Thursday, August 4, 2011

Adventures in Home Ownership - NO LAWNMAN NEEDED!!

Im still adjusting  to being single again and having my own house.  Along the way, I have had some funny things happen. I will be posting  some of them. First off,  I am pretty frugal about most things.  With that being said I will NOT pay to have a lawn service.  I handle everything and my dad does come over to check on me sometimes.  He also worries when I do stuff up in the attic or like changing the light bulb at the top of my stairs. On those projects he politely will asks me to wait until he drops by.  

A couple of  weekends ago I went out to cut my grass / weeds  and my mower would not crank.  I brought this Toro mower  over a year ago from a yard sale for $25 that was advertised on Craig's list. That was before I found out about all that Craig's list craziness.  I also made a friend of mine go with me.  I know I have more than gotten my moneys  worth  out of it.  It has been giving me problems lately.  I had done my online research and was all prepared to buy a new one.  When Im all ready to suck it up and mow, my mower needs to work without me spending alot of time working on it for it to work.  I went to Home Depot and talked with this very knowledgable  sales associate. We first talked about the differences between the new models then proceeded to talk about my non working mower. I was standing there looking at those mowers and they looked just like mine with no major upgrades.  I started having issues about spending $300 for one basically just like the one I got. The guy helped me by telling me some things to try with the old mower. Yep I changed the spark plug and filter  and  top off the oil.  The mower crunk right up to my surprise.  I would not let it die so I proceeded to cut my lawn in ,,,,,, FLIP FLOPS!!  
That is how sure I was that it was NOT going to work. LOL!! Ladies and Gentlemen DON"T TRY THIS A HOME!! I know my neighbors probably think Im crazy.  Whatever I got the job done. Dude across the street let his grass get real tall before he mows.  So I know I got him beat even at my worst. I know I looked right crazy though pushing and half dragging my mower across that yard in flip flops!!  LOL!! Anyhow My Home Depot guys rock!!    After I cut my lawn, I decided to address another problem I was having with my mower.   The self propel mechanism was not working right.  Mowing my lawn was a struggle not because I have hills but because the front wheels were not turning right. It was worst than using a push mower. So I called Home Depot to inquire about it.  The guy told me how to take the cover to the self propel stuff to evaluate the problem. He also said that I could bring the mower in and they would take a look at it for me.  See... they rock!!    I am NOT buying another mower unless this one dies.  I was hoping it just needed the belt replaced.   

Well this past weekend, I struggled and figured out how to lift my mower into my car and tied the trunk down.    Before I started all this all called the store to make sure My guy was there or someone could help me.  I got to the store and my guy was gone to lunch!!  The guy who helped me didnt know much and was reluctant to even look at it.   So I took my mower back home to work on it myself later.  It was hot and I needed to eat, shower, and rest because I had been out most of the morning, while it was cooler, riding and seeing after Felix.  I was laying on my sofa after braiding my freshly washed hair from my shower doozing and my mom called.  Mom says all happlily "We are in your driveway!!"  Hmm don't they know they need to call first or something??  I could have had a dude over getting my freak on or something.   We will have to have a talk about that SOON!!   My dad came over to see if he could help with the mower.   We had the mower  propped  up in the driveway and we were laying on an old comforter taking bolts off, after I told him what the HD guy told me on the phone.    My dad had never done any belt work on a mower but he very handy when it comes to fixing things. We got the cover off and immediately saw the problem.  The belt was not broken  but had come off the pulley.  We put it back on and tighten it up.   My dad then proceeded to cut my front lawn.   He also helped me change the light bulb at the top of my steps.   My dad ROCKS!!!  Now I can return that $16 belt and get my money back!!  

****  CARTWHEELS  ALL ACROSS MY FRESHLY CUT GRASS***