Sure. All you need is a light that doesn't use any power. Problem solved. Sorry, but any solar powered light I've ever seen is quite dim and isn't going to work to extend daylight hours and make the hens lay eggs (which is the only reason I can think of to light a chicken tractor.) You might be able to find a battery powered one. I've got a really good rechargeable one, but it does not give enough light to stimulate birds to lay, and it doesn't have a timer, plus it probably wouldn't run long enough on one charge to do what you want. Maybe you could run a light off of a car battery. Charge it every day and haul it back out there in the evening.

Perhaps you should sit down and think about your plans for this property. Here are some questions to ask yourself. 1. Will we be doing all this work in one year or will this be stretched out over several years? 2. Once all of the landscaping work has been completed, what tasks do we expect our tractor to perform every year from that point on? 3. What sort of access do we currently have to our backyard and will that change as the landscaping work comes to completion? If you hired a Pro landscaper to perform this work, he would stake out the various areas, shoot grades and then bring in either a small, tracked excavator or skid-steer loader to quickly take care of all the initial dirt work. Any excess fill would be removed from the property immediately and trucked away unless it could be placed in a low spot or used to create a berm. Once the heavy work was done, then he'd use the same skid steer to bring in top soil, stone and any other materials that were labour intensive to move by hand. Hopefully, he could place those materials immmediately but if they were placed next to the area in a pile, then shifting them with a shovel and wheelbarrow would be simple. All of this work could likely be carried out with a single weekend rental of a medium size skid-steer loader and there would be no need to agonize over what tractor with a Johnny Bucket would be best. If your husband does not feel confident that he could operate a skid-steer proficiently, then hire someone. An experienced operator can dig out, carry away spoil and shift tons of new material so fast you'll be amazed. Even if this process was to drag into a second year, all of the above could be done this year. Piles of dirt and stone don't go bad. At least all of that stuff would be sitting right there waiting for the weather to break and your ambition to return. Pretty much any entry-level Lawn Tractor (LT) is adequate to cut the grass, blow some snow and pull a garden cart around a property that is 2 acres in size or less. If you foresee doing more than those tasks once the landscaping has been completed, then perhaps a true garden tractor is what you need, but I don't think that it should be predicated on these short-term projects.

Laurie, Nothing works like the advertisments, you know that. It took a bit of time, but it did chew away pretty good. It did get plugged up with grass a few times, but it's easy enough to remove. As for previous tilled garden soil, wow. It works the soil wonderfully. My garden was quite neglected last year because I sprained my back and I didn't get anyone to come in last fall to till it up with a tractor like usual so the soil is quite packed. But the mantis works this up like a charm. As far as starting, a couple pulls and away it goes. It doesn't sound like a mulcher, but more like a chain saw. I am quite happy with this product overall. I'm thinking that My ground was a little to wet under the grass when I first started tilling. I have let it sit a couple days and then tilled it again. It did dig deeper. In a couple days I'm going to go over this area again. Hope this helps your parents make their decision. Shelley

I would consider downlights for your room. I dont necessarily agree with the previous post about going in the detail of lighting calculations for your room. I do light calculations every day at work and sometimes they can be misleading as there are a lot of factors that they dont take into account, at least the basic programs. One of the biggest factors is the color of your wall and ceiling. If you use downlights and if you would prefer a bright room. I would say 9 lights 4 foot on center. Or 4 downlights 8 foot on center for lower level of lighting and the obvious cost of fixture and installation. In both scenarios I would recommend dimming to give yourself flexibility and increase the life of the bulbs. There are lots of chooses with different sizes and lamping in downlights.