On Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:34:10 -0400, Greg Guarino
wrote:
On 10/17/2012 11:52 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
The trimmer was heavy and thus came with a harness that I had to wear to
support it. The back of the harness had a bright yellow plastic sign
warning people to keep back 50 feet.
Those are on all new harnesses, thanks to some fine atty somewhere.
In this case it doesn't seem excessive. I wore goggles, but I really
should have had a face shield. I had at least one small object sting my
cheek. And I was extra careful around the (galvanized) fenceposts. Had I
hit one with that blade it might have torn a rift in the fabric of the
space-time. What's more, it *looks* like a slightly over-spec string
trimmer, so people might feel they can come nearer than they should.
Yeah, I use my neighbor's mesh face shield and earmuff combo when I
work for him. They're on my to-buy list for next year. Those little
stones and twigs can scar your face up right quick, can't they?
I didn't really read the rental agreement. I'll bet there are some
industrial strength disavowals of liability in there.
Oh, yeah. Half a page worth in 0.0002-point type.
It had two handles spaced 2 feet
apart on a crossbar that looked like bicycle handlebars, these to allow
you to sweep the carnage from side to side.
This was one exceptionally vicious looking tool, and made short work of
the extreme overgrowth. A yard cleaned up for us, a one-hour ecological
apocalypse for whatever was living in there.
Quick, now spray all of it with glyphosate
Had to look that up. Yes, I have Round-Up at home.
Just don't buy it from Mons(ter)anto.
and cover it with landscape
fabric (4'x220' Scotts at Homey'sDespot for $46) and 3-5" of mulch.
Next spring, replant what you like and don't worry much about weeds in
the future. I just replaced a lawn that way.
Another area of ignorance for me. Are you saying that I would plant
grass, say, over the mulch and paper? Seems odd. Maybe you mean to pull
up the paper first? That sounds odd too, what with all of the (by
Spring) matted mulch on top. Could you flesh it out a little, in small
words? 
I'm sorry. I took you for a sane individual. Sane people don't plant
grass, they kill it _With_Extreme_Prejudice_, IMHO.
I thought you were talking about garden planting beds, not an existing
l*wn.
Get a copy of this book. Maybe your sanity will return.
http://tinyurl.com/cdukh7z The Wild Lawn Handbook
--
To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves...
We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is
here--with its gift of energy and heightened awareness--so we can do our
best and learn the most in the new situation.
Peter McWilliams, Life 101