Thursday, April 3, 2008

farewell my friend

we met nearly six years ago. the yard machine lt, 17.5 horsepower riding lawn mower. i remember the day exactly. we'd just moved into our house. our first (and probably last) house. we finally had a yard. a big yard. a yard that just could not be mowed with a regular push mower.

i went to our local big box home improvement store and picked her out. i don't even think the hubs was with me. he was back at the house doing something or another--basking in the glow of the huge backyard or something.

i have mowed many a lawn with that trusty green machine. no, she does not turn on a dime like a john deere. she does not have a cup holder, bagger, or any other gadgets, but boy, she could flat cut some grass. raise the blade, lower the blade, up and down the front yard, all across the back. she started showing her age last summer. she got a new battery. she started smoking. it was sad. we had high hopes that she'd be ok this season. the other weekend when we mowed, she was gasping her last breath. she stopped and started. the hubs changed her oil. charged her battery. tried everything he could think of to nurse her back to health.

alas, the poor girl had a seizure today and did not recover.

as the hubs was basically pronouncing her dead, the boy came out and asked him what was wrong with the mower.

she's broken, the hubs said.

well, you could just get mom a john deere, the boy said.

if only. sniff sniff. ah yard machine, you will be missed. (especially this summer when we're push mowing this fucking big yard.)

2 comments:

broad minded said...

listen, my dad knows a guy, if you want to see if it can be fixed.

creative kerfuffle said...

thanks broad. i actually think it would cost more to fix it than to get another. it is 6 years old.
CK