. It will be nice to relegate the old gasoline powered stuff to the back corner of the barn where all the other ancient stuff resides.  This new whacker should be easier on my arm as well as the environment. No more smelly gas fumes to inhale.

One of the last coping tools that I don’t really want to admit that I need is a garden kneeler. That is one of those things with a soft pad on the bottom and arms on the side to help me get to a standing position without all the grunting. I always thought that those were for really old people but…..

And the journey continues….