Thought I would pitch in here as I have used Snapper RER's for 15 years. It all boils down to respect for the machine. If you fill your 5 bushel bagger with grass clippings and go up a hill without at least 50 lbs of ballast on the front end, you're going to raise the front end. During the fall I actually attach the snow blade to the front end. After I empty my clippings into my dump cart, I hook up, drive to my dump site and dump. When the pile gets too high I drop the blade a bit and push it back. RER's are incredibly versatile. But, if you don't respect the machine it will hurt you. This is no different than any other piece of machinery out there. Learn it and work within its boundaries and you will be rewarded. As to hooking up a Bag N Wagon...Johntommybob, that's just really bad advice. Hooking up a $900 30 bushel capacity trailer to your rear end is not the solution to stopping the front end from rearing up. That wagon should never be used on slopes, even gentle ones. RER's have limits. Once I learned them these things have been among the most enjoyable purchases I've made over the years. These are not dangerous on hills if you know how to use them and use proper ballast and common sense.

Thanks for that tip, David! I googled sod webworms, and found a site or two that explained/described them and had some suggestions for how to identify if you have them: http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/sodwebworm.html. I first went around and looked closely at the grass/soil, but could not find the signs they said to look for. I then did the soapy water test, but didn't see any of the caterpillars (larvae) come to the surface. I did see one adult moth, but they say that doesn't necessarily mean you have the caterpillars as the moths will fly quite some distance. I then took my hand spade/fork and chopped into some various areas to look under the grass about an inch or so, to see if I saw any grubs, caterpillars, etc. that could be the cause. But only found some ants and earwigs. I don't think either of those could cause damage to the lawn. So I am still at a loss, but will continue to look for any signs of the webworms or grubs. Or I may try to find some of the biological bacteria the sites talk about for killing the larvae and treat it anyway. The sites also mention types of grasses that are more resistant to the webworms (types of ryegrass and fescue). So possibly overseeding this fall with these or other hardier grass(like the Reveille blend that Amester mentioned, or others in the thread you linked to David) may be an answer. I am interested in the EZ Wet and Field Magic that Bob_In_Colorado has posted about and may try some of that - for a smaller sized area, though, as this much lawn area has proven to me to be too expensive to maintain (both with $$ on water, and time!).

You have my sympathy. Once we had 4 Abyssinian cats, whose 12 kittens made nights miserable by running around on top of us and biting our toes. It was like having a herd of tiny wild horses in the room. The remedy was to tire them out before bed. We would drag strings for them to chase around the apartment till they could hardly run any more. Irishdancersgram: "when they get older, they'll probably settle down...." Hah! Yes, that is what usually happens, but for the past few months, our 16-year old, who does sleep for much of the day, has taken to wandering around and practically howling for hours and hours during the night. He is healthy, but too old to be interested in playing, so we can't tire him out. While he cries in that loud, demanding Siamesey way (though he is not Siamese), he is leaping from the bed to the window to other furniture and back again, or running heavily right up my body to look at my face and go "purrup" in that endearing inquisitive way cats have. He is worse in warm weather and at the time of the full moon, and I wonder if there are skunks, other cats, or possums in the back yard, so he is dying to go out there. The most I will let him do at night is look out the window. By around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, he is ready to settle down. We are wondering if he is getting a bit senile because he never used to give us so much trouble at night. To my relief, the colder weather now seems to impel him to get under the covers and stay there. No trouble last night.

Spread the word, lol! I remember reading how much contractors hate customers posting notes and markers all over the place. They will just love this! Personally, I think it's an easy and effective technique. If they pay attention to them. I have generally not found them to pay attention to much, whether it be in verbal, list, drawings or post-it note form. Especially with the foreign laborers that get sent in, who would probably read them if they could. What a waste of time and energy trying to communicate. You just get whatever they wanted to do, The way they always do it. Which is usually in their own special way.