Taaaa Daaa!

So there I was yesterday, mowing the last bit of grass behind the house, when the mower (not me, for once) ran out of gas. Suddenly I heard an engine roar - and there was Mike, tooling around on the riding lawnmower! He busily cut the high grass next to the garden, then came up in front of me! He was grinnin like a mule eatin briars...

We'd just bought it last Saturday at the auction. The ad said it ran, but when we got to the auction, the owner said it ran - last year, but not this year. They tried the motor and it was struggling to turn over - no binding or hesitation - but would not. So we got it and the push mower together for $125. Mike has been working on the rider ever since, in between all the other stuff - getting the washer and dryer downstairs and working - while I struggled to mow the yard with the push mower. No way I was going to tackle the garden in back with it, or the side garden, but the yard HAD to get done.

Oh, I'd knew he'd do it - he's never met an engine he couldn't get to work. There was oil all over the points and plug, and they were dirty - apparently the thing had never had a tuneup. So he took everything apart and cleaned it and sanded the points, and voila! Riding lawnmower!

FINALLY we can get that wild and woolly property next to the house mowed down and reasonable for growing things!

I took him to dinner at the Hub to celebrate, and Pat was astonished. First that we had bought something that wouldn't work, then that Mike could get something like that to work! She said that her hubby wouldn't even work on something that wasn't running if it had been running when they bought it! I didn't say anything, cause Mike used to be the same way - he was working and didn't have the time or the energy. Now this place IS his work...

Yesterday evening, I went out and brushed Lake with the bug repellant on the curry brush. She liked the brushing - the smell of the bug stuff, not so much. When I went out the gate to get more bug stuff, she went into the corral; when I flipped the gate lock, he looked at me - I swear she laughed! - and galloped out of the corral into the pasture! Well, I wasn't going to chase her - even though she stopped and looked back and seemed to expect me to - I just laughed at her and waved, went out and shut the gate. At least now she has SOME protection.