CHAT Mowing the Lawn at 74 (OP July 2022)

[seraphima]

I was readng The Locksmith Journals, and our smith mentioned he is 66 and has to mow in sections. A revelation! I thought i was the only old person trundling around behind her electric mower - took me three days to mow the lawn this last time, and it is not big, just somewhat complex with garden beds, a hill and odd rocks. No, I don't know how to use a weed whacker.

Nonetheless, it was really helpful to find out someone else in the world can't/ doesn't mow theirs all in one day. Nevermind getting the garden weeded, harvested, transplanted, etc.! Today i hoed the kale and mulched the bed with fine seaweed. Dug and dunked 90 garlic plants and brought them in before the rain. Weeded, cultivated the bed, and transplanted about 125 calendula plants into the bed, and watered it. This was a very good day for me, and they aren't so common anymore.

Makes me wonder how we are all going to get our 'victory gardens' cared for, especially if food is in short supply...

 

[SAPPHIRE]

Congratulations! I WISH I could do as much................

 

[Dennis Olson]

I have to ask, do graze on the grass? I ask because your thread prefix is FOOD.

What were you trying for? I got a chuckle out of it.

 

[Double_A]

No, I don't know how to use a weed whacker.

Oh you need to learn, it's so satisfying. It's just under the first harvest in satisfaction. oh yea.

 

[Cardinal]

I mow in sections, but that is because I feed the clippings to my chickens and don't want to mow all at once.

 

[Publius]

I have close to five acres to mow and recently done it all in one day and bouncing along on the mower is hard on me or my pelvis and takes about two gallons of gas.
Now lately I have been putting it off or not so quick to mow the grass because of gas prices and I'm busy cutting firewood and was doing some of it today and need to go back complete the pile I started on and remove it from the church fellowship hall.

 

[kyrsyan]

Right now, I can mow in one day. But I've had times where that was not possible and expect it will happen again.
I do garden work at my body's speed, not my mind's.

 

[Carl2]

"Listen to your body" seems good advice for anyone being active, and especially for us older folks. So many people seem to take better care of their machines than they do of their bodies. This especially comes to mind in winter when shoveling snow!

 

[Papacub]

What grass? All mine is burnt to a stubble! With about 16 days over 100 degrees this month, ain't much left to mow!

 

[Blacknarwhal]

My dad recently turned 72. He and my mother mow their lawn in one day. Though it takes the two of them almost four hours to do so. And they're using riding mowers.

I use a riding mower myself. Takes me about an hour and a half.

I have long since discovered the value of noise-cancellation headphones and audiobooks. That and the weather out here in summer is becoming steadily less conducive to lawn mowing. When it isn't pouring down rain, there's a drought in the making that burns the grass brown.

 

[nebb]

I bought a rear wheel drive self propelled mower, I like to walk and this things does the work. Had it about 2 months now and working good. Yard Force from HD. $400 with vets discount.

 

[dstraito]

I met a man who had to mow his yard in increments and I was sad until I realized I could not walk. I would love to be able to be able to mow my yard no matter how long it took.

I used to run 26.2 mile marathons. Now the goal would be able to walk four miles slowly.

 

[CaryC]

I thought it meant "mowing the lawn at 74 - degrees, and thought that was awesome.

I'm going to mow mine today, as soon as the dew dries some. It's so wet now, my pant legs are wet from walking around in it.

When I get though today, I'm done. Going back to the stone age means the Wooly Mammoth can get it next time. I'll be busy drawing whitetails on the walls.

 

[Publius]

I met a ma who had to mow his yard in increments and I was sad until I realiized I could not walk. I would love to be able to be able tow mow my yard no matter how long it took.

I used to run 26.2 mile marathons. Now the goal would be able to walk four miles slowly.

I hear you and after the injury I'm limping about all the time now. but I keep trying.

 

[raven]

I always mow in sections.
I have an cordless electric mower and the battery only last 15 minutes - less if the grass is tall or it is hot.
So I mow the front till the battery dies. Take a break. And then mow till the next battery dies.
Then, the next day, I mow the back the same way. It usually take 3 batteries. If it is hot, I do half one day and half the next.

 

[pauldingbabe]

I met a ma who had to mow his yard in increments and I was sad until I realiized I could not walk. I would love to be able to be able tow mow my yard no matter how long it took.

I used to run 26.2 mile marathons. Now the goal would be able to walk four miles slowly.

It's amazing what we are grateful for isn't it?

I'm glad that you can still walk, still go outside, still alive.

I've taken a lot of things for granted in this journey of life. I have changed that way of thinking. One thing that has helped me is posts like yours.

We all take advantage of life and it's offerings. Your post makes me appreciate what I have and can do.

I wish I could help Dstratio. I'm thankful that you can walk 4 miles a day. There are those who can't, but you can! That's a good thing!

It's posts like yours that bring a little hope to me. Yes you used to run marathons. You may not run them anymore, but you can still walk. You could give up, but you haven't. You can still walk. That's not insignificant. It's everything.

Well done! It's quite admirable.

 

[pauldingbabe]

I hear you and after the injury I'm limping about all the time now. but I keep trying.

Your story Is admirable too Publius!

I mean, WOW ! How far you've come! I mean WOW! A lot of people would not go through what you've been through (again WOW!) And come out on the other side nearly as well as you have.

I remember reading about your accident and just one word popped into my mind. Hope. Just alive. Then hope again.

Now look at you! It brings a tear to my eye.

Us all here are either really strong and persevere. Or we are stubborn. Perhaps damn lucky!

Whatever it is, I've met A LOT of strong folks here, and I'm better for it.

Thanks yall!

 

[summerthyme]

I hear you and after the injury I'm limping about all the time now. but I keep trying.

That's all you can do! But it truly is "use it or lose it"... when hubby fell off the silo at 27, the docs thought he *might* walk again with lots of therapy, but they told him he'd never be able to do the routine work of dairy farming again. He was milking cows 3 months later, and continued for another 35 years!

That said, he'll be 69 in a couple of weeks, and I'm trying to get him to realize that he can't keep up with our late 30s son! DS will go to work all day, (and hubby will be working steadily on the homestead all day), and then decide to saw logs with the sawmill for a few hours in the evening. We'll, that's *definitely * more than hubby should be doing, but being a man, he sure doesn't want to admit it!

Me? I'm 5 years younger, and having been completely bedbound for too long, I'm working hard to get back in shape. But I'm also realistic, and at this point, I know if I'm going to put in a long day, I'd better plan on essentially resting/recovering the next day.

We butchered 50 chickens Monday. Started a bit late (10 am) and then ran right through until 6 pm, when we stopped for a quick supper, then finished vacuum sealing the last of the filets at 9 pm. (We had multiple equipment issues, including the GFI plug on the plucker getting wet, so it took us several hours longer than usual.)

But yesterday, I was trashed! Even after a decent night's sleep, I couldn't keep my eyes open! I gave up and goofed off most of the day, and today I'm fine.

Getting older sure isn't for sissies, but "use it or lose it" is very real, and I have no intention of quitting until I have no choice.

Summerthyme

 

[pauldingbabe]

Getting older sure isn't for sissies, but "use it or lose it" is very real, and I have no intention of quitting until I have no choice.

Yep.

Banking energy. I was stung over 10x by yellowjackets on Sunday (?) and I'm still trying to get going.

I really do try to love all of God's creations large and small.

Yellowjackets are testing me!

 

[CaryC]

I always mow in sections.
I have an cordless electric mower and the battery only last 15 minutes - less if the grass is tall or it is hot.
So I mow the front till the battery dies. Take a break. And then mow till the next battery dies.
Then, the next day, I mow the back the same way. It usually take 3 batteries. If it is hot, I do half one day and half the next.

LOL that may work for you, but it takes me 1 1/2 - 2 hours to mow, and by the time the last was mowed the first may be lost. LOL

 

[CaryC]

That's all you can do! But it truly is "use it or lose it"... when hubby fell off the silo at 27, the docs thought he *might* walk again with lots of therapy, but they told him he'd never be able to do the routine work of dairy farming again. He was milking cows 3 months later, and continued for another 35 years!

That said, he'll be 69 in a couple of weeks, and I'm trying to get him to realize that he can't keep up with our late 30s son! DS will go to work all day, (and hubby will be working steadily on the homestead all day), and then decide to saw logs with the sawmill for a few hours in the evening. We'll, that's *definitely * more than hubby should be doing, but being a man, he sure doesn't want to admit it!

Me? I'm 5 years younger, and having been completely bedbound for too long, I'm working hard to get back in shape. But I'm also realistic, and at this point, I know if I'm going to put in a long day, I'd better plan on essentially resting/recovering the next day.

We butchered 50 chickens Monday. Started a bit late (10 am) and then ran right through until 6 pm, when we stopped for a quick supper, then finished vacuum sealing the last of the filets at 9 pm. (We had multiple equipment issues, including the GFI plug on the plucker getting wet, so it took us several hours longer than usual.)

But yesterday, I was trashed! Even after a decent night's sleep, I couldn't keep my eyes open! I gave up and goofed off most of the day, and today I'm fine.

Getting older sure isn't for sissies, but "use it or lose it" is very real, and I have no intention of quitting until I have no choice.

Summerthyme

Yeah the recovery time is a lot longer. For everything.

 

[CaryC]

Yep.

Banking energy. I was stung over 10x by yellowjackets on Sunday (?) and I'm still trying to get going.

I really do try to love all of God's creations large and small.

Yellowjackets are testing me!

Oooo that's bad. Ouch.

Look those along with snakes and spiders are a part of the curse, so you don't have to love them. Love a 'coon instead and show him where they are. They will tear the whole thing apart getting to them. It's like caviar to them.

 

[raven]

LOL that may work for you, but it takes me 1 1/2 - 2 hours to mow, and by the time the last was mowed the first may be lost. LOL

Yea, during the spring, I have to mow every four days. So, Mow the front. Mow the back. Walk around the block the next two days. And then start over.
I just think of it as a "healthy part of a low impact exercise program"
LOL

 

[kyrsyan]

One thing I learned this year is to not go inside for breaks. I put my drinks on the porch and take breaks there. If I go inside, the temp shift actually makes me more tired. So I take breaks outside. I use the hose or son's mister system to start cooling off. And go inside after I already feel my temperature coming down. Otherwise I'll spend hours recovering from the sudden shift of temperatures.

 

[summerthyme]

Yep.

Banking energy. I was stung over 10x by yellowjackets on Sunday (?) and I'm still trying to get going.

I really do try to love all of God's creations large and small.

Yellowjackets are testing me!

Yellow jackets come from the other realm! Ten stings? I'd have declared war! My 3 year old granddaughter got stung by one Monday... hubby and I will be eradicating the nest while they are all on vacation this week! DDIL wants everything organic but these rotten b*stards are right next to the buildings, and I'm more worried about the girls than any potential soil contamination!

I was stung on my ring finger years ago by a yellow jacket in a ground nest in my strawberries. That sting hurt for MONTHS! It must have somehow damaged a nerve, because every time cold water touched that hand, the finger would turn white and ache badly. Nope, no love for yellow jackets!

Summerthyme

 

[kyrsyan]

Yep.

Banking energy. I was stung over 10x by yellowjackets on Sunday (?) and I'm still trying to get going.

I really do try to love all of God's creations large and small.

Yellowjackets are testing me!

Nope. I will kill yellow jackets on sight. Killed a ground hive a few years ago. When I was just a youngster I accidentally stepped on a ground hive opening. No clue how many stings I took but I was in the ER and hospital. I wasn't allergic before but I am now. Bees, yellow jackets, wasps. I will leave most bees and wasps alone if they leave me alone. But yellow jackets and black wasps will attack without provocation, so I kill them first.

Oh, and Dad and the neighbor took out that ground hive. Poisoned it and then dug it up. He said it was massive. He had no clue why they only had one opening. The queen at the bottom was 3" long.

 

[Kathy in FL]

If we don't mow in a single day the equipment calls us nasty names. They like to run fast and cut grass like Samson. And at the rate the yard grows, we'd be mowing every day instead of once a week if we mowed in sections. Maybe once the equipment and us both gets old and tired it will work better. But I gotta admit, having my son mow our primary location and do most of the landscaping because of his trees and such that he's planted is a problem off our plate. We keep up with the 45 acres at our BOL and that's enough.

 

[pauldingbabe]

Yellow jackets come from the other realm! Ten stings? I'd have declared war! My 3 year old granddaughter got stung by one Monday... hubby and I will be eradicating the nest while they are all on vacation this week! DDIL wants everything organic but these rotten b*stards are right next to the buildings, and I'm more worried about the girls than any potential soil contamination!

I was stung on my ring finger years ago by a yellow jacket in a ground nest in my strawberries. That sting hurt for MONTHS! It must have somehow damaged a nerve, because every time cold water touched that hand, the finger would turn white and ache badly. Nope, no love for yellow jackets!

Summerthyme

GOOD! Kill. Them. All.

Poor babies. doesn't it just rip your behind when something threatens your babies?

I have one sting on the back of my knee, right smack on the tendon. Everytime I take a step, stretch, whatever, it's straight fire!

Yes it's war. I posted about it somewhere on here. I've had enough! Demon WP poison is going to be deployed after sundown.

Time is short for these buggers! And it's going to HURT. Demon WP is going to fry those little mothers into oblivion!

Oh yes...I'm done!

 

[ktrapper]

My aunt back in Alabama mowed her own grass up into her early 80s with a push mower.
She was tougher than I think I will ever be at that age if I make it that long. She lived to be 96. She split her own cook stove wood into her mid 80s and cooked on a wood cook stove until she went to live with her daughter at 89.
She liked poplar because it split a little easier than pine for stove wood when it was dry.

She always had biscuits in the warmer and a pot of beans on the stove for anyone who might come by.

She didn’t want anybody doing chores for her. She was of the mind that if she quit doing she would not live long after.

I would help her mow her grass when I wasn’t working and she would accepted the help when it was really hot. We lived a mile away. She didn’t drive and didn’t have a vehicle. No air conditioning only a oscillating fan.
If bad weather was coming she would walk over the dirt road to our house and sit with us until it passed.

She was snake killing woman. She would go out every day looking up and down the dirt road for snakes with hoe to chop them up.

She had a pump in a cistern in her spring down a steep hill behind her house. It was three months one time before we found out it wasn’t working. She had been toting water all that time. She didn’t have the money to replace it. We did when we found out. She was very independent.

 

[NoDandy]

I always mow in sections.
I have an cordless electric mower and the battery only last 15 minutes - less if the grass is tall or it is hot.
So I mow the front till the battery dies. Take a break. And then mow till the next battery dies.
Then, the next day, I mow the back the same way. It usually take 3 batteries. If it is hot, I do half one day and half the next.

What brand of mower do you have ? How big of a cut ?

 

[CaryC]

I'd have declared war!

Ya mean like Nuke them from space just to be sure, type of war? LOL.

We're kind of in an up and down on mowing. When it's not raining, it's all brown and crunchie, except for a green mohawk in the front yard where the field line is. If it rains you can stand in the door and watch it turn green.

 

[summerthyme]

Ya mean like Nuke them from space just to be sure, type of war? LOL.

We're kind of in an up and down on mowing. When it's not raining, it's all brown and crunchie, except for a green mohawk in the front yard where the field line is. If it rains you can stand in the door and watch it turn green.

Yeah, that type of war!

Around here, "lawn mowing" is accomplished by moving the polywire "fence" to a new, lush spot, and turning the horses out! In the areas where it's all clover and grass, they turn it into a golf course. If there is horse nettle and sedge mixed in, we have to take the zero turn out behind them and clip it. Still, it means "mowing" once every 6-8 weeks, rather than days!

The funny thing is, none of the "fencing" is electrified! The horses are so well conditioned to a hot fence, they just believe it's hot, and don't go near it! If feed started getting really short inside the fence, they'd eventually figure it out, but we don't let that happen!

Right now, the biggest issue we have is we were blessed with a swarm of honey bees moving into one of the dead hives, and they are thriving. So we're trying to not graze the clover while it's in full bloom... it's a balancing act!

Summerthyme

 

[raven]

What brand of mower do you have ? How big of a cut ?

Ryobi. 16 inch. Uses the small 18V, 4AH battery.
Bought it because
1) I have a smallish yard.
2) Battery was advertised as lasting longer than it does
3) Was the lightest mower available
4) Battery was same as other Ryobi tools I have.
5) Sweetie was older and only 5 ft tall.

My lot size is 6800 sq ft. If you lot is half that, 3400 sq ft. I would recommend it.
Otherwise, do more research.
And get self propelled.

 

[Publius]

Your story Is admirable too Publius!

I mean, WOW ! How far you've come! I mean WOW! A lot of people would not go through what you've been through (again WOW!) And come out on the other side nearly as well as you have.

I remember reading about your accident and just one word popped into my mind. Hope. Just alive. Then hope again.

Now look at you! It brings a tear to my eye.

Us all here are either really strong and persevere. Or we are stubborn. Perhaps damn lucky!

Whatever it is, I've met A LOT of strong folks here, and I'm better for it.

Thanks yall!

I like to think I encourage others. I see people almost weekly at the gym doing rehab and in my view that are worst off than me.
There is one woman in her 30's that goo's to this gym and she must have been in a really bad auto accident and one leg is damaged along with an arm and shows up in a wheel chair and could get out that wheel chair with a little help and now getting about without that wheel chair and just using a Cane.
She not having an easy time getting around, she is pushing all she can to walk on her own.
I encourage her and never asked what happened to her and durning conversation about her walking again, I told her I was told I should not be walking with the damage I had and to keep trying and don't give up and now she is doing it.

 

[Rabbit]

Yep.

Banking energy. I was stung over 10x by yellowjackets on Sunday (?) and I'm still trying to get going.

I really do try to love all of God's creations large and small.

Yellowjackets are testing me!

Excuse the thread drift but I just learned that armadillos eat yellow jackets by the nests full. If one shows up don't get rid of it.

Back to the lawn mowing. I'm 72 messed up from a stroke and was cutting my grass with a self-propelled push mower. (self-propelled walker) Big yard. I had to do a little at a time and then it would rain and in a week's time, I'd have to start all over again.

After covid, I was too weak to do much of anything and hired an old man from church. He flies around out there with a zero-turn mower and he is 75 with a bad heart, but that is what he does. I hope I can continue to afford him. My garden is tough enough for me.

 

[CaryC]

Ryobi. 16 inch. Uses the small 18V, 4AH battery.
Bought it because
1) I have a smallish yard.
2) Battery was advertised as lasting longer than it does
3) Was the lightest mower available
4) Battery was same as other Ryobi tools I have.
5) Sweetie was older and only 5 ft tall.

My lot size is 6800 sq ft. If you lot is half that, 3400 sq ft. I would recommend it.
Otherwise, do more research.
And get self propelled.

Dude that's not a mower that's a hand tool. LOL

Remember I said it took me 1 1/2 - 2 hours to mow? That's with a 48" cut, 24 horse, twin cylinder Briggs, with the pedal to the medal. Be careful how you turn, cuz it might sling you offen it. LOL

And that's a baby compared with some of my neighbors with their zero turn commercial mowers, cuz like acres dude. LOL

 

[fish hook]

My aunt back in Alabama mowed her own grass up into her early 80s with a push mower.
She was tougher than I think I will ever be at that age if I make it that long. She lived to be 96. She split her own cook stove wood into her mid 80s and cooked on a wood cook stove until she went to live with her daughter at 89.
She liked poplar because it split a little easier than pine for stove wood when it was dry.

She always had biscuits in the warmer and a pot of beans on the stove for anyone who might come by.

She didn’t want anybody doing chores for her. She was of the mind that if she quit doing she would not live long after.

I would help her mow her grass when I wasn’t working and she would accepted the help when it was really hot. We lived a mile away. She didn’t drive and didn’t have a vehicle. No air conditioning only a oscillating fan.
If bad weather was coming she would walk over the dirt road to our house and sit with us until it passed.

She was snake killing woman. She would go out every day looking up and down the dirt road for snakes with hoe to chop them up.

She had a pump in a cistern in her spring down a steep hill behind her house. It was three months one time before we found out it wasn’t working. She had been toting water all that time. She didn’t have the money to replace it. We did when we found out. She was very independent.

Sounds like a friend of mine, also in Alabama. When i was about 14,our neighbor was near 80. On days when he didn't have work to do he would eat breakfast, then go for a walk. He would walk until supper. I saw him at a little store one afternoon. While we were talking he mentioned how tired he was. I tried to get him to set down and rest a while. He said if he stopped walking he would die. When his time finally came, it was just like he said, when he had to stop walking he was dead in two weeks. I still miss the old guy. No one was ever as kind to me as a boy as he was.

 

[iboya]

I bought a self propelled battery EGO years ago. Best decision I ever made. It folds and with the battery out i can lift it into the car.

Bought the largest battery size with a rapid charger, battery lasted 6 years with the battery used the last 3 years of its life mowing 2 properties and using leaf blower with crazy amount of leaves.

No gas, no oil and maintenance free. Neighbors have said they never heard such a quiet mower. Little old lady mowing the lawn...

 

[ktrapper]

Sounds like a friend of mine, also in Alabama. When i was about 14,our neighbor was near 80. On days when he didn't have work to do he would eat breakfast, then go for a walk. He would walk until supper. I saw him at a little store one afternoon. While we were talking he mentioned how tired he was. I tried to get him to set down and rest a while. He said if he stopped walking he would die. When his time finally came, it was just like he said, when he had to stop walking he was dead in two weeks. I still miss the old guy. No one was ever as kind to me as a boy as he was.

Those are the people who help shape who we become. There is a lot of truth in what they say about keep moving.

 

[pauldingbabe]

I love my Cub Cadet zero turn!

It's like driving the "green machine". Anyone remember "Big Wheels" nemesis "the Green Machine" where you didn't have handlebars or a steering wheel? You had levers and pedals, kinda like a tank.

It's is true they are fast, lol! Don't turn up a bank then push the levers forward. Be like a mechanical bull when your 8 seconds are done.