Women and physical labor

[Amethyst]

Dad trained me not to do that - plus I am also the one who pays the bills, and I hate paying to repair the lawn tractor because it ran over something it couldn't digest

Now, if she could just learn to pick up after herself. She leaves tools and buckets all over the yard, and clippings piled here, there and everywhere. When I mow I just mow over them in an effort to get her to change her ways but to no avail.

Amethyst

 

[DayDreaming]

Amethyst, you sound more active than most of my male friends. Keep going!

 

[MooreBonds]

My grandmother (who passed on at 88 in 2011) was quite the hard labor type.

When she and my grandfather were younger (like 20s young), they had owned multi-family apartments. Back in those days, they had coal-fired boilers and hot water heaters. She would go downstairs before the crack of dawn to shovel coal into the hopper to get it going (grandpa was a plumber who went to various cities to work in the shipyards and at military bases to find work during WW II).

She would continue her hard work lifestyle all her life. Even after she had most of one of her lungs removed in her late 40s due to a rare lung infection, she barely slowed down - still using the push mower on the lawn up until she was in her late 70s!

Part of the reason she probably had such a healthy life was because of her hard work/work ethic...although a Mediterranean diet high in olive oil probably wasn't bad, either. She eventually succumbed to kidney failure - originally brought on by insanely strong medicine they gave her during her lung operations, which did a number on her kidneys back then, but which she lived with the rest of her life. If it hadn't been for that, she easily would have made it to her 90s.

 

[haha]

While I am not fond of women doing hard labor, what whatever floats your boat, A.

When I was in my 30s I got to know an old lady who when a young mother had been hitched to a plow in the Northeast corner of the German Plain. Her husband was the farmer, she the mule. She wisely transferred her affection to a GI, got to America with her son and new man, in time to escape the Iron Curtain, lived in town the rest of her long life and never again got near any ag implements.

Ha

 

[Amethyst]

What you're describing sounds like slavery, and no wonder the woman ran away. I don't believe it's equivalent to someone voluntarily doing yard work on her own timetable.

What's funny, to me, is my female acquaintances disdaining what I do because it is in a yardwork context, while they eagerly compete for a space in an exercise class where they perform many of the same motions.

Amethyst

I got to know an old lady who when a young mother had been hitched to a plow in the Northeast corner of the German Plain. Her husband was the farmer, she the mule.

 

[travelover]

..........
What's funny, to me, is my female acquaintances disdaining what I do because it is in a yardwork context, while they eagerly compete for a space in an exercise class where they perform many of the same motions.

Amethyst

I get a chuckle out of this, too. My neighbors nearly all hire landscapers to mow their lawns, but race off to the gym to get exercise. And complain that they wish that they had more money.........

 

[sheehs1]

What's funny, to me, is my female acquaintances disdaining what I do because it is in a yardwork context, while they eagerly compete for a space in an exercise class where they perform many of the same motions.

Amethyst

I agree with this too Amethyst. Sweat is sweat. The difference between lifting 5 and 10 pound weights versus lifting and working pruning shears is negligible.

Moving that mulch around by wheel barrow is far harder than anything I do in my exercise class with 10 pound weights.

 

[gozer]

My 90+ year old great grandmother was on a ladder, cleaning leaves out of her houses gutters about 6 weeks before she died. No she didn't fall, her heart decided it was done.

I want to go like she did. The old and suddenly part, not the cleaning out the gutters part. I hope we have gutter cleaning robots with laser beams when I am 90-ish.

 

[HFWR]

Oh my. I would never think of you or others as wimps, as long as they don't judge me, and imply that real, successful women get someone else to do such things. That perception of "judging" was what was puzzling me, and led to this thread (Which I have greatly enjoyed).

A.

Not real or successful, but I have people who do most of that stuff...

But I recognized the ladder part. I have several very tall, topiary-shaped yaupon hollies that require ladder and trimmer acrobatics.

 

[HFWR]

I get a chuckle out of this, too. My neighbors nearly all hire landscapers to mow their lawns, but race off to the gym to get exercise. And complain that they wish that they had more money.........

But indoors it's 70-something, while outdoors it's a bit warmer...

 

[haha]

Are you quite sure of these opinions?

It sounds like you are judging these other women, according to what you suppose may be their feelings and perceptions, which may be quite different from what their feelings really are.

Maybe they really think that you are an awesome mountain of energy and youth that they could not hope to match and so they feel a little outclassed.

Ha

 

[SVHoper]

Hi Amethyst,

I have done this sort of thing all my life but am doing less and less, mostly due to laziness :-(

I grew up without a father so was responsible for the heavy yardwork for half an acre. We now have a teeny amount compared to that - mowing doesn't take much more than 5 minutes and I clip the hedge once or twice a year (at the top of an extension ladder).

You have inspired me to be better

 

[Redbugdave]

I get a chuckle out of this, too. My neighbors nearly all hire landscapers to mow their lawns, but race off to the gym to get exercise. And complain that they wish that they had more money.........

I work with a bunch of those types of people! They are mostly lazy at work, too. And it shows a lack of thriftiness.

I operate the lawnmower exerciser, rake exercise machine, chainsaw workout machine, wood splitting exerciser, etc. Although I don't love yard work, I cannot see wasting money on something I can do for nothing and do a better job of it.

 

[Dreamer]

I am one of the wimps and my DH takes care of the hard labor activities at our house. I do not like doing yard work and if he sees me trying to carry something the least bit heavy, he immediately takes over. I am 5'1" and petite. However, I do need to get in better shape. I am one that would prefer the gym. DH has always liked doing yard work and any of the outdoor chores.

I know several women who do hard work activities the same as you. My older sister is one of them and also a fellow employee.

I have always been the one to pay the bills, do taxes and plan the investments. My DH wants nothing to do with this. My sister will not do any finances and will not go with her DH to meet with their financial planner. I also do most of the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and laundry.

I guess opposites attract. I do admire women that do the heavy labor though.