Yard Work

I decided to take a photo in an effort to show my creativeness and artistic skills with a mower. Knowing that “you” have nothing better to do than to look at a photo of my yard I have posted it here, enjoy. 

May I suggest that you get a cup of coffee and take about 5 minutes to fully digest the loveliness of the “Ford’s Front Yard.

               Last year we went through a drought and everyone trusted that the spring rains would put an end to the dry weather. It seemed like it rained every other day for a couple months then about 3 weeks ago the rain stopped. The ground was dry enough that our neighbor was actually able to till a garden spot in his back yard.

               As I was preparing to take this photo when a neighbor stopped her car and asked if I could teach her husband to mow like that. Everyone knows how modest I am so my reply was, “shucks mam, aint nothen”.  I continued, “For $12.95 I could sell him a copy of my book (a best seller in Lee Roy, TX six days in a row), “Secretes to a Successful Yard, by             Don Ford”.

               Below I have another photo taken the same day as the photo above. If you have a week heart maybe you should divert your eyes. In all honesty, it is difficult for me to believe how dry the ground is after all the spring rains. This is a spot that is shaded most of the day with almost no grass.

               Hopefully this is not a sign of what this summer will be.

 

 

Brilliant People can do dumb things

Of course when I discuss brilliant people I will most often be speaking of myself. As I have previously stated (and if I didn’t I should have) my garden tiller would not start due to having left gas in it for a couple years (that is the dumb thing I did).

               I normally run the gas out of my equipment before storing for a period of time. If you leave gas in any motor it will breakdown and eventually turn into a varnish. This varnish will clog up the carburetor and gas lines.  I could not remember the last time I used the tiller so I assume 2 to 3 years of sitting.

               My neighbor offered to purchase my tiller so he could till his garden. I offered to loan it to him but he did not want to barrow it. That is what caused me to think about the tiller. I got the old tiller (it must be 20 years old) and I was surprised that it still had about a third of a tank of gas in it. I tried to start it hoping against hope that it might run. Nope, it was D O A.

Being an expert mechanic I decided to clean out the gas tank, carburetor and gas lines.
I took auto mechanics in my senior year and I was one of two students that were offered a job at the local Chevy dealer after graduation. Having that offer made me feel good so naturally I went to work at, “The South East Missourian News Paper”.              The only class I made “A” in was auto mechanics (actually it was “E”) and I go to work at a newspaper. I was lucky if I made a “D” in English or any other subject.

I removed the gas tank to which the carburetor was attached. This carburetor is different from what I expected. There is no external gas line and no gas bowl or float.  I am use to the gas flowing by gravity to a bowl on the carburetor with a float that operated a needle valve which controlled the flow of gas.  The gas line on this carb was a part metal part rigid plastic with a screen that went to the bottom of the tank. 

I drained the gas from the tank and began to dismantle the carburetor. If you haven’t smelled old stale gas that has turned to varnish you will not understand when I say it was difficult to wash the smell off my hands. My wife even asked what the small was when I came inside to wash.

Below is the carburetor that’s mostly dismantled.  A lot of carburetor cleaner, some shop towels, a tooth brush and compressed air along with an hours work and it was clean and ready to replace.

               Using my unlimited knowledge of mechanical process I was able to re assemble all the parts. I decided to check the V belts and they were both worn out. I replaced the belts and I was ready to attempt to start the motor.  Just a few pulls on the rope to get the fresh gas to the carburetor and the motor came to life.

               I am now able to start the tiller on the second pull and it tills like a new machine.

I did not expect this to be interesting, I wrote if for my own pleasure. 

From the Yard Working Mechanical mind of           Don Ford

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