The Eclectic Interweb

So, the Strimmer (whipper snipper, brush cutter… whatever) is in for repair. At the back of the garage buried under tons of junk is… wait for it… a *spare* Strimmer. This is an electric thing made by Arlec Industries that I’d bought when the last one we had (a Ryobi) gave up the ghost. It was so wonderful to use that within a week I’d persuaded the wife to let me buy a new petrol drive thing before I went insane and tried to make it of some use by hitting the grass with it, cos it sure wasn’t going to cut it the normal way!!!

Well desperate times require desperate measures so yesterday I made a start clearing out the junk and drove a way through to claim my prize. By then I was so shattered I decided to wait until today to try again to make it function as intended… assuming it isn’t *intended* to cause apoplexy I suppose?? Hmmm ???

Anyway, we went to the hoispital this morning for the wife to have a checkup after her operation the other week and the report was all clear – which was good – so this afternoon I began working out how to make the damn thing work.

The first couple of tries weren’t particularly successful. Twice the machine used up 3 metres of plastic line in the space of 40 seconds and perhaps 3 feet of lawn edge. The last try wasn’t a particular ‘success’ either but it did at least manage to hold itself together until I’d tidied up the edges around the tiny lawn at the back of the house. It’s still nowhere near as good as the one in for repair… and *that* is all bar useless compared to the old Ryobi… but short of spending somewhere between $350 and $750 on a new one it will just have to do.

Currently I’m having a 10 minute break before heading off to do battle with the edges of the lawns at the front of the house. Now I *know* these will be harder because the pieces of ‘lawn’ out front are supposed to be ‘neat and tidy’ whereas the lawn  around back look like a moth chewed carpet to begin with so who gives a rats anyway what the edges look like?

Wish me luck… I am *so* going to need it!!

Edit:
After an hour’s solid work I actually managed to get the front finished, and what’s more, did it before dark!!! The strimmer was a pain… I had to fiddle with the ‘string’ a dozen times before it was done… and decided not to even attempt to cut the clean vertical edges I usually do, but settled for cutting it back at an angle which looks ‘tidy’ but didn’t overstress the limited capabilities of the machine.

So, it’s done and will remain ‘done’ until I get the petrol driven strimmer back. The electric one will again vanish into the epths of the garage until it’s needed next time which I hope won’t be for another ten years!!!!