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Friday, May 7, 2010

Send in the Clowns

Logan is mowing the lawn with the lawnmower I bought this spring because I felt silly paying the neighbor boy to mow when I had two resident boys as old as the neighbor was when he started mowing for me. I think Logan is wearing the 3-D glasses we got when we went to see Avatar. He is supposed to be wearing safety glasses, but I guess these protect him from any two dimensional movies lurking in the grass.

The mower was assembled by the boys' grandfather and he gave them safety and technique lessons when they started to mow. The owner's manual said we should change out the engine oil from the thinner grade used by new mowers during breaking in time to the standard grade which will be used the rest of the mower's life. This mower does not use gas and oil mixed as single stroke engines do. So, we reached the five hour mark when Ben was mowing for hire over at Grandpa's. I sent the replacement oil along with him and asked him to change it out (with Grandpa's help). Mission failed. Grandpa did not have the owner's manual and could not figure out for the life of him how to drain the oil. No drain plug could be found. I suggested that perhaps one drained it from the same place one filled it, but was told that was unlikely. Today I went back to Lowes and inquired about the oil changing process and learned that indeed, one tipped the mower over and drained the oil from the same spot that one filled oil. One should also take care to exhaust the supply of gasoline before attempting this tipping maneuver. I effectively communicated this to the boys who ran the mower dry and then proceeded to drain the oil -- by tipping the mower over on the driveway and letting the oil run down the pavement. Not a pretty sight. We have applied detergent and scrubbed and hope for the best. Sorry if this seems sexist, but I'm left wondering about the difference between mental processes in the male and the female brains.

5 comments:

  1. No comment (but I had to post it anyway!)

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  2. LOL! I often wonder the same thing, sexist or not! Did the oil dry up? I've heard the acid in a bottle of Coke or Pepsi works well too....

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  3. @Glenna -- I'm going to try the coke as soon as the rain dries -- thanks!

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  4. There's nothing to wonder about. That's funny that you assumed he'd keep and refer to a MANual; that's like asking for directions...
    Stay in the kitchen, woman!

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