In every job that MUST be done...

I make an effort to find some kind of fun, "In every task [I] undertake!" Though many of them are certainly not, "A piece of cake," there are some that are particularly challenging.
As a military wife, I have the opportunity at times to take on responsibility for every chore necessary to keep our home functioning. This brings a whole new level to selling a home and quite frankly I try not to think about just every single thing I manage to accomplish lately in one day.
One of these ever faithful chores is lawn care. My neighbors have been so incredibly kind to me, especially when Mark made his PCS move to WA the end of March. One neighbor in particular, Josh, offered to take care of my lawn whenever he did his. He and his family live right next door and, suffice it so say, my lawn is not all that big. I took him up on the front yard since all the twists and turns around the garden area are too cumbersome with our riding lawnmower anyway. The backyard I have still been taking care of myself; mainly because Josh doesn't know when I have Petey and Lucy outside.
I waited for Molly to take her nap today before tackling the 'jungle' that had become my backyard. (I visited my parents for 12 days and apparently it rained in Charleston almost every day I was gone) Since the battery on the riding mower is so old, I've had to recharge it every time I need to start it this season.

• After 5 minutes on the charger, nothing happened. I double checked my steps and realized the blades were still down. Oops! I remedied the situation and let it charge a little longer.
• At 10 minutes on the charger, full choke, the engine began to turn over but never fired. I left it a little longer and put it at half choke.
• 15 minutes into the charge, I was still getting no fire from the engine. Full tank of gas, plenty of good oil, no observable problem. At least to my untrained eyes anyway. I gave up.
  

Since it was a weekday afternoon, virtually none of my neighbors were home. And I had to get the lawn taken care of. There was no way I could let it stay the way it was and expect any potential buyers to be remotely impressed.
So, the weed-eater it had to be. For the entire backyard. Mind you, I did realize that my backyard is relatively small. But it still took a good hour and a half of balancing, swooping and constant arm pressure to get all of the high patches of grass and weeds taken care of. I kept reminding myself that I would have arms of steel if this became a regular thing! Stretches have been my friend for the remainder of the day!
I'll probably let my neighbor know of this new crisis thrown my way. I'm confident that he will offer to mow the backyard as well. But I'll definitely let him know I'd still like to do the weed-eating. Especially since those things can eat so much fuel!
I'm going to re-stretch my tired arms...