Ahhhh..the first mowing of the year!!

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oldfart
Posts: 431
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:31 am

Well folks after viewing another post I just had to whack the keyboard after todays joy. 'Tis been a long winter and nothing much stirs a mans soul like firing up the riding mower and launching out of the garage "full-throttle" and with the blades engaged on new risin' turf!! WAGH! The smell of gasoline and oil and a new crop of garlic being trimmed and mulched beneath our ponderous posteriors! The roar and vibration of the engine and the growlllll as we throw the blades into gear! Dandylions flying into the air and crabgrass spitting out unto the road as we crop off the edges of... Our Domain. That first launch into the warm spring sun as our front wheels reach skyward and we put on that old familiar straw hat and an old pair of tattered bibb overhauls! And then reality sets in. %*#^! Should have drained that old gas! Not that it matters..the battery is dead..and there's 2 flat tires! (one front and one rear..grrr..) No matter...run to the neighbors and borry a gallon (or 2) of gas. Then put the battery charger on (also borried from the neighbor) and check out the blades and belts while it's charging up. Great..just flippin' great. The belts look a bit frayed/cracked/tattered/torn/shredded/shiny from slipping and the blades are so rounded off they look like 2 chunks of re-bar!!! No worries mate! Back to the neighbors...scrounge up a 6in. grinder to put an edge on the blades..who actually balances these things? Snatch up his bottle of "Belt-Dressing" to squelch the squealing of said belts and a can of ether. Just in case! (W.D. 40 and a can of Old Spice Spray will actually work if ya don't have neighbors..!!!) Ahhhh..finally get the old riding mower started and pulling out of the garage and suddenly realize....out of ciggerrettes and beer is setting on the work-bench. $&@*!!!! Try as I might I cain't reach 'em from the seat and if I git off the mower will croak. Tough choice. %*#%! safety switches! Get off the mower..go into the garage and grab beer and back-up smokes and...mower won't re-start! ARRRGGHHHH! Back on the battery charger..for an hour. Sit in lawn chair and grimace at riding mower until battery charger light turns green and then plop down in seat and "fire that bad-boy up!" Rrrrr...rrrrr..r......POP!...Rmmmmmm..waagghhhh! Nothing like shoving the throttle "just this side of the choke" and feeling the r.p.m.'s build as 2 big unbalanced 21in. blades swing into motion! The seat vibrates like a jack-hammer and smoke is belching out the exhaust. The muffler fell off back in '93! Roooaaarrrrr! There's about 4in. of slop in the steering wheel and I haven't needed brakes since I got out'a 3-corner pants! (diapers to you Yankees!) I've got 3 cup-holders on this ridin' mower and they're all full!! The sun is shining and it's 70 degrees..and I'm makin' the first mowin' of the year. Life is good...eh! Audie..the Oldfart...
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Mark
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Location: Aberdeen, SD
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Luckily yesterday's blizzard missed us, so possibly by Monday the rest of winter's snow will be melted from the lawn. Lawn is getting greener every day tho. Maybe in May the mowing will begin.

Hey oldfart -- that neighbor sounds like me. LOL. Only neighbor better than that is one who for a can of beer will come mow your lawn (and also loves to blow snow)! I need to find a neighbor like that! LOL.

Mark
You can't fail if you don't try!
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Greg
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Location: Weedsport, NY

Blizzard, Snow, How's the soccer team look?? Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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Mark
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At our last practice just before the supposed blizzard, we practiced around chunks of snow. Since then I've shoveled the snow off the field and all should be peachy for tomorrow's practice.

I'll have a good bunch of kids. I didn't pick up any new power players like some teams did, but we'll do fine with the kids I have.

Mark
You can't fail if you don't try!
Barb P
Posts: 104
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:51 am
Location: southwestern NY

Audie, when you write a book, I'll be first in line to buy. :)

I went to sleep last night dreaming of waking up early, and heading out to the 'tractor stores', for some comparison window shopping.
Uh, maybe I'll wait for the newly fallen snow to go away first. :shock:
BarbP
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Yanita
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Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:16 pm
Location: Eastern N. Carolina

ROFL...

Audie, I should certainly know better by now not to read your post when I am trying to drink a very hot cup of coffee.

Hmmm, seems you forget to do your preventative maintenance on your mower when you parked it for the winter! Shame on you and the price was paid...well maybe not, got an extra hour of indulging in the beer.

We mowed our lawn for the first time this year yesterday. Was pretty high, but with all the rain we needed to let things dry out.

Now, my dilemma is I like mowing the lawn, in fact when we bought this place a couple years back I knew our walk behind mower was way to small to handle a acre of lawn..so being the good wife, I went and bought a troy built rider with a 54 inch mowing deck.

Now, I picked this machine out, just love the color red, had the options of the drink holder, and as said the big deck. I even paid for this thing! NOW...Hubby won't let me mow the lawn, hmmm, think it has something to do with I got to close to a tree and bent the blade hitting a root! Shouldn't hold that against me, I paid to get it fixed!

So I was thinking one day, to be able to ride around on this I would go and buy a dump body trailer...with all the land and various landscape projects going on I could just load the trailer and drive around...hmmm, seems he always wants to oblige in that as well...soooo, how do I win...hmmm,men and their machines!

Well I still get to mow the lawn...if I want to...with the craftsman walk behind, thankfully it is self propelled so not to bad...but not as good as the rider!

You have a great day, and keep us posted on your adventures!

Yanita
The difference between success and failure is who gives up first!
oldfart
Posts: 431
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:31 am

Aye folks I don't know what it is with menfolks and machinery...it just is. I've run crawlers, loaders, back-hoes and cranes. Spent more'n a few hours in R&D on lifts and pickers and hoists. (Grove Manuf. 1989/90..employee #14639..welder stamp 1I.) ) I was one of the first to drive the Grove 9120 cranes! What a monster!!! A huge crane that could pick up nearly a whole city block! I tested man-lifts from 30ft. booms to 90ft.! I sat on tractors from ole single cylinder John Deers to Farmalls/Massey Fergusons and Molines. I've had a Cat between my legs a time 'er 2 and giggled in joy! Uhhh..Catapiller machines! Yup..life has been good fer a old farm boy. And I had the fastest Norton in Curwensville, Pa. (an old twin cyl. English motorcycle much like the Triumphs/B.S.A's ..only a helluva lot faster!) Back when they first came out I rode the fastest production motorcycle..the Kaw 900...130m.p.h.! Later on we hit 200m.p.h. on a new Suzuki! Just imagine shifting from 3rd. gear to 4th. at 150m.p.h. and lifting the front wheel off the ground! Ahh yes...I'm older now..and yet..the sound of a good Briggs&Stratton engine wailing away and the vibration of 20h.p. blasting beneath my feet.....ummm...life is good! Audie...lost in yesteryear....
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Greg
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
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OK, so now Audi, Did JLG buy Grove out totally? They are in Mc Connellsville PA. They have bought a pile of companies and are building for others.
As far as boom lifts go, Ya I used to go up when I had to, but if god waned my butt that high in the air, I'd have longer legs! Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
SpongeBob

I was just considering reading WAR & PEACE. Glad i chose this instead. LOL. :shock:
-Bob
oldfart
Posts: 431
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:31 am

Aye Greg, Grove Manufacturing in Shady Grove, Pa. is now owned by Mantiwoc!! Not to be confused with JLG Manufacturing in MC'Connelsburg (not MC'Connellseville, Pa.!) John L. Grove actually started the factory (Grove Manufactury) "way back when" to make simple farm trailers to haul hay and sundry other items. The factory grew to make small lifts and cranes. Then on to make larger and larger cranes and lifts until the present day. At some point along the line the ownership (Grove Manuf.) was sold to Hanson Aviation and several other groups of investors in the past 30+ years. Today, JLG in MC'Connelsburg, Pa. makes what are refered to as Man-Lifts..mainly. Round-bodied compact lifts that have a basket that hoists 1 to several men/wimminfolks from 30 to 120ft. airborne. Grove (Mantiwoc) Manuf. concentrates on heavy cranes...but with some exceptions. They also make several units that will fit thru a common 36in. doorway and "scissor-lift" 20/50ft. into the air. Both manufacturers offer up "rough-terrain" units. Some are seeing use in Iraq and sundry other countries as well. Audie..the Oldfart...
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