Well, riding mower sounds fine but might I suggest a complete alternative - hire someone to do it. Seriously, $20-25 a job for an acre is about right and there are no shortages to people willing to do it, plus you help out the economy. (heh) I hate mowing with a passion, same with moving (oh GOD do I hate moving furniture!) so whenever possible, I just get someone else to do it. Yeah, I'm a lazy son of a bitch, what of it?

=-Rigs-=

You really don't want to mow an acre with a push mower. Riding mowers work great.

Orrrrrr, just get yourself one of these babies: http://www.husqvarna.com/us/products/robotic-lawn-mowers/

jdreyer wrote on Jun 19, 2017, 15:39:
Keep the manual mower and mow in half hour Increments. It might take several days but it will be a great daily workout!

I hate lawn work, probably due to having childhood asthma and adulthood allergies.

Workout inside under air conditioning and pay the neighborhood kid to mow, depends on how isolated you mean by "moving to the country".

Keep the manual mower and mow in half hour Increments. It might take several days but it will be a great daily workout!

jacobvandy wrote on Jun 19, 2017, 13:51:
I used to do an acre with a motorized push mower every week and that was bad enough... Any more than that and you're going to want something you can sit on and drive around.

I did 1 acre for several years with a 20" reel mower, it was hateful on hot days, but otherwise worked well if I didn't let the grass get too high. The Fiskar reel mower is very nice, but it is also narrower I think, so its going to take a bit longer.

After a couple years a neighbor gave me their old Toro push mower. I installed a new carborator and blade and used it instead. It was much better suited to the yard size.

jacobvandy wrote on Jun 19, 2017, 13:51:
I used to do an acre with a motorized push mower every week

And that took you how many hours? Even a half acre with a home on is approaching the riding mower range in my book.

I used to do an acre with a motorized push mower every week and that was bad enough... Any more than that and you're going to want something you can sit on and drive around.

VaranDragon wrote on Jun 19, 2017, 13:01:
Why Mars? No Magnetic Field = No protection against radiation.

Europa with it's huge supply of water would probably be much more ideal as a space base.

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS - EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.

Why Mars? No Magnetic Field = No protection against radiation.

Europa with it's huge supply of water would probably be much more ideal as a space base. Digging in ice is probably much easier than digging in dirt too. And you need to dig deep on Mars to get the needed protection that humans would require. Also being IN the Jovian system and with access to all the riches present on the Jupiter moons or in the Belt makes more sense.

For that matter the Moon makes more sense than Mars, there really isn't that much difference between the Moon and Mars, the thin atmosphere notwithstanding.

Nimh wrote on Jun 19, 2017, 12:05:
No jungle my man.. high grass is a tick magnet in the North East.

It's also a good place for Raptors to hide. Don't go into the long grass!

No jungle my man.. high grass is a tick magnet in the North East.

I have a cordless 40v Ryobi mower and it's great. It's super quiet and very lightweight. Came with 2 40v batteries which is enough to my front and backyard. One battery will clear the front and 1/4 of the back and the other one will finish it with about 1/4 charge left - as the batteries have little indicators telling you how much charge there is. Than I break out the Ryobi whipper snipper and blower - cordless 18v - also very quiet and light - to finish up.

I actually ended up with a slew of Ryobi tools - impact driver, circ saw, sawzall, hammer drill, as I'm now covered for everything with 4 18v batteries and 2 40v ones. They're the perfect tools for the home DIYer given what they do and their price point. Unless you have money to burn or are an actual tradesman there's really no need to go with Bosch, Milwaukee, DeWalt. My cousin, the carpenter, is of the opinion that Bosch makes the best overall tools.