Just something else. Maintenance is a bit about attitude. When we lived in suburbia DH hated mowing, now he enjoys it, same with gardening. It is his wind down time after working in an office all day. Things like raking leaves etc is exercise. When I lost a fair bit of weight last year, it coincided with when I was doing a lot of garden maintenance. So whilst the maintenance can seem to be a negative, you can turn it into a positive. Of course though, there are days when you just don't want to do it like anything else.