New toy

Sunday, 3:56 pm

By Kate

May

29

2005

It dawned on me yesterday that attacking weeds with a puny little weed whacker was a waste of time. I bought a rechargeable weed whacker a couple of years ago and I’ve been very disappointed with it. It handles grass, but anything with stalks thicker than grass takes a lot of time to cut. This year I have some woody herby type weeds poking through the back fence and the rechargeable weed whacker doesn’t even phase them.

So, off I went in search of a more powerful weed whacker. This time I got a heavy-duty gas powered one. It’s strong enough to take down small saplings. Probably a good idea since the woods behind the house have the idea that they should start moving into the yard.

I brought my new toy home and put it together sans benefit of an instruction manual. There wasn’t one. And then I realized there wasn’t a handle in the box. Nor was there the promised bottle of oil that I have to mix with the gas. Nuts.

Back I went to the store. After some hemming and hawing, they finally agreed to let me exchange that weed whacker for another one. I asked to open the box to make sure all the pieces and parts were in the box. They didn’t like that idea. But I insisted and they relented. This time everything that was supposed to be in the box was in the box.

Now my new weed whacker is all put together, oil mixed with the gas, and after a few false starts, I finally figured out how to start the thing. Never so simple as opening the choke and pulling the cord. No, this beast requires three different steps to get it going. But it works. Really well. There’s nothing that stands in my way of having a dutifully manicured lawn now. I’ve been maniacally slaughtering small plants and looking for more. New toys are fun.