LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — My family and neighbors were amused, though certainly not surprised, to see me riding up the hill on my lawnmower on Easter Sunday, while it was being pulled by a rope attached to my brother-in-law’s Tahoe.

A couple of the grandkids wanted to take a ride through the neighborhood on the mower, which we do quite often. After about a quarter of a mile, the mower just stopped in the middle of the road. The engine was still running, but it wouldn’t travel.

I knew immediately what happened: The drive belt slipped off. When you work on a piece of machinery for 18 years, it’s easy to diagnose any problem it develops.

We dismounted and I pushed the mower to the side of the road. I had a difficult time explaining to the grandkids why our pleasure ride had turned into a quarter-mile trek back up a steep hill.

“It don’t have no belt, Papaw?” Luka asked. He’s been enthralled with Papaw’s lawn mower since he was old enough to come outside. He likes to sit on it and pretends he’s mowing. But now he was obviously confused about how a device that holds up his Spider Man pants could stop the mighty beast.

My family and neighbors are used to the mower torn apart, with me underneath it trying to fix things almost every time I mow. I keep saying every spring that it’s time to get a new one, but I’ve had the same once since 1994 — an 18-horsepower Murray.

Before this one, I kept another Murray rider for seven years that was a hand-me-down from my Dad. I kept that thing running until the mower deck literally disintegrated and started throwing objects up to a half mile away.

I don’t know what makes me keep old things running when they are way past their prime. I guess I want them to live out their usefulness. That’s why I nurtured my 16-year-old Daschund when everyone in the family wanted me to put him to sleep. That’s why I continue to patch up my 18-year-old lawn mower with clamps and electrical tape to prevent things from falling off.

I hope that when I get old and senile that my family will give me every opportunity to live out my usefulness.

After pulling my guts out trying to get my 10-year-old weed eater to run last week, I finally decided it was time for a new one. But alas, neither Walmart or Lowe’s had any in stock. So, as of now, my weeds have not been eaten.

Last summer, I was mowing happily along when one of the belt wheels on the mower deck broke off, took flight and sailed into the neighbor’s yard. At least I didn’t have to hook it up to a Tahoe and haul it back to the house for repair.

But increasingly, repair parts are difficult to find. When I first tried to mow this year, the engine wouldn’t run worth a crap. The idle mixture screw somehow had worked its way out and fallen off. The $5 screw had to be ordered, and it was going to take a week to arrive.

A week’s delay in the early-spring mowing season can make things difficult, so I put a piece of electrical tape over the idle mixture opening. It took some delicate manuevering to configure the tape in such a way to smooth out the engine, but it worked perfectly. I’ve become quite the small engine mechanic in the last 14 years or so.

I’ve been sizing up a new John Deere or Craftsman riding mower since Murray no longer makes large riders. I’ve been checking out all the specs, kicking the tires and seeing how many bolts I have to take off to remove the deck. I’m almost ready to pull the trigger and buy a new one.

I’m being a very discriminate shopper because the mower will have to last a long, long time.



wsawyers@sentinel-echo.com