Confessions of a Grandma

 Some times you plan for a big purchase; sometimes one is forced upon you. After nearly 23 years of keeping the riding lawn mower chugging along and beating down the grass and weeds, Mike was forced into the realization that too much time was being used up on keeping the motor running.  Yesterday, the mower would not start.  He had put in new spark plugs the week before.  He decided he needed a new electric igniter.   That was an $80 part that he had to travel 40 miles round trip to obtain.  He put it in, started the mower without a problem, and mowed half the lawn before it died once again.  Defective part?  Something else going on?  Oh, bother! "Come with me to get a new lawn mower."  So now we have a new John Deere riding mower.  google image of a tree ornament, not our actual new machine

The grass seems to love all the rain we have experienced in the past eight weeks or so.  It keeps right on reaching up to the sky to drink in some more. Mike usually mows the lawn and I tend to the weed whacking and sweeping/raking up, but I do occasionally climb on our riding mower.  If it going to break down, though, I prefer that Mike is using it at the time. Monday, it had a big break down.  The drive belt broke.  This was somewhat of a relief to Mike---I guess because he thought he could get a part and fix it easily enough.  It took two trips to the John Deere dealership to get the part (it wasn't in stock in the morning, but they were expecting a delivery in the afternoon). Then the fun began--disassembling the darn thing and threading a new belt.  I was of minor assistance in the disassembly and then I got out of the way--far out of the way.  Mike had a picture, but it was taken from above and he was working underneath. Adding to the fun--th...