You really cant see my house or yard from the road. You might, if you slow down while driving past, catch a glimpse, but you probably wont notice I havent used a weed trimmer once this summer. Not once.
Its not that I am lazy; I have simply given up on finding one that works properly.
I searched online, read reviews, contemplated, considered and bought a new one, a gas-powered one that delivered filthy emissions into the atmosphere at that, something I had always avoided in the past due to my commitment to the environment. I somehow justified it.
Before I even had the yard tool assembled, I put everything back in the box and returned it to the store. I am wary of anything that requires mixing oil and gas in specified amounts.
Oil and vinegar, no problem.
Oil and gas. Smoke. Cause for alarm. Horror.
A dear friend said she had a great trimmer she no longer used because she had a fella come once a week to take care of her yard. She would be glad to retrieve it from her barn and bring it over right away.
She did. It wont start.
Im at a point now where I think I should just wait until cold temperatures kill the weeds and grass that is so long you can no longer see the rocks that edge the flowerbeds.
Poison ivy and Virginia creeper have joined forces along the stockade fence and are moving up the side of the barn. It should be a lovely display once the leaves change color.
I have lamented about the poor luck I have with weed trimmers before. I dont trust online reviews. There are so many of them, too. One weed trimmer had 976 positive reviews and 100 critical reviews. One happy reviewer said, Finally, a trimmer that actually works. An awesome yard care product. You will be amazed! Yes, they included the exclamation point!
Another buyer shared their opinion of the very same product. Dont buy this product. Plastic lever in base of housing broke after using the trimmer about 10 times. Line no longer feeds with the lever broken and the plastic shot out and injured my leg. Worked great until the lever broke but currently useless as I cannot replace the line with the broken lever.
Weed trimmers definitely fall into the everyone is an expert category. My friend, Tim, said to buy an Echo. Its worth the money, he said. Itll start every time and the line wont break every five minutes.
Even the guy at the hardware store down the street who is supposed to be promoting the new Stihls they now carry told me to go with Echo.
He said he and his dad bought one and they share it on their two properties.
Terms like reduced effort I-30 starting technology and claiming 50 percent more torque scare me. Fifty percent more torque than what?
A character named George Ballas invented the weed trimmer called Weed Eater. According to a story published shortly after his death in 2011 in the Wall Street Journal, Ballas was a dance instructor, a hotel builder, inventor, and at one point, even marketed a portable telephone.
He sold Weed Eater in 1977 when copycat products flooded the market.
Im in the market for a good weed trimmer. Any suggestions?
