Some days are just depressing

One evening last week I had every intention of doing something I absolutely hate to do ... mow the yard. I got the mower out of the shed in the back yard, put gasoline in it, checked the oil level and pushed it up the hill beside the house to mow the front yard first.

The piece of junk, which is what I've called it for the last nine years since we bought it upon moving to Parkersburg, started on the first pull ... amazing! As I made the first pass around the front yard, I noticed it was cutting unevenly, the back wheels were bouncing and the blade was cutting into the ground.

When I moved the handle forward, I discovered why ... the metal deck was so soft, presumably from rust, that it was folding over on top of itself and one of the undercarriage braces had rusted through, leaving no support for the wheels.

Yep, the piece of junk that never did cut the yard well and usually left gigantic clumps of grass that had to be raked, was dead, leaving the yard looking even worse than usual with one pass completed through the higher grass.

Off to buy a mower we went after my wife went on her semi-annual quilt shop hop in Parkersburg and surrounding counties.

OK, my wife, who enjoys mowing the yard, got her dream mower, a self-propelled, 1,900cc, back-loading bagger that moves so fast she nearly has to jog to keep up with it as she mows the back yard. I have to admit, it's the most I ever have paid for a mower so the blasted thing better last more than the last piece of junk.

But if the mower warping wasn't enough yard work disaster, I followed it up with cuting through the outdoor electrical extension cord with the hedge cutter as I was trimming the bushes.

Yep, it just wasn't a good week.