The Lawnmower Man

That's me, the lawnmower man. At least that's the way I feel about now. We closed on our new home in Webster, NY and I thought that we needed some way to keep the lawn mowed, like hire a lawn service until we moved there. We spoke to one of Anne's brothers and he volunteered to cut the grass for us. He has an older, spare, riding mower that he thought he would bring there even though the lawn is small. Ever since he fell off a barn roof several years ago, fractured both feet and the doctors told him he would never walk again, he finds walking long distance or standing for long periods irritating, so he likes his riding mowers. Before we went up there I had studied Consumers' Reports about electric cordless mowers and had a couple in mind that were rated good. The idea is to get away from the gas, oil and pull starting and to be more environmentally friendly. Anne's brother thought a small mower would be good for places he couldn't reach with the larger mower. So, we went out to the store and the next store and the next store and couldn't find the mowers I had selected. We did find a Worx mower, designed in Italy and made in China. In the store I had no way to check Consumers' Reports to see how it is rated, so I found the side of the box that had some English words and read all about it. We bought it and after one mowing, I'm pleased with it. I hope it is reliable over time.

We returned home last night and found that the lawn here had grown by leaps and bounds since we left on Sunday, so, today, I got out our thirteen year old, self propelled Craftsman and proceeded to get control of the grass. We pretty much need a self propelled model here because our grass is rather thick. I was proceeding along getting control when, all of a sudden, I heard a snap sound and the self propelled mower was being only propelled by me. I decided to finish the back yard the way it was and then have a look to see what was the matter. The matter was that the cable controlling the self propelled part broke. Oh great, now what to do. I didn't want to buy another mower for here that I wouldn't need for our new home (read the paragraph above, in case you missed the story of the lawnmower purchase for our new home). I thought about a lawn service, but the lawn really needed cutting and we do have the house listed for sale. Someone could possibly come to look at it. I thought about lugging it to a repair shop, but was afraid I wouldn't see it again until December. I went on line and found that Sears, in fact, stocked the part and could send it to me by priority shipping for Tuesday delivery. Then I read further that the part may be available at a local Sears store. I called the parts department in Middletown and, wonder of wonders, they had two in stock and the nice lady said she would put one aside for me. Taking the old part with me, I quickly made my way to Middletown, not that I thought that there would be a run on control cable assemblies for a thirteen year old mower, but, you never know. I got the thing. It was only $34.95, plus tax and it went on the mower as easy as pie (I don't really know what pie has to do with things being hard or easy, but people say that, so...).

Now you can understand why I am the lawnmower man. My back also hurts (from typing, I think), so I will stop now and report other adventures as they happen.