Good tip! Anytime I plan to work in the yard, it is with me. I am not concerned with missing a call to chat, but having a way to call for help if I needed it. As I get older I am not as sure footed as I once was.

Plus it can be used to make notes for your "to do" list.
Camera in the house? Use your phone!
If mine was bigger it would be helpful to search info on plants or spelling of names as I tag seedlings.

Great tip Becky and one I now adhere to. I had a neighbor laugh at me once because I always carried my cell phone in my pocket while on the riding mower. She told me if it rang I wouldn't be able to hear it over the noise of the mower. I told her it wasn't for receiving calls but rather in case of emergency where I had to call for help!

I have back problems and I remember a time a few years ago when I was on my hands and knees pulling weeds and planting some annuals. I was in the yard for a couple of hours that morning and then when I went to get up I couldn't stand! I sat there laughing at myself thinking I might have to sit there all day until my husband got home from work! I finally was able to scoot over to a post that one of the birdhouses is mounted on and was able to pull myself up using the post. It was funny at the time but a bit embarrassing too.

I also tell female friends that when they walk they should always carry their cell phone in a pocket. If I don't have a pocket I carry the phone in one hand and my bottle of water in the other!

Great tip, Becky and so important!
Thank you for reminding me !

I carry mine when I'm in the yard for fear of snakes.!!!! Very good tip!!!

Thanks everyone. When I had my home (I moved in June, see my blog here) I lived mostly alone and always felt more secure knowing if I tripped and needed help I had my phone!

I always carry my cellphone with me in the yard in case I fall and break something in my body or just can't get up. My balance isn't so good anymore.

Good advice, Boo. I always carry mine. Even leave it within reach when showering.

I learned to carry my phone at all times when I moved into this house. First night I arrived with Bert the Standard Poodle. It was dusk. Parked the car in the garage, walked in, took off his leash, put down keys and cell phone and took him to the backyard. Closed the sliding door to avoid A/C escaping in HOT September. I didn't know there was a lever made to fall into a lock position.... from the inside. Locked out. Major major Haboob on the way with tons of wind and dust. I had on a wet bathing suit and wet t-shirt and knew no one in my new neighborhood. After a few knocks on strange doors someone answered and let me use their phone. Trouble is, these days, the cell phone remembers the friend's phone number ... not your own memory. I could remember only the number of my former neighbor and he came over to help me get into the house. Rather scary.

I'm not tied to the cell outside in the yard. If I go somewhere, I'll take it...that's why DD wanted me to have it.

Only time I've really needed my cell I couldn't even use it. I'd knocked myself clean out and gave myself a wonderful concussion (not to mention the gorgeous bruise on my forehead) running into the hatch door of my van. I'd been out for about 2-3 minutes and took another 15 minutes to get unwoozy enough to sit up. Called my DH (who was inside the house) to come help me and took him another 20 minutes to waddle out to see what was wrong. He felt bad that it took him so long (plus he'd let the dogs out and they bowled me over.. I'm splattered all over the driveway and then get mauled by a 120lb golden & a 60lb mutt who didn't see what was wrong with sitting on me while I'm plastered out on the concrete, slobbering me half-to-death). Now if I call him on the phone, he jumps.

Yup that is very, very good tip to remember!! Learned that the hard way, when we used to live in an apartment and my hubby accidentally latched closed the glass sliding doors after his lunch as he went back to his work. The sliding doors were the only access point to our small garden patio and going back indoors...had left my cellphone inside, and temperature outside at the high 90's yuck! Stuck outside for over 30 minutes, debating, should I risk it and try going over the fence, but opposite the fence is a sloping ditch..will not work for me and it was going to be hotter too as the afternoon progresses.

Luckily my 3rd floor neighbor heard me shouting and was kind enough to contact my hubby. Looking back it was so funny..was also trying to see if there were some folks on the parking lot side of the opposite apartment complex going back to their cars after lunch. It was my shouting to one guy at the opposite complex that my 3rd floor neighbor heard heheh! She kept me company for awhile thru her balcony till my hubby returned home ...The 2nd floor apartment right above us was empty at that time too. Luckily too my hubby's office is just about 10 minutes away so he was able to return home quickly grinning with apology

Sounds like we have all learned a valuable lesson. Like Susie, mine goes from room to room with me too. You just never know.

Funny stories though!

Fantastic idea! I too, took a fall in the garden, while no one was home! I have a very bad back, and of course that is what i fell on! I could only lay there with legs up in the air, hollering fer help! Could not roll over, or even put my legs down....as the back had locked up....and any attempt to move was unbearable! After about half an hour, a neighbor half block away heard me and came to help get me up. Very painful ,embarrassed, and unsuccessful............as the weeds i was after was still there, laughing!

I usually don't carry mine with me in the yard, but guess I will now. DH always reminds me to take mine when I take a walk to the library which is only a block away, but it doesn't take long for something to happen. DH always carries his with him, good habit. Thanks Becky for the great tip.

Yes Becky, great tip & a lesson learned from the travails of others. I have not been in the habit of carrying mine while out in the yard. But now I read the stories & it could happen to me so from now on I will have it with me. I have always carried it when leaving the yard but now I will have it in the yard too. Thanks everyone for your stories too.
And I will add a tidbit also. This is courtesy of my husband. Sort of a security precaution. When taking a walk & you see an unsavory looking character either walking or going by in a car or you're going past a rather deserted area go ahead & pull out your cell & put it to your ear & "act" like you're talking to someone --- even go ahead & have an imaginary conversation out loud --- If someone is thinking of doing you harm they will think twice if they think you're actually talking to someone.

Personally, I wouldn't ever walk alone unless it's inside a mall and I've never seemed to be able to walk for exercise in a mall ... too many shops/stores that call my name wanting me to shop.

Well, I walk the dog & that's when I walk alone so to speak. But I always walk in our neighborhood. Still, there are empty lots & sometimes a car will come by a few times & that makes me a little edgy. But I never, NEVER walk unless it's full daylight.

Yep, can't be too careful nowadays in my opinion. I have a riding lawnmower and a few years ago I was mowing along a wooded area outside our fence/property line. It's county property but they never seem to keep it up so I always mowed along there. A station wagon drove by a couple of times with a guy just looking and driving real slow. He had his window down and all of a sudden he stopped in the middle of the road adjacent to me and the mower and was asking me if I knew where Joe so and so lived. I stopped the mower and told him no there wasn't anyone around here by that name. He opened his car door and began to get out and kept saying are you sure you don't know where ______ lives? Meanwhile I was getting off the mower and began walking backwards toward my yard. I backed into the hot tailpipe on the mower and burnt my leg really bad but left the lawn mower right there and hurried to the house. He started laughing and got back in his car and took off. I wish I had gotten his tag number but I wasn't about to hang around. None of my neighbors were not home at the time and I came in and locked the door and left the mower out on the side of the road for my husband to finish. Some people think I'm too paranoid but I just have an instinct that's usually right and something about that guy was not right. Maybe he got a kick out of scaring me I don't know but now I always have the cordless phone outside on the brick wall when I'm out front and my cell phone in my pocket!

Good girl! Aw, man, that tailpipe had to hurt. Better to be safe than sorry & be thought of as paranoid than to be thought of as dead.

Yep, and what a blister it caused, I still have the scar too. I've always been a bit over-protective of myself and everyone around me, especially children. I used to think if I'd had kids they would have grown up with a terrible complex. I don't know, maybe I've watched too much news, but when that little voice of intuition tells me to beware, tells me that something just isn't right .... I listen.

Kinda got off topic here, sorry. I do think this is a great tip, it's a very smart idea to have a phone handy for emergencies when you are outdoors, especially if you are home alone and neighbors aren't nearby!

Yikes, how scary, Lin! Good idea to trust your gut!
I always carry my cell phone while hiking in our woods, in case I fall or get run over by a deer--it almost happened once! Also, I am prone to having seizures if I'm sleep-deprived. One day I was only about 50 yards from the house, and I had to call my Mom because I was feeling bad, and she said I sounded confused. She called Dad home from work and he drove me to the emergency room. They did all kinds of tests to rule out a stroke. Dad said I kept asking him why I was at the hospital. I have lots of holes in my memory of that day. The docs decided I was having "absence seizures", where you are awake, but unaware of what's going on.
I know I hadn't slept well the night before. Now if I don't get enough sleep, I make sure I take a nap before going out! I'd never had that type of seizure before or since.
So yep, that cell phone was a savior!
Also, at work, I sometimes get locked into the dog kennels while feeding/cleaning. I made a tool to unlatch it from the inside, but it doesn't always work well, so ya never know when I'll have to call the girl in the office to let me out.