“Remoted” – Day 442 (Tuesday)

The highlight of today was after work when it was decided to mow the lawn. The gray and wet weather all weekend had forced a delay of the yard work. The weather today was lovely and a huge insult after the crappy weather of the long weekend. Mowing the lawn is dreadful, but only the starting of the magical mowing machine because it is so hard to pull the stupid cord to start it. Once started, the task is quite enjoyable. Meditative even. Tonight, the red button was pushed three times according to instructions and the cord pulled. And repeated. And all the steps repeated. The gas was checked. The start was attempted. And failed. 

In a huff, I pulled "Don Draper," the people-powered old-timely machine from the shed. The tall and willowy weeds generally bow down before Don Draper and remain uncut while the lush clumps stop Don in its tracks. After a few unproductive and aggravating passes, the power mower was tried again. After a couple more attempts, it started. Perhaps I just needed to be sufficiently pissed for things to work. 

A cloud of black smoke blew out for a few seconds, but it ran and the mowing commenced. Progress was fantastic, even with the thick clumps of faux grass. The perimeter was cut and then another couple passes in the diminishing square meditative path. Suddenly, halfway through, with a large square of grass remaining in the middle of the yard, the mower stopped.

Sink with a view.

Attempts were made to restart, which failed. It finally occurred to me that maybe it was oil. The entire time I’ve had this mower, I haven’t been able to figure out where the oil even goes. A trip was made inside to consult with the all-knowing Google. The search results had stupid and unhelpful steps with no pictures like “Turn the fill tube cap counterclockwise and remove it from the fill tube” which led to my follow up question of “where is the f#$king fill tube on a lawn mower?” There was finally an instruction with images so I knew what the thing looks like and where it is located so I could add oil. It still didn’t start, and the gas was checked again. With more gas, it started and the yard chore was finished.

I remembered that I didn’t clean out under the mower the last time it was used a few weeks ago. After it was tipped on its side, it became obvious that it hadn’t been cleared long before that first mow of the season. There was about a half inch of grass and stuff caked under there. It was peeled off, then scraped off with a metal screw, which was the only thing I could find in the shed that seemed at all helpful. And it was helpful. A pile of caked and dried grass and dirt was accumulated. 

Today was a whack-a-doodle day, but at least the lawn is done and there is a sense of accomplishment. As long as I don’t look at the kitchen sink newly filled with dishes, anyway. At least I can admire the freshly clipped grass while dealing with the dishes.