The Lawn Mower Saga Continues

I woke up this morning intent on getting my lawn mower to start and then reviving the life of my neglected lawn. After putting fuel stabilizer and octane booster in the gas tank, I hadn't attempted to start it. Today would be the day. I went out into the backyard, wheeled it out of the work shed and gave it a couple good pulls. It started and died immediately. After staring it down for a couple minutes, I decided I would tear it apart to see what I could find. My mechanical knowledge is limited for sure, but this season I completely dismantled a chainsaw and put it back together. And the thing still runs great! If I could do that, surely I could do the same to the lawn mower.

Without first consulting the manual (because who really needs directions in a time like this?) I grabbed my toolbox and started dismantling the lawn mower. I took off the cover and found what appeared to be the flywheel. Ok, awesome. So far it looks exactly like a chainsaw. I located the magneto (I think) and started to feel quite sure of myself. I figured out how it started and stopped (spark plug wire goes to magneto area, pulling back the lever on the mower handle releases the brake from the flywheel). I pulled apart what appeared to be the air filter and found it to be soaked with oil. Ooh, not good. My chainsaw air filter should never be soaked in oil. So I pulled it out and washed it with soap and water and placed it out in the sun to dry. I pulled out the spark plug and examined it, wiped it down and set it aside.

At some point I decided I needed to pull apart the muffler because it was spitting out black stuff. So I consulted the manual. Interestingly enough, the manual stated that the air cleaner (not air filter, I guess there's a difference?) is supposed to be saturated with clean, fresh oil. What? Crap. I was running low on oil. Should've read the manual first. I poured what was left of the oil back onto the air cleaner and replaced it. I put everything back and tried to restart the engine. No go.

I've been in denial about the stale gas deal. Plenty of people have mentioned this to me and I was beginning to think that adding the stabilizer and octane boost after it had already gone bad might not have been the best idea. It was time to try draining the fuel and putting new fuel in.

The manual did not describe how to drain the fuel. I checked the tank for a drain and could only conclude that I had to turn the mower upside down and pour it into one of my gas containers. Ha. After getting a couple ounces of gas into the container and a half gallon onto the sidewalk, I took the container over to my jeep to dump it in the tank. Apparently the stupid container did not depress the opening of the fuel tank correctly and I spilled what remained of the fuel all over the vehicle and the driveway.

Not to be dragged down by small nuiances, I walked myself and my little gas can across the street to the gas station. I would guess the gas station is less than 200 feet from my house. A group of guys were fueling up and made a comment on my dire situation of walking to the gas station with a gas can. I assured them it was not because my vehicle was stalled 5 miles down the road, but because I literally lived across the street and the fuel was for my lawn mower. Not a single one of them was attractive and mate-worthy. Otherwise I may have accepted the ride they offered a second time before I walked back home with my 97 octane gasoline. Maybe they could've gotten my lawn mower to run.

I got back home and filled the tank of the mower with the new, fresh fuel that had also been mixed with stabilizer and octane booster (by this point it's probably 125 octane). I gave it a couple tries. It started and stalled, started and stalled. Five attempts later I called it quits. And watered my lawn instead. I don't know.

My Muse is a Flake.

The morning after our hike/medical evacuation drill, I was feeling rather poetic and could've sat down and written my book based off my anger and irritation alone. I had a stream of notes running through my head while I drove the river road to work and tried to jot them down when I got into the parking lot, but Johnny was already on me to hurry up and get out of the car to unlock the door. I'm always in a forced hurry around the man, drives me nuts. Hurry up the hill, hurry down the hill, hurry to the chow line, hurry to briefing, hurry while driving the buggy on a broken up road in Arizona. By the time I let him in the office and sat down to jot down my ideas, most of them were gone. Now I'm seated in front of my computer, tucked safely into my weekend and I seem to have lost my muse. Damnit. Stupid muse was never that loyal anyway, maybe I should aquire a new one.

Our hike/medical evacuation drill turned into a 5 hour ordeal that had me convinced I needed to quit my job. During the hike down I had quite the conversation with myself. It's hard to tell who won that argument. I think I've figured out that there isn't much I'd be happier spending my life doing than this and that if I want to quit I have to start producing novels, articles and essays that will not only pay the bills, but pay for my travel bug as well.

In front of me are several strips of paper with about 4 different thoughts written out and expanded upon. I sat down this morning with a cup of coffee and tried to write and have managed to choke out 5 sentences. I'm telling you, I could've written for hours that morning but then I would've been late for work. It's definately frustrating. All my best stuff comes out when I don't have the means to record it or write it down.

I've found a literary magazine that might be the right audience for some of my work and the submission period is October 1st -December 31st. Which means now is the best time to get something going. I looked through the material I already had and was disappointed so I'm banking on the random strips of paper in front of me. Ugh. Bring me back my muse!