Everything seems to break at once.

[Tillaway]

So far in the past week my lawnmower died and my computer is on the fritz.

The computer will not stay connected to the internet, not sure if its the phone line or the computer, changing the modem did not help.

Lawnmower is totally shot (18 years old) and I need to replace it.  Any suggestions?  I have a fairly large lawn, takes 3 hours to mow with a 21" walk behind, with allot of tight places that would restrict a regular lawn tractor.

I will not be able to read this till sometime next week, blasted computer. : :(

[Jeff]

Ron W. is going to tell you to get goats. 

[Frank_Pender]

Hey ya, Tillaway, I have a new Bush Hog that cuts 8' wide, will that help?

[MULE_MAN]

I kind of like the Goat Ideal better , B.B.Q  goat would be good
this Fall  ;D   :D   :D   8)

[Norm]

I have a walk behind John Deere lawnmower that has been abused by two sons growing up full of hormones. :D It was a little more expensive to begin with but it's built well and has been work tested for over ten years and still going strong.

[OneWithWood]

Quit mowing the whole lawn  :D

I just mow paths to where we normally need to go.  The rest has grown up in grasses and wildflowers.  The wildlife love it and I can mow the whole 3 acres in less than an hour 8)

[sprucebunny]

Can i just BORROW a goat ???



I got about 6 rows done 1/3 at atime and ran out of gas. Went back to the car , disconnected the trailer, went and got gas, back to the "field", did 2 more rows and hit a not-quite-short-enough-stump. End of mowing.
Think I'll just run over this section of "trail" with the atv a bunch of times..... trying to miss the stumps under there....somewhere... ;D

[crtreedude]

A horse or cow will do it - no problem at all. Just watch out for the biological landmines.

Since lawns original came into being to provide food for the knight's horse, it seems like a good idea to me.

[Murf]

Joan, looks like you need to borrow my tractor and flail mower. 

Makes short work of tall grass and weeds ....  :D

Real civilized too, A/C and a stereo .......... I guess that's where the term "Gentleman Farmer" came from.  8)

[slowzuki]

Sheep work well too!  Mowing 3 acres sounds like too much work for me, can you fence off like a 1/4 acre and let the rest go?

[Ernie]

Tillaway

Do you have a dialup connection.  I used to keep dropping offline as the exchange couldn't keep up with the demands of the modem.  I added this in the "Extra settings" +ms=v34  It restricts my maximum connection speed to 33.6K but I don't drop offline anymore.

[crtreedude]

One of the things you can do is replace the standard modem with a courier commerical grade - they are expensive - but a lot of them are available out on ebay for very little.

There was someone down here with a constant problem and I swapped my old one for their modem - and all has been great ever since.

Not all modems are created equal - Courier V.Everything will resolve a lot of issues. 

Down grading the speed does help often too.

[woodmills1]

when you need to buy new stuff like regular lawn mowers or maybe a shop vac find and check out a sears parts store.  They have last years models at way under price.  Sears also sells that kind of leftover stuff on ebay believe it or not :D  I got 40 buck shop vac new in box.

[Haytrader]

S B,

You need more than one goat.



Here is what we mow with. Jazee made by Country Clipper made in Corydon, Iowa.

Ours cuts 48", and has a joy stick to steer with.
You see who insists on doing the mowing.
;)

[Paul_H]

We have older two lawn tractors.One is a 42" Craftsman and the other is a 60" Cushman and it takes about 4 hours to cut our 1 1/2 acre lawn.

9:00 am start tractor
9:05 tractor won't start,go find jumper cables.
9:30 where the heck did I leave the jumpers?
9:40 go borrow neighbours. 
10:05 good talk with the neighbour but no jumpers
10:20 found jumpers,where are the truck keys?
10:30 tractor running, tires flat where did I leave tire pump last time?
11:00 ready to mow,should have moved the kids bikes,toys etc first.
11:17 okay,it's go time
11:25  Should have checked fuel,where did I leave the Jerry can?...  smiley_dunce

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I gave my 50' farmall cub with 5' woods belly mower to my brother Dorry, he kept borrowing it and breaking it or atleast dulling blades so it was a famly goodwill thing to do. Now he gets mad at himself for tearing up the mower :D

I replaced it with a 52' ford 9n with 5' bush hog and 6' finish mower, runs stronger and faster than the cub.
I like it alot. 8)

[Tillaway]

I have to post from work, the internet works a little in the morning.  Slow connection speeds are the norm.  We changed ISP's and it has helped a little but it is still unusable most of the day.  Our phone lines seem to be a bit noisey too.  I think I might try to borrow a computer and try to narrow down the problem.

Some folks I work with gave me an old Craftman lawn tractor.  It burns about 3/4 tank of gas and a full 1/2 quart of oil to mow my lawn.   It will run 40 minutes then die.  Let it cool down and run another 40 minutes or so.  I thinking if I make it till fall using that thing I would be lucky.  My yard really needs a small commercial hydro walk behind or a small zero turn.  I have lots of narrow places and edges.  Its really a complex mowing project.

My wife would love a horse but we don't have that much grass.  I have a feeling feed and Vet bills would be expensive compared to a mower.

I forgot, my truck needs shocks, and a clutch too.  :

[Chris J]

I'm no expert, but when we were having problems staying on the net we were also getting a lot of static on the phone line.  Turned out to be a connection problem at the utility pole.  Once the phone company sorted that out, our phone line & internet connection was fine.  They even installed an outside phone jack so that I can plug a phone in outside to determine if it's a problem with the line coming from the pole, or if the problem is in the house.   We call them out about once a year, depending on how much high wind we've gotten.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Sell you the wife's horse.  It's a black and white paint fox trotter papered pony.  Rides smooth and makes babies.   Really keeps the grass short.  When things get really bad you can ride her to town or have a Bar B Q.    With the price of gas and mowers she will be cheaper in the long run.

[Brad_S.]

I'm with Haytrader. A Zero Turn Radius (ZTR) is the way I'm going next time. 8)
Brand doesn't matter to me, they all seem great. They zip along and hug even the smallest tree as you circle around it. Come in many widths, so you can size it to fit your yard.

[Tillaway]

I'm glad my wife doesn't poke around here.  She really doesn't need to see the horse. ;)

The zero turns are a bit steep.  The local dealer has a used Dixon for $1000.  I asked my wife and she just gave me the "look". : ;D

[SwampDonkey]

This Kabota diesel, we've had for about 18 years. It likes to eat belts badly, but the tractor itself never misses a beat. Wish we could get a new deck. Although the pulleys and bearings are all good, no play. Can't figure it out.  :-\ Some weeks I use the push mower, and I can mow just as fast. Takes 2.5 hours either way.

[pigman]

. I asked my wife and she just gave me the "look". : ;D

I bought one of those cheaper Cub Cadet R Z T mowers this spring and didn't tell the wife. It worked out fine while she was still working at her job at school. I would mow the lawn during the day and park the new mower in the feed barn where she seldom goes. Then when school was out I would mow while she was gone shopping. Then in June she said the lawn needed mowing and she was going to do it. I had to get out the old mower, pump up the tires and charge the battery. : It was in the middle of June before she went by the feed barn and saw the new mower. smiley_beady_eyes
The Cub Cadet cuts smooth and is a lot faster to cut the lawn. I don't know how long it will last since it is a light duty model.

[Paul_H]

 :D :D I can picture it Bob

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Great words that I learned for a very wise Man.   "It is easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask for permission!"

[hawby]

Well I splurged on a new Cub Cadet GT from TSC. Had exactly 6.2 hours on it (3 lawn mowing experiences) and one of the spindle bearings exploded. :-\   So I run up to TSC and tell 'em new spindle or new deck not particular. Well, they had trouble getting anything from the mfr., so they had to take a spindle off of a floor model. Four days later :'(

No grease packed in the original bearings that BTW said "China" on them. So, I am thinking that I mighta made a mistake not saving up for a "GREEN" one. This one does have a nice 27 hp Kohler though. Maybe I can put my 24 year old Deere deck on it?

[Tillaway]

Now the water heater is on the fritz.... had to push the reset button.  I wonder whats up with that?

I think its all a big conspiracy. ;D

[Stephen_Wiley]

Nah....... it just comes with living in Tillamook...........bound to be problems needing resolved.  :D :D :D :D :D

[dail_h]

   Just bought the wife a Toro ZT48 yesterday for her birthday. Been messin with local Case IH dealer for a month  over a Cub Cadet,sold "MY" mower twiceGuess I showed him huh?
   Wife mad about the money,but loves the mower,my foodbowl is back in the kitchen ;D

[Tillaway]

Thanks Steve... ;) ;D