April 10 – “LMD”

OK all you friends up in the frozen Northlands who are still experiencing snow and bitter cold … I hope you especially enjoy my most recent trials and tribulations.  It will give you something to long for, something to make you pine for life on a tropical island in the Gulf of Mexico near Texas.  Ah … Galveston life in the Spring.

Yes, it is officially Spring here on the Island.  Leaves budding out.  Trees greening up.  And … lawns.  Lawns that were already green with clover and wintertime weeds that now have actual grass pushing its way to the surface.  Lawns that need mowing.  Once again the time has arrived for that most wondrous of Spring and Summer activities: Lawn Mower Day.

This one started out as most others.  Fillerup with gas.  Prime the motor.  Pull the rope.  Adjust the sunglasses.  Pull the cap down a little tighter.  And push.  That’s about all there is to it is most instances.  Push and turn, push and turn, until all the offending sprouts have been decimated.  Easy, right?  Well, at least until I arrived in the back yard.  That’s when the sputtering began.  Complaining and sputtering, slowing and revving, smelling awful.  And then, to make sure I was paying attention, came the smoke.  Billowing from … wait a minute.  Several bolts were missing, and the entire muffler piece was gone.  No idea where that is.  The whole engine was shaking.  And finally, the inevitable happened.  It died.  And no amount of coddling had any effect. Not re-pulling, or waiting for a while and trying again, or re-priming, or cleaning the spark plug or the air filter.  Nothing.  Dead. 

Now we did happen to have a back-up.  Tucked away in our shed was the old Craftsman lawn mower from six or so years ago.  It had started to run rough so we replaced it with this new contraption.  On a whim I did the same mini-overhaul I had just performed on the wreckage of the other one.  Switched out the spark plug.  Checked the oil (amazingly clean, by the way).  Finally added a little fresh gas and gave it a tug.  To my absolute amazement, the thing started.  Ran like a dream.  Quiet.  Consistent.  I attacked the remaining few strips of uncut lawn to get them finished in case it gave out on me, but it held.  The blades were obviously dulled, but that was an easy fix.  By the way, there was a burnt out lawn mower on the street for anyone who wanted it, but it didn’t stay long.  Hopefully it will be happy in its new home.

Now the next task of LM Day has to be the trimming.  I got out the weed eater to attack those hard-to-get-at places and make the lawn edges look professionally done (Or at least as much like a cheap imitation as I could come up with).  As I unwound the extension cord (It was in one of those wheel things), the plug flew up and smacked me in the face.  Right in the eye, actually.  That hurts.  And of course there was a lot of blood involved.  I managed to gather a substantial amount on my hands and the rest of my face before I went inside to have Chris assess the damage.  Just enough, mind you, to make sure she would have that instant of stark, raving, did-he-poke-his-eye-out fear.  She got it cleaned up, and it was just two or three small cuts.  I think I’ll have a black eye, though. 

Once the massive loss of blood was under control, I finished the back yard and started on the front, confidently whipping out the task and whistling a tune (Not really, but the alliteration was too good to pass up).  And just as I started on the final bit of edging, with a grand end in sight (well, not exactly an end.  I still had to spread Grub-ex and weed-n-feed), the weed eater started whining and grinding.  And then the all-too familiar smelling and smoking, until finally it slowed to a crawl.  Oh, it was still spinning, but in case you ever wondered, a weed eater rotating that slow won’t cut even a blade of St Augustine grass.  Admittedly frustrated by this time I tossed it.  Literally.  Tossed it onto the front porch with a resounding crash.  And as before, I went to our stash of back-ups, which in this case was an old weed eater missing it’s string guard that we used to cut the grass in between fences, so you use it at your own risk.  It looks like a long stick with a piece of string tied on the bottom.  But it worked.  I finished the yard.  Chris made me stop after that.  Too much goodness.  I didn’t argue, though.  I had to agree.  That was just too much for one Lawn Day. 

Until I took a shower and the water failed to drain properly.  And we noticed the truck has a flat tire and needs a new muffler and inspection and registration sticker.  And the car needs an oil change.  But all that will have to be a story for another day. 

Psalms 96:11-12 says, “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.”

Father, thank you for back-ups.  What more can I say?  Amen.