I stopped at my local L&G place again and she thinks I'm probably good with a standard 22" self propelled mower. She's got one they took back from an elderly guy's family after he went into a nursing home a few weeks after buying it. They asked about her selling it for them but she just did a refund and they've been using as an occasional loaner. She wants me to try it before buying anything. "But it will be mid August" I said. Her..."No problem, it will be here waiting for you." Gotta love the customer service. Wife and I have since discussed though that the right approach is definitely buy a good 22" self propelled and if that's not enough, we'll look for a decent used commercial walk-behind or pay someone to do it. The regular mower will be needed for some tight areas of the yard and will let any of us do the mowing if needed.
We plan to buy a good snow blower too this fall. Our dog loves to try to catch snow thrown from a shovel. The snow blower should be really fun