When we moved into this house in 2003, I bought a weed-eater. The British would call it a strimmer. In French, it's called une débroussailleuse.
It's a big model, heavy, with a two-stroke engine, bad for the environment. But our half-acre was covered in two-foot high weeds and we needed something to tackle that. So we bought the big boy. It worked great for us. The weeds got whacked and the yard has been under control since. But using this big honking weed whacker for weekly trimming is next to impossible.
First, and foremost, there is the string. The nylon cord that actually cuts the weeds ran out. I have tried and tried and tried, but I cannot wind the replacement cord onto the spindle in a way that makes it work. In other words, once the cord is used, one is supposed to be able to tap the spindle on the ground and new cord should unwind automatically, be cut by the handy little cutter blade, and away you go.
But no. Once the factory-installed cord ran out, I did my best to replenish it, but it just will not work. Plus, the darned thing is too big and heavy to do the normal yard trimming I have to do. Add to that that I have to buy two-stroke oil and mix oil and gas to fuel it. Yuck.
I got it out this weekend and re-wound the string. I started it up and did some weed whacking in the herb garden, and out on the side of the road along our hedge, where the weeds had gotten pretty thick. It was a pain, but it worked. But the string still won't self-feed.
We're thinking of getting ourselves a smaller, lighter, electric model for everyday use. Well, not every day, but you know what I mean.
The SAD time of year
18 hours ago