(9/24/21) Friday Found a stainless steel bolt at Lowes the same size, except it doesn't have a flange head. I put a washer under it. Fits tight. Pack of 5 for only $1.28. Now I have 4 extras. Put the plastic cover over the bottom and have one screw left over. Maybe I'll find out where it goes while mowing one day. But I may still have to give up. There is a 2-part plastic sleeve that snaps together around the mower handle. A little rod inside has to be in a particular place, and you can't see what happens to it when you put the two parts together. The main problem is I've unsnapped and snapped it about 5 times already, and the plastic will probably break if I have to do it 5 more times. Similarly, there is a tiny little spring inside a 2-part handle that goes around the top of the above sleeve. That spring has to stay in place while you screw those two halves together. It keeps popping out. And you can't see what happens to it while you are putting those 2 parts back together, either. It already popped out once and got bent just a little. It will be disappointing if these last two silly little things kill this whole project. I have a feeling I should order a duplicate set of all the above parts now so they will be here when I ruin the originals. lol I've run out of patience today. Will try again tomorrow. Meanwhile the grass is getting high in places.
(9/25/21) Saturday ... [ @Bill Boggs: . Don't say I told you so. Mower "Smart" Drive Control installation Bound and determined not to let this thing outsmart me, I taped together every moveable part that might fall off while trying to put it back together...except the spring. Right hand had just one job to do---hold that spring. It took 3 tries, even with the tape. Mower started up, had a good strong pull, like new. One pass across the front yard and the thing sputtered, slowly died, and wouldn't start again. Kept trying off and on all afternoon. About 50 pulls later, it started, ran a minute or two, sputtered, and slowly died again. It must be because of oil in the carburetor. This happened with my old Sears mower, brand new out of the box, when I tipped it up to remove styrofoam securing the blades. The spark plug looked fine, no oil in the hole or on the plug. Got a new air filter at Home Depot last night. To be continued...
(continued) Headed outside this afternoon and found the problem. (I prefer not to talk about it.) Finished mowing the front lawn and a little part in the back. The grass was wet in the shade in the back yard this morning because of heavy dew. The front yard was dry because it's been in the sun all morning. It worked OK in the front, but as soon as you mow in the wet grass the belt gets damp and slips. I noticed that when I had the bottom cover off. It's not the smooth wheels. They don't spin in the grass. It just doesn't pull hard enough because of the belt slipping. I think the belt actually stretches when it gets wet. I don't think this problem can ever be solved. Conclusion: I'm going to keep this mower as a back up. Throw away my old Craftsman back up mower, which won't start. And look for a new one for next spring. Do they make self-propelled mowers without belts? Like vinyl record turntables? Direct drive? Happy to get back to basement rearrangement now. It's fun by comparison.
Yes, there is one walk behind shaft driven self-propelled lawn mower. It is called a Weibang. Made in China. No belt. Costs around $800. Popular in the UK. Home Depot used to advertise them here, but now says not available. Review on Youtube (12 minutes) I like listening to this man talk. Accent must be southern because he mentions Bermuda grass.
(9/28/21) Tuesday Got the other tooth pulled and a bone graft today. First step to an implant. Put off for 1.5 years. First due to Covid, then to procrastination. First implant in the lower jaw. I was supposed to take 4 pills one hour before (or 1 pill 4 hours before?). Anyway I forgot to even fill the prescription. Seemed like lots of stitches this time. He kept dangling the thread tickling my nose. I think there are 5 caps (now called "crowns" ) left. They will all come off eventually I'll bet. Likely one every year or 2, and the dentist will say there's not enough tooth left to put on another cap. Makes it difficult to make a decision. I want at least two implant anchors on the lower jaw. I don't think the front 10 teeth will ever go bad. Implants are cheaper than bridges in the long run now, if you're willing to wait, because you will lose all 3 teeth involved in the bridge eventually. Just my experience. Perfect excuse to stop and get chocolate ice cream.
.. This stuff is so good. No licorice. No garlic. No sweet. Sour (I like). The only ingredients are tomatoes, red peppers, olive oil, and salt. No thickening. No sugar. I always add fried onions and ground beef, to any store spaghetti sauce anyway. Fody is a small company based in Canada. I need to reproduce the texture because it is rather expensive, and I figure they will either go out of business, or stores will quit stocking it soon. There are 2 other flavors. They both have basil. Internet says basil is ... "a robust herb, not bitter but definitely pungent. Fresh basil is strong and unique, a bit peppery with a hint of anise ( )" Prego has a garlic free version also, but I've never seen it on the shelves. Ingredients include sugar and "spices."
They have page-by-page pictures of many old high school yearbooks on Classmates.com. You don't have to register to just look. Tied up some loose ends with pictures (from older yearbooks) that weren't in our yearbook. I've got to quit wasting time like this. 6th grade classroom Our class met in the bus garage. Thought I'd never find a picture of that bus garage. LOL . The big brick building was the junior high, grades 7 & 8. School Bus Drivers - Elementary school The one with the bow tie, Art B, was my bus driver in 1st grade (1952). He owned the farm on the other side of the railroad tracks behind our house. First in the 2nd row was John. He was our next door neighbor. The side with the 4 rock-throwing boys. His middle name was Henry and many people just called him John Henry. I never rode his bus. Third in the back row was George. He was John Henry's father-in-law, and drove Bus #4. He was our driver occasionally. Small world. I don't remember our junior or senior high school bus drivers at all. Isn't that odd? The self-centered stage of life, I suppose. Freshman Algebra I teacher She left before our senior yearbook came out. The Algebra II teacher was a female also. These two were probably the reason math was my favorite subject.
He really was, wasn't he? He also worked full time at a rubber factory (Goodyear Tire). They all probably did, except the farmer. @Bill Boggs: . Because of your suggestion I drug out the push reel mower and cleaned it up. Works well still. I found out how to set the cutting height higher. It may become my front yard backup mower. I remember now, if you run across a twig it stops you dead in your tracks. A definite downside.
Thinking more about how to store the garden tools. I've finally ruled this one out. Although I have lots of old pallets, the tools wouldn't stand up straight, too hard to anchor the pallets, and it takes up too much space lengthwise. It's a cute idea, in theory. My parents used this method out at the farm. I have a plastic trash can. Could put sand in the bottom. Kill two birds with one stone, because I have a lot of sand and no where to put it. Not very pretty.
You know, I’ve never been much of a doer as you are, but always an observer. I recall one tool shed I might call it. I was a young boy, around ten. My dad allowed me to go with he and his brother as thy visited farms, contracting the cotton harvest. They would visit farms and contract with the farmer to get his cotton pulled, weighed and hauled to the gin where it cleaned, baled and stored until the farmer sold his cotton. We drove up to this farm a few niles out from Haskell, Texas. The farmer came outside and he and my uncle Sam talked business. While they did I roamed about the buildings looking around.After all I was a city boy. Therewas a shed where two tractors were parked. A farmall and a john deere. Some thirty yards from his house was a huge barn in it, were three stalls for cows or whatever. The attic was filled with bales of hay and about a quarter on the lower floor ha eas stacked. Some of it was alfalfa hay because I could tell by he aroma. Along one side of the barn wall, it was the left side as I entered the barn, were tools hung, not on nails as I expected to see but on wooden pegs. Shovels, spades of different sizes, rakes, hoes, picks, pitch forks, neatly hung on solid wooden pegs. I sat down on a bail of hay and admired the handy work. i think I counted the tools. We had a few tools at home we kept in a metal trash can but this, here in this barn, was first class It was the first time I had ever seen wooden pegs used to hang something. I do remember being much impressed but I was at an impressionable age.
Pegs would be fun to try, and would look nice. There would be a lot of them. By the time I got to the last peg, I might learn how to do it. Things have to be easy to take out and put back. Otherwise I'll end up just leaving everything next to the door again. I have an 8 foot step ladder. The ceiling in the basement varies, but the max is apparently 7' 10". I was happy to find one perfect little spot today where it fits vertically, behind an outside door I never use, with a little overhang roof above I still don't understand. I need to practice how hard it is to get it in and out of there. If it's too hard I'll have to store it horizontally. I want it up off the floor, but not at the ceiling.