Doing the mantis happy dance!

DH brought home a mantis for me to try today. It belongs to the guy who sells them and he told DH that if we liked it, he would sell it to us at a very reasonable cost. It was new last year.

I've been tilling with it, and I absolutely love it. DH isn't sure if that's what we want, but I am, and the price is so reasonable that I don't think we can pass it up.

It doesn't have any instruction books, so if anyone has any hints or tips about them, I'd love to hear them.

I'm off to till up some more things since it's not even close to dark yet. I'm having a blast with this thing.

You are having such a good Spring Joan. What a sweetie your DH is!!

I remember how happy I was when Jim bought me my first tiller. Could have tilled up the whole yard. Just loved it. Times have changed. :-( Not so much fun anymore. Now it is more like work, but I'm 18 years older too. Everything is work!! So glad you got something you needed, Joan. Have a ball with it. Those acres of flowers and other things will be much easier to plant now.

Joan, I have one also. I'd be so lost with out mine. It is truly a little work horse.

HI LISA!!!!!!
sue

TraciS just got her a new one and she has been tilling crazy ever since LOL she showed me how it worked and I must say it does a good job, and I am sure she would give it a A++ I am still lugging my big old tiller and I just know that a mantis would be easier on the ole back! LOL

HI Sue!!! :-)

A mantis is the only way to go up here, since most of our beds are raised. The mantis is light enough to lift into the beds. I envy your aquisition!

Joan, the only Mantis I know is a Praying Mantis...maybe I'll start praying for one! Or you could bring yours down here and we could "till" 'til dark! LOL Jo

I have one too. It is a hard working tool. The only problem I have had with mine is that if I run it hard and don't give it a couple of minutes of ideling time to cool off the next time I go to start it the engine won't turn over. Hubby did something to it to free it up and it works ok now. It is a handy little rig, great for getting into small places, and perfect for stirring compost into the row before planting. Don't get your feet under it, I'm not speaking from experience thankfully, but I have a good emagination!!

I'm really loving this thing, and it's official that I get to keep it now. DH even talked the guy down a little more on the price. DH is gone for the weekend, and if the weather will hold out, he will be in for a surprise when he gets home Sunday night. I'm hoping to get two new beds completely done.

Joan...don't let it get away from you...you might till right through the existing flower beds! Jo

You're right Jo, that definitely would not be a good thing. It doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate though. It's raining and the wind is blowing very hard this evening. I hope it straightens out by tomorrow.

Don't forget the photos Joan!! :-)

I will take photos of the progress, but if it doesn't stop raining and the wind doesn't die down, it's not going to be a very productive weekend. Still hoping that tomorrow morning will dawn as a bright, warm, and calm spring day.

I'll take pictures, I love doing that since I also have a new/used digital camera that I'm becoming very attached to.

Joan(who's starting to think she's being spoiled)

We managed to finish off the first round of the new bed Joan but have to wait to bring in more organic 'stuff'. I haven't enough compost for this project, although I do have lots and lots of leaves!!! I wonder if I can put sawdust down - what do you think?? Horse manure, that's plentiful too!! Hope your plans are not disrupted by the weather and that you have a great productive day!! :-)

Joan you keep going and you DH won't have to worry about mowing.... ( you think that's what he had in mind?) lol

Margaret, I've never used sawdust in anything, since I don't have any available here. I hope someone can help you with that. I'm going to use composted cow manure from walmart and bags of topsoil also from walmart. This is from the first purchase DH and DS made this spring. They bought lots of it.

Everyone abandoned me this weekend, with my new toys, the supplies they have supplied me with over the past month or so, and also left me the keys to the diesel pickup with the topper, along with very explicit instructions that I could take it to town to get more garden supplies, but I had to make sure to follow the instructions about starting it and warming it up. LOL!

DH's parting words were, "WHEN you get the itch to go to town for more garden stuff, and IF you even THINK that you are going to bring home that maple tree you've been eyeballing, just make sure you take the tarp that's in the garden shed and put it down on the bed of the pickup to protect the carpet, because you are going to have to lay it on it's side to make it fit."

Yes, this pickup has a topper and the pickup bed is carpeted! Go figure!!!

Peggy, I've been wondering about the sudden attitude change around here, and you might be onto something. We have 5 acres. He is responsible for the mowing. I'm responsible for the flower beds and veggie garden. Hmmm...you might be right... my workload increases and his decreases. That's okay by me. But, in all fairness to him, he is going to be extremely busy this summer because we are going to be building our first house also. His workload is going to be pretty heavy this summer, but he's still thinking of my gardening wants and needs and doing his best to provide them and keep me happy. The house means more to him than it does to me for some reason. The house project is his dream, and it's been ongoing for about 10 years now. Myself, I really think I could live in a cave and be perfectly happy. Maybe we are mismatched or something, but I'm still gonna keep him. I prefer to think of it as us moving into a new phase of our lives that I haven't really grasped yet. Since our kids are getting older and starting to leave home, maybe the time has come for us to think about us instead of always thinking about the kids and their needs all the time, and start to prepare for the time when it's just the two of us.

Oh my, how I wish he was here so I could give him a big hug and kiss for this thoughtfullness. I feel so bad that I've wished for him to be more helpful in the past. He has been thinking on all this for a long time, but I didn't know it. Last fall, he put some major restrictions on our budget, and now I see why. He was trying to get our finances in order and see if we could live within the means it would take for us to enjoy the things we are now starting to enjoy. The restrictions were pretty strict too. I was so caught up in raising the kids and seeing to their needs that I really didn't take the time to look at the overall picture. If hindsight is 20/20, I can see much clearer now.

I need to pay a favor forward and gift a subscription to someone for DG. If you know of someone, please email me. I really want to pay this forward, since a wonderful person, and I don't know who it is, payed for my subscription during DH's "test the family to see if they can adapt" period.

Joan (who's feeling like a total schmuck now and off to sit in the corner for a spell and think about all the blessings in her life)

PS...typing all this out to my friends really made me take a look at life and put it in perspective. If I wouldn't have been visiting with you all about the mantis, I don't think I would have realized all the blessings in my life. Thank you, and I love each and every one of you.

Joan that was a wonderful message. You are indeed blessed and so is that lovely man of yours!!

Joan my dh just got me one-early bd present and i just luv it-nothing compares to a mantis! Enjoy it!! I was walking backwards tilling till dh showed me how to do it RIGHT!!!
No video with mine either! So very happy for you.
Have fun and enjoy it!
dori

You guys have given such glowing reports here, that I guess I'll be "praying Mantis" for awhile!

Weeze - I'm now thinking of testing it in snow too, since we are getting dumped on yet again!

Dori? You're not supposed to walk backwards with it? I thought you were! So, hows the right way?

Louisa! No pictures yet, as our weather isn't being very cooperative. At this rate, it may be July before I get any decent beds built!

Anyone got a manual and access to a copy machine? I'll pay for the copies and postage. I think I'm missing a lot of what it can do without the manual.

JoanJ: This sure seems to be a late spring. I think we're about 2 weeks behind here. It's driving me nuts, since I have all these plants to deal with. Ordinarily, I'd be getting tables set up in preparation for putting them outside, but that's a long way down the pike this year!

Sucks huh Weeze? I'm really, really hating what's happening now. I had a couple of nice days to play outside and get some things rolling, but now we are snow covered again, and 8-12 more inches in the forcast for the next couple days. I'm gonna start saving my nickles and dimes to move South! And, I'm serious about that! I figure by the time I'm 90 I'll have enough if I'm very prudent! Gonna start looking seriously at the lottery too! LOL

So, what's your weather doing these days?

Joan let's happy dance together, I don't have one but sure am happy that you do, now I can borrow it lol.

Wind, come on over and get it. You are welcome to it at this point, since I'm not gonna be using it for a while. I'm gonna have to dig the snowblower back out again! LOL!

Oh Joan please don't give up,I know you'll be able to use it this year. Just buy plants instead of planting seeds and you'll have a lovely garden. The Wind is on the way to pick it up until you need it lol.

Joan so sorry to here about your snow-we are getting rain rain rain!!!
I was walking backwards with the mantis till Dh went out to plant peas-I was watching him-He lets the tiller go forward and pulls backwards then-It breaks the new ground and then tills it all level and you just keep moving forward!! Its a heck of alot ezier than walkin backwards all over. Once you get the hang of it -look out!=] Im really glad you got one-the are the BEST!!!!!
Really sorry about that darn SNOW-Mother Nature sure has an attitude this year! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Joan it looks like I won't need it either, it has been raining for the last two days and some parts of Ohio is under a flood watch until 5 PM this evening. So far the flooding has missed me or so they say,if it keeps up this way we will be on that warning list. I hope it doesn't flood like it did last year,I have never replanted so many seeds and plants in my life. I just lost too many plants and hope that this year is a better one.

Doesn't sound like anyone is having a good spring. If it's not snow and tons of rain, it's dry and hot. Really makes me wonder what summer is gonna be like.

It will be hot and dry I just know it.

Whenever I get depressed about our spring up here in Alaska, I just think about the freaky weather you guys are having down there, and I realize I have no room to complain. How disheartening to see everything coming up, then planning to set things out... and wham! more snow, or frightening storms.

Here it is just a very late spring. I feel as if we are about two weeks late, and that just means we've lost about about a 10th of our summer... I'm sure winter isn't going to hold off just to be fair! I have a greenhouse bursting with plants, but I can't start hardening everything off until it warms up... and that could be another couple weeks. Meanwhile, I have more things to transplant... oh, dear.

Maybe this whole gardening thing is God's way of teaching us to accept that we cannot control everything on this earth, and that we can only learn to cope with those things we can't control. All, I know, is that I am not doing a very good job of coping right now!

Weeze, your last paragraph cheered me up lots. I had forgotten about the serenity prayer, and what you just posted is part of it. Okay, I can cope a little longer I think. I'm not sure the plants can though. They are starting to look a little stressed out. On an up note, it warmed up today and most of the snow melted, so now I'm just hoping we don't get the winter blast they are predicting for next week. I'm now looking at memorial weekend as my plant-out weekend. I hope the weather is somewhat normal by then.

Joan,
My dh was complaining about the cold-i had to remind him this is regular May weather-ok somedays are below normal, but our last frost date is May 15th. Memorial weekend can be warm or cold! But doggoneit June had better not disappoint me! ;] I can make it through may-I just keep telling myself-this is Michigan and thats how it is! We are still getting lows in the 30's at nite this week(sigh)but NO snow! Im sending warm thoughts across lake michigan to you!!!!!
"Our day will come"

We're gradually melting off here, but we are still getting some cold nights that leave frost on the truck windows. We've had a little rain, but no snow, thank goodness. Ordinarily, we'd be setting out our plants in another 2 weeks... not sure if we'll do it this year... it just isn't warming up like it should.

Hi Everybody!!
Oh I hate to disappoint you all, but here in the Good Ole South, things are growing like crazy!! We had 2 weeks of unusual 85 degree temps, and it really gave everything here a Great Jump Start!! I live about 35 miles west of Atlanta, out in the Country!! Once the Blackberry's start blooming here, we normally have nothing to worry about. I have Hollyhocks that are taller than me with buds all over them, becuz they never even died off this winter. Stayed Green all season!!! I have Tomato Plants that are already about a foot and a half tall, and cuc's, zucchini, watermelon, Jalapeno peppers, and several other veggies coming up like wild fire, and I am soooooooo excited. Like Mollybee said in her post above, I have been tillin like a crazy lady. I have some back prob's, and couldn't stand that Monster of a tiller one more season!

I got the Wheel Set w/my Mantis and I absolutely LOVE it!! It even helped me dig out for my Koi Pond. Nomore having to ask DH to dig a hole for a big tree or shrub anymore. I just get my Mantis and get it done!! Also, I am so thrilled to have something small enough to go right in the center of all the rows in my Garden and keep it neatly groomed!! All of my rows are just set for the mantis, so that I do not have to worry about weeding!! This thing has allowed me to do all of my flower beds the way I wanted them. Curved and 'S' shaped. It removed the Bermuda sod with no problem at all, and now I finally have some design to all my flower beds w/o it being any hard work at all! Whenever Joan asked me about how I liked Mantis, I had to give this little powerful thing GREAT reviews. All of my neighbors are ENVIOUS!!! Even the Ladies who wouldn't get their nails dirty for nothing. They could even use the Mantis w/o Breaking a Precious Nail!! I was very sceptical about it tearing thru our Georgia Red Clay, but whenever I found out I had 30 Days to return it, if it didn't do the job, I decided to go ahead with my purchase, and boy am I glad I did! But, it really does do exactly like they advertise it does!!

Just a TIP on HOW I TALKED MY DH INTO GETTING ONE:

For all of you that have to edge your grass and are using a weedeater attachment~My DH wanted an edger because he was sick of having to turn the weed eater side ways and turn it into an edger.Also it was rough on the weed eater and ate up the cord like crazy, up against the concrete. Well, the Mantis I have, came w/a FREE Border/Edger!!!!!! My DH was about to spend $149.00 on an edger because using our weed eater edger attachment was killing his shoulder, and I just explained how by getting this Mantiis, we could kill 2 birds w/1 stone!!! He loves being able to just push the edger and not have all of that weight bearing on his shoulder. The edger really woorks Great as well!! I had wanted a Mantis for over 3 years, but ofcourse at 1st thought, it was too Good to be TRUE!! Well, it wasn't!! This thing is a life saver and DH loves not being asked to dig all of my holes for me and I can get alot accomplished even whenever he is @ work or out playing Golf!! Maybe, we should all get together and get paid for all of our Feedback!! What an awesome Infamercial (sp?)!!
I'm sure Mantis would love this!! Well, to all of you that have one, "Haappy Tilling!!!!" And to those of you who do not, All I can say is, "I really hope that if you have been considering it, you'll go ahead and make your life in the Garden alot easier!!" It is truely the best Gardening Tool I have, or have ever had! I am as protective over it as DH is about his riding Mower!! I guess I understand that obsession with a gardening tool now!!

Well, now that I have written a book, 'Joan, I am so happy for ya!' It really does make a woman's life in the digging department alot simpler and a Breeze!! Huuuuurrrrrrrrrayyyyyyyy for Mantis!!!!

Thanks, Traci S