Outside Perspective & My First Tractor

Improvement is often slow, so it's nice to have an outside perspective of my progress.  Last week my in-laws  came to visit, and we spent a couple days doing touristy things.  The subject of my health came up, and my father in law noted that I did seem to be much better and inquired further.  I expressed disappointment that I still had to sit down at both museums when my feet were tired, and he noted that it wasn't just me, everybody had to sit down...  So I guess that confirms that I've come up to couch potato level of fitness, although I'm still a ways off from farm girl fitness.

Speaking of farm girl fitness...  I bought a two wheeled tractor while on vacation.  Behold, the BCS 732 with electric start:

And yes, that is a tractor.  It pulls things, and has attachments that do different farm jobs.  I do have to walk with it, so I do get some exercise while using it.

I got the sickle bar mower attachment, but I'm not giving up on scything.  Scything is a way better exercise and it doesn't wake up the neighborhood when I want to mow early in the morning.  On the other hand, I can't keep up with the garden paths by scythe alone and this lets me get it done more quickly.

The sickle bar may be an unfamiliar mower type to you, it's primarily used in harvesting hay, but it can clear a garden path pretty well, maintain a pasture, and even take out small saplings.

Above mentioned father in law came along with me to the tractor store, and gave me credit for not being afraid to tackle the machine.  I've never run a powered lawn mower before, and I bought a big complicated one.  I brought the manuals along on a long drive to one of our touristy stops, and the next day I brought out my cliffs notes and fired her up on the first try.  Next challenge will be finding the right oil to change after the first four hours of run time.  She's got three or four different oil pans, and I've never done engine maintenance before either...