Some accuse me of being an urban dweller, but I can reassure you that I spent many a summer digging holes: holes for fence posts, holes for our family’s sprinkler syste, and holes for mafia hits. Er, scratch that last one.

It’s unfortunate I had to rely on crap department store brands instead of a Zac Tool. No longer will I make that mistake. The Zac Tool super heavy duty trenching shovel will work in narrow spaces as well as large and hold up to the toughest ground (it has a 12 gauge blade) and it’s patenteded blade and shake design make shaping a breeze.

Cost: $19-$39 @ Zac Tool

At first glance you might think it’s a pruner but upon second glance you may also realize it’s a Leatherman. You’d be right. Not only are you looking at Leatherman’s take on a pruner, but in fact it’s the new for 2008, Leatherman Genus. The Genus is a landscape multi-tool with stainless steel bypass pruners, 420 HC clip-point knife, sprinkler-head adjustment key, phillips screwdriver, flat screwdriver, saw, bottle opener, soft-wire cutters, open-end adjustment wrench and a diamond-coated file.

The Leatherman Genus weighs only 11 ounces and is made of T6 anodized aluminum and stainless steel blades and tools. Works with Leatherman’s removable bit drivers for additional tools.

Cost: $90 @ Gardeners Edge

Yeah, it’s a saw. We’re posting a hand saw and this is why. A guy needs to know his way around tools and being able to saw through a piece of wood is a necessary skill set.

The Lynx saw by the Garlick Saw Company of Sheffield England has a heritage of over 150 years. Each piece is handcrafted one at a time by an English craftsman. The steel alloy blade’s teeth are taper ground to a straight tooth line ensuring proper geometry (no binding = no strained shoulders). The handle is made of gorgeous American Black Walnut.

This saw is often backordered wherever you look so buy and plan accordingly.

How to: Proper handsaw basics article at Popular Mechanics.

Cost: $180 @ Traditional Woodworker

Green or not these are pretty damn cool er, hot. The English company IDC announced in a recent press release that they will be mass-producing an inflatable solar panel and make it available for roughly $200.

Called the SolarStore, the panel will inflate into a 2 meter rectangular shape from a backpack and have the capacity to heat three full tanks of water, paying for itself within six months. Their primary targets are developing nations, but what’s to say you can’t throw one of these and ready yourself for the next blackout. Summer’s coming California. [via Ecofriend]

Cost: $200

I see two things here:

1) Grass’ worst enemy and 2) Neighborhood envy at it’s finest.

If you own any more than 2 square yards of grass then mowing is a chore. Like any good man your desire to turn chores into sweet sweet fun is inherent and there’s no better way to make that happen than upgrading your gear. Perhaps throwing away your Snapper push mower and trading in for an a diesel powered 24 horsepower full-time 4wd with a 62″ wide blade deck is overkill, but it never hurts to know the best.

The X749 embodies all that’s wonderful about American grandiose. Everything from it’s heavy-duty robotically welded frame to accomodate a myriad number of attachments, shock resistant nodular cast iron front axel, four-wheel steering for tremendous maneuverability and less time on that damn push mower, two-function hydraulic control system to control peripheral equipment, 12v power outlet for your iPod or cellphone, six-position tilt steering wheel, and of course a cupholder.

Better yet, this is only a few of the features you’ll find on the John Deere x749. Go ahead, build your own, but don’t blame us when your 4.5hp Toro suddenly starts to look just a little… diminutive.

What this means to you: Suddenly living in New York doesn’t seem all that appealing. Maybe a Saturday jaunt up to Central Park is in order. (Ed: Pass on the weekly summer mowing, but I’m drooling at the prospect of putting some baseball field patterns in someone’s yard - at least once)

Cost: $13,429 @ John Deere

Reasonable Option: John Deere LA105 Lawn Tractor | Cost: $1499 @ John Deere

New for the 2007 season, the official NFL® leather game ball by Wilson is the epitome of footballs. It’s constructed with high-quality leather for top performance at the highest level and the ball features NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s signature. Best part is that it’s made here in the good ol’ US of A.

What this means to you: Just because you can’t play with with real players doesn’t mean you can’t play with the true pigskin.

Cost: $90 @ Dicks Sporting Goods