May. 19, 2003 ~ An expensive day
Husband asked if I wanted to get two new tires put on my truck, and I pointed out that College Boy had one tire worse than mine. I just noticed it yesterday. So his car got two new tires plus an alignment, and we were bemoaning the fact that we spent so much, and I still need tires, but what are you going to do? These things happen.
Well, we said, it's a wonderful day to mow the yard. Cloudy and cool, with a nice little breeze. Excellent, we thought. Husband hopped on the mower and had made about three turns around the front yard when an ominous "clunk" could be heard. He finally came inside, with a not-so-happy look on his face. I thought maybe a belt had broken, meaning we'd have to make a trip to town. But, no. It had thrown a rod, which technically speaking, is a Very Bad Thing. I know this.
"So... can you... fix it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"It would need a new engine. And it's nine years old. No way."
At this point I got up out of my chair, lay down on the bed, and covered my head with a pillow. When I peeked out from under it a couple of times, Husband was still there. Apparently, he didn't plan to go away.
So after a suitable period of mourning (which required a small amount of whining on my part) we went to Sears, bought a new one, and put it on a credit card. Just what we needed. Actually, we didn't expect to make it through last summer without buying a mower, so we knew this was coming. We should be grateful that it lasted this long, but it doesn't seem to make it any easier.
After we got the new one home, Husband was finishing up the yard. There was yet ANOTHER ominous "clunk" sound, which was not at all amusing. The new machine's deck sits a bit closer to the ground, and he'd hit something, bending a blade. But we'd bought an extra set yesterday, just in case, having no idea that "just in case" would come so soon. He says he can straighten out the bent blade, too.
So, we finally got the yard mowed, and all it took was two riding mowers and five blades!
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