Well maybe this should be titled how to not fix a lawnmower but I’m more of the optimist so I thought I would start with the positive slant. Today the landlord sent his son out to the wild field that was growing in the backyard to see if he could locate the riding lawnmower and two push mowers that have been decorating his back yard since we moved in last November.  I noticed out the window that he was having a difficult time pushing the riding lawn mower out of the weeds so I went out back to help him.

Once we got the riding lawn mower out of the 3 foot tall grass, which currently makes an excellent hiding spot for hide and go seek for Jonah, we tried turning the key. When I say we turned the key we each took a few dozen turns trying. We soon realized that he was not only turning the key but the entire starter and not really making any progress. So being the handy person I am, not,  I thought it’s time to get the tools out! So once the starter was tightened and we put some gas in we tried again and it still didn’t start. So we decided it must be the battery.

Next option was to work on the larger push mower.

• Step one; make sure that there is gas in the lawnmower. 
• Step two; prime the engine at least 5 times and pull the cord. 
• Step three; repeat step two many more times.  
• Step four; figure out how to fix the cord that you just broke because of dry rot from the lawn mower sleeping outdoors.
• Step five; look to see what else can be unscrewed, including the filter, spark plug and anything else.

Well, I am happy to say that I was able to get the lawn mower put all back together and was able to get it running long enough for 1 revolution of the blade to cut two dozen pieces of grass. So now that I have a nice sunburn and a partially working lawnmower I decided I would do what all computer geeks do. Google what the problem was and see how other people fix it. The solution is a new filter and spark plug. So tomorrow I’m hopeful that once I get these I will have a working lawnmower or at least the landlord’s son will.