There comes a time in every middle-aged man's life where he pauses for a moment and thinks to himself, "I'm tired of cutting the fucking grass." Then he remembers that he has a young, strong son to do these things for him.
There also comes a time in every most southern-raised young man's life where his dad says to him, "I'm tired of cutting the fucking grass, get off your computer whatever and come learn."
I am from North Carolina, where it is invariably either blisteringly hot or freezing cold. These temperature extremes tend to come and go at literally any time during the year (80+ degrees in late November? Sure, why not). Neither of these make for good lawn-maintenance experiences.
My step-father being an infuriating combination of lawn-maintenance fanatic and COPD sufferer, I am the one tasked with what I consider one of the most frustrating activities: weedwhacking (although here it is known as "weedeating". I am told that in some circles this means something entirely different, so I will refer to it as the former). It surprises me how many people seem to have no idea what this is, so I will attempt to explain the process.
Weedwhacking is, essentially, taking a large, hand-held machine and using it to eliminate weeds from ditches, the sides of houses, around potted plants, vegetable gardens, etc. The machine itself consists of a relatively large (slightly larger than the average person's head and significantly heavier) engine at its base with a long pipe that runs the length of its frame (with a handle at the midpoint and a "trigger grip" closer to the engine), terminating at the end with a fan-shaped plastic wedge (this ostensibly prevents dirt and rocks from hitting the user, but more on that later) that conceals the "blades". In lieu of metal blades, weedwhackers use thin plastic strings. At first look this seems odd, but consider that these things frequently make contact with rocks, dirt, trash lurking under tall grass in ditches, etc. As such, metal blades would quickly chip and dull and need to be frequently sharpened. As such, twine is used instead, and is stored inside a spool beneath the wedge; tapping the spool against the ground ejects more twine. Remember this.
On paper, weedwhacking is not especially difficult; it's a hell of a lot more efficient than pulling weeds. Actually doing it, though, immediately reveals a number of frustrations.
It Is Suddenly Hot as Hell Outside
In order to avoid the shrapnel-like grass, rocks, dirt, glass, and other shit lurking in your ditch, you will need to wear long-sleeves, jeans, thick shoes, and possibly a mask if you are especially sensitive to bad air quality. Combine this with probable 75f+ degree weather outside and you will find yourself sweating profusely, as well as being choked with grass particles flitting through the air. By the time you finish, you'll be soaked with sweat and covered from head to toe in a filthy mass of grass and dirt.
Weedwhackers Are Heavy
Weedwhackers only weigh around 25-30 pounds at most; not considerably heavy by any measure. However, weedwhackers vibrate quite violently, given that there's a spool of twine rotating extremely fast at the end of it. The first time I cleared our ditch, my hands were completely numb within five minutes, and were so paralyzed that I could barely open my hands completely by the end of the task. If you have a particularly large ditch or a lot of buildings to clear around, your shoulders and arms will be aching by the end. Also, you may consider using gloves to protect your hands. While ostensibly a good idea, your hands provide rather good grip on the weedwhacker's handle, and using gloves will make it exponentially harder to hold on to. The last thing you want to do is drop that spinning death trap on your feet, shoes or not.
People are Assholes
Our house being located on a surprisingly busy rural road, I often find all manner of surprises hidden under the grass in our ditch. Beer bottles, pop cans, condom wrappers, chunks of cement (I shit you not), etc. This makes for a rather dangerous activity; I never quite know if I'll get a burst of glass shards whizzing through the air (It's almost like playing minesweeper in my own yard!).
Weedwhackers are Inaccurate
This is nearly a corollary to Weedwhackers are Heavy. Because of their weight and the difficulty of maintaining good grip on the handle, weedwhackers are difficult to "aim" when clearing around houses. To elaborate: weedwhackers must be angled correctly to avoid striking crossties, plants, vegetables, or anything else fragile/especially dense. Doing so will not only damage the item in question, it will also eat up twine at an alarming rate, necessitating the purchase of another spool. Moving the twine even slightly too close to the ground will cause it to snatch the dirt and pull itself in even closer, eating more twine in the process.
In conclusion: weedwhacking is an all around awful experience. I do it because I must; I would never wish for someone with a lung-based disorder to do such a thing, and in fact wouldn't wish it on anyone. There's a reason that most people that do this are lawn fanatics, day laborers, or professional lawn care service-men. If I ever find myself owning a house, I'm getting my lawn paved.