Mowing season is in full bloom. I mentioned in a previous post that I actually enjoy mowing my yard and shared my experience with a cool Robin who bird-dogged me in an effort to snag a meal. That strategy was successful; he ended up catching a nice sized moth.
I like mowing for a variety of reasons. I love the smell of the fresh cut grass, walking the area to note the arrival of new flowers or plant growth, new animal residents, exercise, and the ongoing encounters with the local wildlife; ground squirrels, birds, snakes, butterflies and the occasional awol neighborhood dog.
I did however, leave out one of the most important reasons I like to take the mower out for a spin. It lets me show off my skill with duct tape, and in my way, provide a very tiny source of neighborhood entertainment.
In the photo, you can see both sides of the mower handle are neatly wrapped. The bolt on the left would not fully tighten, even from the beginning, and had always been a problem. The bolt on the right, too tight in an attempt to compensate, finally broke from the strain leaving a neatly sheared, two-piece metal handle.
Rather than try to stuff a grass encrusted, dirty, heavy, awkward piece of equipment in the trunk to haul off for an expensive "you might as well replace it" sales pitch and repair, or trot to the hardware store for parts, I opted to save time, effort, energy and gas and scavenge the tool box (duct tape) and the scrap wood pile (no luck).
The right side required some sort of brace and an anchor, so I wound the tape around the throttle rest (Like I have any idea what that little metal thing on the handle above the cross bar is really called.) and a piece of wood I found on the ground near the mower that the dog, in one of her chewing forays, detached from the lattice porch fencing.
It's about half the size as a paint stir stick and didn't require the use of a saw or any extra effort whatsoever. Apparently, it was a gift. And I didnīt have a metal bar that size or I would have opted for that to avoid potential wood rot. Oh well.
Low and behold, my duct tape creation works just fine. I do try to mow outside of drive time. There should be some advantage to being a local.
Maybe someday I'll share my duct tape solutions for minor plumbing annoyances but not today. However, you might be surprised at what very creative people can do with duct tape, check out The Duct Tape Guys. It's a site choc full of good, bad, and really weird Duct Tape Tales, where one can see how very fine that line is between desperation and creativity.
I like mowing for a variety of reasons. I love the smell of the fresh cut grass, walking the area to note the arrival of new flowers or plant growth, new animal residents, exercise, and the ongoing encounters with the local wildlife; ground squirrels, birds, snakes, butterflies and the occasional awol neighborhood dog.
I did however, leave out one of the most important reasons I like to take the mower out for a spin. It lets me show off my skill with duct tape, and in my way, provide a very tiny source of neighborhood entertainment.
In the photo, you can see both sides of the mower handle are neatly wrapped. The bolt on the left would not fully tighten, even from the beginning, and had always been a problem. The bolt on the right, too tight in an attempt to compensate, finally broke from the strain leaving a neatly sheared, two-piece metal handle.
Rather than try to stuff a grass encrusted, dirty, heavy, awkward piece of equipment in the trunk to haul off for an expensive "you might as well replace it" sales pitch and repair, or trot to the hardware store for parts, I opted to save time, effort, energy and gas and scavenge the tool box (duct tape) and the scrap wood pile (no luck).
The right side required some sort of brace and an anchor, so I wound the tape around the throttle rest (Like I have any idea what that little metal thing on the handle above the cross bar is really called.) and a piece of wood I found on the ground near the mower that the dog, in one of her chewing forays, detached from the lattice porch fencing.
It's about half the size as a paint stir stick and didn't require the use of a saw or any extra effort whatsoever. Apparently, it was a gift. And I didnīt have a metal bar that size or I would have opted for that to avoid potential wood rot. Oh well.
Low and behold, my duct tape creation works just fine. I do try to mow outside of drive time. There should be some advantage to being a local.
Maybe someday I'll share my duct tape solutions for minor plumbing annoyances but not today. However, you might be surprised at what very creative people can do with duct tape, check out The Duct Tape Guys. It's a site choc full of good, bad, and really weird Duct Tape Tales, where one can see how very fine that line is between desperation and creativity.
