Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Pepped and prepped

Tuesday a.m. was cool and very rainy.  That's what they predicted, so I wasn't bummed.

Then, around 11:00, the clouds broke, the sun shone and the breeze dried things out.

Well yowzah!

After lunch I decided it was warm and dry enough to do some spring maintenance.

Loading up the wheelbarrow with gas, a full tank of compressed air, the battery from the basement, wrenches, etc. I headed back to the shed to see if I could revive the Snapper.

Back there I inflated the tires, filled the tank, checked the oil and installed the battery.

Fingers crossed, I jumped on and turned the key.

Nada.  Again.  Nada.  Third time?  Nada.  Just a whirring sound.

The battery was dead.  Now you'd think that would irritate me.  But no.  After all, the thing went through 2011, 2012 and 2013.  For a mower battery that is akin to Methuselah.   (I float-charge every year over winter.)

Besides, I had backup.  The Snapper has a manual starter too.  So, hoping my arm would hold out, I tried a couple of pulls.  Nada.  Still, it seemed to be trying to catch.

Probably the gas hadn't gotten to the carburetor.  I rested the arm for a couple of minutes, then tried again.

VROOOOOM.  Happy happy joy joy.

So I drove the Snapper up to the garage and pulled out the snow blower.  Okay, I'm probably taking a chance, but I went and drained the gasoline and folded up the handles.  It's now tucked away for the summer.  Hopefully I won't have to get it out again this season.

Last I did was inflated all the other tires: wagon, wheelbarrow and yard cart.  That done, I went and got a new mower battery (they were on sale that day!  woohoo!).  Installed it, tried the key and VROOOOM.  What a lovely sound.

I was so happy that I took 30 minutes to run the mower around and under the 2 sweet gum trees to corral those spiky gum balls off the grass.  They are trecherous to walk on, like ball bearing, to my weak ankles.

There.  Not a bad use of a gift of a nice day.  Maybe we WILL get some Spring after all?

10 comments:

  1. Morning m'lovely. That first 'start' of the year is fraught with "will she, won't she", isn't it? I succeeded in starting the small mower last week and have a little grass cut, still got the other two-thirds to do!

    PS: your lunch looks absolutely scrumptious :}

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    1. Hello Jayne. Yes, it's certainly an anxious moment when you pull that cord and turn that key. A season rides on it, no? I'm sure your grass is further along than mine (as your blog pics attest). The lawn here needs more time to green up and the yard to firm up before any serious forays out yonder. Yep - lunch was delish!

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  2. You are so amazing, able to take on all these "hardware" garden chores as well as all the "growy" stuff. I know my limits/interests and realize that um, I'll just have to have someone else deal with some of that stuff for me.

    I bet you're loving the nice weather this week and are spending a lot of time out in the back yard...

    I may be digging out the lawn mower earlier than the lawn needs it just to try mowing up/chopping all the fall mulching leaves I've been pulling off the beds. The leaf blower/chopper was good for leaves IN the beds, but now I'm just raking stuff out in the yard to get it to dry out a bit more before chopping, and it'll be much easier to just drive the lawn mower over them.

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    1. When you're on a fixed income - you have to do more of the fixing yourself. There's not a lot of extra cash to go around. Man the wind is fierce today. Nothing done outside when you have to battle with a gale. :-(

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  3. We still haven't been able to start the old tiller. DH will drain the gas, clean the filter and try again today. I guess I will be using the new one. Still got the trimmers and chain saw to go. Glad you had an easier task to get your equipment up and running. We had to get a new battery for the Gravely mower this year too.

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    1. Check the spark plug too. When gummed they don't work. Boy, we sure need our power tools. Otherwise we'd need a lot of old-timey manpower which we don't have. Good luck with the tiller.

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  4. You're quite handy! Love all those seedlings in your header photo! Happy gardening. :o)

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    1. When you get very tired of waiting to "I'll come help", you learn to do things you never thought you could. Still, it's very annoying when friends AND professionals leave you twisting.

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  5. Isn't it glorious to work outside again!!!! I hear you about those sweet gum balls, although my goats will actually eat the green ones.

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    1. Hey, they eat the green ones? Hmmm, I seem to have your address here somewhere..... *snicker* ;-D

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