Funny how spouses differ, but just the other day as Ms. D was leaving the house during a lightning storm she suggested I get out the ladder and climb up in that tall tree in the middle of the back yard, and trim some branches using that electrical saw with the frayed power cord that has been giving me shocks every time I used it lately…
Yeah, I don’t think your hubby loves and respects you as much as my wife does me!
Well, I haven’t suggested that, but I frequently offer to loan Mr. K the hair dryer…while he’s still in the tub. Hey…power tools is power tools! 
I was going to pop in and say this.
I live alone and just do not have time to wait for people to be around for when I do things. The only time I made sure someone was hanging around when I was using power equipment was when I rented a chipper. I had never used one before and even though everyone was exhausted after helping me cut down trees all day, I told them “I don’t care if you sit in the lounge chair with a drink in one hand and hurl tennis balls at me the whole time. I just want someone here in case I get sucked in to the chipper.” Someone stayed.
The most dangerous thing I do alone is when I burn brush in my little fire pit. Sometimes I have 6’ tall mounds of brush and need to get them gone in a hurry. My tools for this job are a running hose, a shovel, fireproof gloves, and my cell phone.
In fact, I try not to keep anything in my pockets when I’m working lest I ruin my wallet or my keys. But even when I am working a construction job with 20 other people in the building, the cell phone stays with me in case I end up needing help ASAP.
Before all the safety features of push mowers I’d agree. However, nothing has changed with riding mowers that prevent rollovers. More people make the news around here with their riding lawnmower. If you are on flat land I’d say it’s overkill but then I’ve never watched you mow.
I’m reluctant to let other people mow my lawn because it’s a regular minefield of blade wrecking obstacles. I’d have to walk someone through it first to feel comfortable. If there’s something your husband is worried about he should show you instead of wringing his hands.
Feh. He doesn’t know the first thing about the topography of the lawn. I mow it 99.9% of the time. He just doesn’t want me doing it when he’s not around.
Your honor, the jury finds for the plaintiff and awards the sum of one heartfelt apology and a backrub.
He wants to watch you. 
Seriously, it’s great to have an SO that worries about you. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
My Wife is training for a triatolon (sorry that’s a common theme in my posts).
But I make sure I know where she is and what kind of support she may have If something goes wrong. My Wife has never had too many close calls. I have. Things can go to wrong real easy sometimes.
Tell your husband this, and do this for yourself.
“If something doesn’t feel right, or safe, I’ll shut everything down and make sure you’re home so we can look at it.”
And do it.
I think spouses can be overprotective at times. Why, just the other day I was drinking beer. After about 12 bottles or so, my plastic bottle opened cracked, and the only tool around was a chainsaw. I used this to open the next couple of beers, but when my wife saw what I was doing she freaked! Women! :rolleyes:
Sounds to me like he’s being somewhat chauvinistic. Mowing the lawn? Come on now.
Having spent about 70% of the time over last 16 years living alone it has honestly never occured to me that there could even be a concern about using a lawnmower or chainsaw, or whatever tools alone. I’m just having trouble imagining anyone bothing to worry about it.
Mr. Legend doesn’t want me to use the more dangerous power tools or get up on the roof when no one else is home. He won’t do those things either, and he won’t do electrical work when he’s home alone (I won’t touch the wiring regardless, because I’m a menace no matter who’s around). I tend to be a little less cautious about the tools, but then again, I’ve never had drive anyone to the emergency room with an injury from a power tool and Mr. Legend has. I have, on occasion, just gone ahead and done work on the roof or used the circular saw but not really mentioned to him that I was alone at the time. Sometimes something’s just gotta get done.
I don’t think it’s a unreasonable request. He is concerned about your safty and perhaps sees a problem with the mower - well it doesn’t even to be a actual defect but perhaps when he was mowing he may have almost tipped it due to way the ground is, or a rock somehow got kicked up and hit him.
Heavy machinery is nothing to take lightly.
Yeah, that’s pretty much how I feel. But what bugs me is that he doesn’t worry enough to mow it himself. And I’ve done it every week for 19 years. I can hear every single blade of grass growing as we speak, because I missed my window opportunity between rainstorms due to the fact that HE WASN’T AROUND.
I think it’s unreasonable but fairly common. I lived alone for many years before marrying Dearly Beloved and did my own home and yard maintenance, and so was entirely unprepared when he asked me to please not go up on the roof of the Marital Residence when he was not around.
This was in Atlanta and we lived on a wooded lot and he worked a job requiring many long hours. Sane people do not leave their gutters uncleaned in Atlanta unless they want to see trees and other foliage growing in the gutters – it becomes rich, fertile compost in no time at all. (Hey, gutter composting, it could catch on).
So after some frustration I gave him a right of first refusal. When I was going to clean the gutters I told him so in advance and offered him the option of 1) being or coming home; or 2) I would go ahead and do it. I did promise to carry my cell phone which I otherwise hated in case of #2. (I was then a Luddite like that on occasion. The problem I had then with people being able to reach me by phone all the time is that they could reach me by phone all the time.)
It worked out fine. I did generally arrange to do it when he would be able to come home. Sometimes I rescheduled if he couldn’t make it home in light of his obvious peculiar anxiety issues – unless it was just impossible he did in fact come home every single time.
I think the dangers of the lawn mower either didn’t bother him or didn’t occur to him – he did grow up in an urban setting in Holland and probably has never actually used a lawn mower. And since I immediately set about removing all traces of turf from our yard about ten minutes after we moved in (hate turf; if I were brave enough to do it as a guest I would pit turf, that’s how much I hate it) it was not much of an issue.
I worry, sometimes - I live alone, although my boyfriend is around a lot, and sometimes I, say, get up on the ladder to the attic and start throwing cardboard down the ladder and think, what if I fell now? What if I hit my head and couldn’t get to the phone? I mean, people die doing less. But that’s not just power tools, that’s getting up on a ladder (I have crappy balance, too) or fixing the garbage disposal or anything, really. You do take on a certain amount of risk when you live alone. I don’t own the kinds of power tools I’d really worry about - the odds of hurting myself with my drill are much lower than, say, chopping my foot off with my mattock.
Seriously, have you ever considered writing a memoir?
As for me, I use them all the time alone. Wet saws, circular saws, drills, lawnmowers - what needs done needs done.