6:23 p.m. - April 23, 2006
More Lawn Mower Fun!
I�m glad I�m out of any doghouse I would have been in.
Oh, sure that was alleviated early on Saturday, plus I took the fam out to dinner on Saturday (yeah, it was Applebee�s, but remember where I live, and remember we had to drag the kidlets out�so there�), and brought some flowers home, and didn�t complain about the cat barf and the yogurt stains on the kitchen floor that haven�t been cleaned up yet because the cats aren�t agreeing with their food AND Kristin has decided that flinging her food is just as fun as eating it.
So I didn�t complain, not a word.
I even was a good boy this morning, and sent in a prayer request for a good friend in order for her to be happy and at peace. (Seems her Mom kidnapped her yesterday to take her shopping, amongst other things�)
We had a packed day, and it was to be the day of the lawn mowing. But I had just a short window to do it in. It was quite a doable window, but I didn�t have a long term luxury.
Liz had an afternoon meeting, and that meant I had to be Dad all by myself. And no, I wasn�t about to complain about that, no sir. Tonight, I have to do the same thing right after dinner � I have to put the kids to bed tonight as Liz has another meeting.
So I had a short window � one that could not allow for any foul ups, bleeps or blunders.
But it was a bright, bright, sunshiny day, and I was listening to some potential songs for a mix for Red, The Traveler. (Yeah, she got on the express plan, but anyone who knows EBN / OZN gets on the express plan�) So all was going to be good. Not good, great. Fab. Gear. Rad. Word!
As you may have read, I�ve already had a struggle with this damn lawn mower. This year came upon me so fast, I didn�t have time to have it serviced, so the handle was still dangerously askew.
Well, today, it decided to just fly apart.
I had to struggle and struggle to hold it together. I made some interesting patterns and turns with it today, so I was making all of these bizarre patterns in the lawn.
I had to restart it many times just so I could accurately turn the darn thing.
Not only that, the grass is so thick that it was stalling out my mulcher on occasion. So I had to go to the sidewalk and clear out the grass from the blade, then restart it.
So it was a chore, a real chore, and I was almost done with the largest portion of the yard in front, leaving our side yard to do, when it conked out again.
And would not start.
I checked the time on my iPod. No time for tomfoolery. I had spent enough time futzing around with the handle, and with the blade that I was outside of my window, and I had to stop.
So I flung the mower onto my patio and went inside.
I called Diamond and the QB to see if I could borrow their mower, forgetting that tonight is a big event for the College in Indianapolis � (I�m skipping it as babysitters are just hard to get for a child with separation anxiety�)
Diamond could get me his lawn mower if I could go over there to get it. Yet, by this time Liz had left and I had no way to procure it. So I was stuck. I told him that if I needed it, I�d call him tomorrow.
Well, when Liz came home, I realized that I didn�t check to see if the lawn mower was out of gas. Sometimes I just don�t think straight in these pressure situations. Oh, at work, I�d be cool as the other side of the pillow. I could make the decision, make it happen, make it so.
But when I�m doing home-type stuff, we�ll, let�s just say I�m like a hot tempered despot wanting to keep all of his ill-gotten bootay despite the fact he owns 94% of the resources of the country.
So it�s not surprising that I forgot to check THE GAS.
And guess what, the gas was empty. So I filled up the tank, primed it, and�
�.it mocked me.
It acted like it was going to turn over, and just mocked me.
Argh!
Double argh!
I skulked back inside, went to get a drink, and actually said the M-F word.
I said the M-F word loudly, and in front of everyone.
Oh, yeah, I got THE look. Then Katie asked what I said.
�Uh, daddy said something bad that he�ll never ever ever ever ever ever say again. Ever. Never. Ever� (At least not when you�re around � wait until I go to the office tomorrow and I can�t get my expense report to come out right�)
I realized that I may have flooded it.
So after a while, I went outside.
After about three minutes, I was about to give up, when one pull sounded encouraging, then another, then finally�
BRRRRRRRMMMMMMMM!!
Yeah, I was barefoot, but I didn�t care.
I cut a swath through the back and went straight for the front and side that was undone and visible from the street.
Sure, it was a challenge with a half-assed handle. It was even more of a challenge when half of the handle broke. Still it was even more of a challenge when the other half of the handle came undone from the base.
Then as I was hauling the lawn more back to the garage, the throttle cable became undone.
But at least the visible part of the lawn is done.
And I can borrow Diamond�s lawn mower tomorrow to do the back.
Ah yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow, my first day back into the office, with a pile of mail, 150 emails, AND MY REVIEW! Yeesh. Oh, and a game to cover at 5:00.
Tomorrow, when I will wake up early, load my mower in my car, take it out to the lawn mower place at 8:00 spot on to bring it in for service. Then after the game I�m covering go get Diamond�s lawn mower to finish my yard, and hope it doesn�t rain.
But it�s better than having none of it done.
And, besides that, I got to preview most of the mix I was working on.
So I guess it all worked out in the end, even if I taught Katie a new word.
