Because every boy needs his own John Deere

When Trent and I got married and melded together our stuff, most of it meshed pretty well ... which is to say I got rid of most of his and kept mine. "Marriage is a compromise" I told him "for you mostly".

One area that we kept separate were our lawn mowers.

I am a Toro girl, for the simple reason being that I look better in red than in green - and looking good is important when you are mowing the lawn. OK, that might not be the complete truth ... the simple reason I am a Toro girl is because that is what daddy bought, and when daddy is buying, you don't argue color (ironically, dad's lawn mower is green. I'm just saying ... ). Anyway, I love my mower, and I always have. She starts right up in the spring, and never needs anything. I put her in rabbit gear, put the headphones in and crank up the red dirt music, and in 1 hour the pasture I call a yard is mowed.

Trent came to the marriage with a John Deere, and if the truth be told, he is very uppity about his green machine. He looks down his nose at the Toro as a second class mower. The Toro is good enough to pull the sprayer or to haul the wagon full of rocks, but he would NEVER mow the lawn with it. Are you kidding?! It won't even mow in reverse?! Bloody hell! Every spring he has to charge the John Deere or jump the battery, and he has to air the tires every time he mows. He never runs it higher than turtle, and it takes him 2.5 hours to mow the yard.

There is a little issue with the Toro. Apparently years of running at rabbit over rocks (who knew? music too loud!) have jacked up the deck so bad that it won't cut nice. It is fine for the back and side yards, but we actually try to keep the front yard looking nice. So I have to go, tail between my legs, and switch mowers for that area. He tells me "don't jack up my John Deere" and I get fighting mad. I leave off the headphones and never take it out of turtle. I hate that mower.

All our neighbors have the fancy zero turn radius mowers or whatever they are called. Trent wants one so bad it just kills him. It is a keeping up with the Jones' thing, I'm sure. Before we had Ryder we would both be out there on our separate mowers, so I just couldn't justify getting getting a new one. We have two perfectly fine mowers (in my opinion). And those things are expensive.

At the farm have 8 cows and 60 acres of land that said cows roam around on. These cows require feeding, and their land requires maintenance. Neither the Toro or the John Deere riding lawn mower are sufficient to get the job done, although I think the Toro would be badass with a balespike mounted on the front of it. Trent and his dad have been using a tractor from sometime in the early 60's, and they both assure me its days are numbered. Trent's employer was selling their tractor, and it was such a good deal that it would just be tomfoolery (add that to my list of good words!) for us not to purchase it. Yeah right. A zero turn mower was too expensive, so let's buy a baby tractor instead. It is a good thing 3 of those 8 cows are mine. The things I do for my Isabella.

And, of course, the tractor was a John Deere.

So now Ryder has his own John Deere. It came complete with a number of accessories, including a brush hog, which anyone north of the Mason-Dixon line calls a mower. I would be willing to bet it is just a matter of time before Trent rolls into our housing addition with his tractor and his brush hog to mow our lawn and asks the question "who is keeping up with the Drennan's now"?!!?

I assume this bottom photo will be the only time i am allowed to be on the tractor. I did not notice either a turtle or a rabbit setting in my limited time on the tractor. Back to the Toro for me!