The burnt out hust of a lawn tractor...
When I bought my house about five years ago my mother in law gave me her old lawn tractor. It was around 18 years old and had plenty of hours on it but it was in good shape. It my was first lawn tractor and a point of suburban pride for an idiot like me. I spent that last five years puttering around the back yard on it, usually with a beer in one hand and my headphones on listening to a book or podcast. It was a bit of a running joke about being a stereotypical dad. My wife got me a t-shirt from Dude Dad that said “Hot Dad Summer” with a silhouette of a lawn tractor on it. I’ve got a small model of my tractor on my desk at work, and another larger model of it in my garage. It really has been my summer “hobby” ever since we’ve into this house.
Unfortunately time had taken its toll on the old girl as it does. I had rebuilt the deck a couple years ago; new spindles, bearings, refreshed the paint, etc. I had changed the bearing on the front wheels, though the really needed new axles. It had a few oil leaks as well, so I fixed the ones I could without disassembling the entire motor but they continued. Oil was leaking on the exhaust and it would begin to smoke badly once it was up to temperature. Last season there was an incident and a small fire happened below the power take off and melted a belt and some wires. That was an easy fix and I just told myself to be better at clearing the debris from around the motor.
This season comes around and I’m doing my best and not expecting any issues with my spotless, though a bit leaky tractor, when disaster struck. I had finished up most of the yard and hopped off to go use the weed whacker. I finish up trimming the weeds around the other shed and as I turn around to head back to the mower I see an inferno erupting under the hood. I jogged over to it and pulled the trans disconnect and popped the brake and pulled it away from the shed and out from under a tree. Resigned to the fact that it was probably already too far gone, I grabbed my beer and phone from their spots next to the seat and walked back to the house, turned on the hose, and made my way back to the mower.
There, beer in hand and headphones in my ear, I stood gently spraying the first lawn tractor I had ever had. Mourning its last breath and thinking about what was next and how I was going to maintain my stupid yard, it was a melancholy moment. The peaceful moment was broken suddenly when through my headphones I heard “HEY!” and turned to see one of my neighbors shouting at me from across the fence while waving a little red fire extinguisher in the air. At first I raised my beer to them as I continued to spray and then told them, “I’ve got it. It’s dead anyway, no need to waste your extinguisher but thank you.”
I realize it’s a bit silly to reminisce about something as silly as a lawn tractor, but I miss the simple delight of it.
What comes next…
Being a quite lucky person, and a bit of a masochist, I’ve taken on the project of rebuilding her.
to be continued…