Doesn't that sound snooty, "my gardener"?? I want to walk around with my pinky out!!!
He knocked on the door not long after he started, saying that it was running weird. I made sure Grace was okay in her high chair and ran outside. Sure enough, it was sputtering quite a lot, and as I let it idle, it just died. So I added some oil because the oil level was fairly low. He continued on, and was still having problems.
As he was trying to mow the sideyard, the darn thing kept dying. He had told me that if he opened the gas cap, the mower would start up just dandy and run fine for a few moments. This led me to believe the mower was oxygen starved, and so I pulled out the air filter, after seriously burning my thumb on some random metal part of the engine. Ow! The air filter was packed with debris. I tried my best to clean it out, but as J2 finished mowing the sideyard it died a couple more times. It sounded much better than it had, however.
I looked in the manual, and it says that to combat the issues I was describing, you're to clean out the air cleaner. At first I thought that meant "replace the air filter," so I decided a trip to Home Depot was in order. But the more I read the manual, I realized that the air cleaner was something in addition to the air filter. The manual tells me that in order to service the air cleaner, I'm to refer to a separate manual that came with the mower.
I don't have a separate air cleaner manual. And I have no idea where it could be because we keep our manuals in only one place.
All this boils down to this: I am going to replace the air filter and see what happens. If it's still wonky, then I will take it to the small engine mechanic near my house. I don't really want to do that, however, and having J2 mow my lawn with J's mower just isn't an option. She's not willing to lower her mower at all, so only the top quarter inch of my dandelions would be taken off, which to me is rather pointless.
I just don't want to deal with this. I get so stressed out when things break when Kurt's home. I don't know why I do; I just do. I know that if he were home he could fix it -- how hard could fixing a small engine be?! But it's three more months till he gets home, and we won't be using the mower by then. Hopefully the mower will work four or five more times, and then fall will be here and the lawn won't grow.
One can hope.
I have been Ms Busy Bee the last couple of days. It's so weird to be so busy!
Yesterday was the book party I was invited to. At 9am. Who schedules things for 9am?! Thank God it was only down the street, so the commute was all of two minutes of walking. The party itself went well. The books are very nice, but they're also kind of pricey. I don't really want to spend money on nice books right now when all Grace is going to do is chew on the darn things.
I met another sailor's wife who lives on this street. We'll call her SW, for sailor's wife.
I try not to judge without getting to know someone, but sometimes, people just make it so easy! Young Navy wives typically are a certain way, which I just can't get along with. And sure enough, SW was your stereotypical Navy wife. She knew what sub her husband was stationed to (which made her smarter than the average Navy wife), but you could tell she just didn't know much about the Navy. She didn't really know a whole bunch about anything, but she sure went on and on and on about nothing... She kept interrupting me and changing the subject. I don't mind so much if a person interjects something to keep the topic going, but when you change the subject as someone's talking, that's just rude.
Plus she was uneducated, and that just annoys me. Now before you start throwing things at the monitor, hear me out. By "education" I don't mean "degree from some college"; anyone can get one. I did, didn't I?? By "education" I mean the ability to look at a situation or a topic and be able to discuss it intelligently. Most of the folks who can discuss a topic intelligently that I know don't have a formal degree, and that's just fine. If you've graduated from the school o' hard knocks, then that's enough of a pedigree for me.
I may have mentioned this already, but the night the President addressed the nation a few weeks ago, the local news interviewed a Marine wife living here. She said that she didn't really have an opinion about Iraq, but she was going to support her husband and the President whole-heartedly.
How can you not have an opinion about Iraq?? Especially if your husband is protecting that nation from insurgents!! I don't care if you share my opinion about Iraq or not, just HAVE an opinion if you're a military wife. Also, you can't support the President unless you know about the decisions he's made and why he's made them.
Have I mentioned I refuse to have a Support Our Troops sticker on my car?? There's a couple reasons for it. First, someone's making money off those ribbons. Most folks say it's going for a charity for the military, but I want to see proof of it before I give my money to someone. Second, someone had to pay to make those ribbons, and that money could have gone to the troops instead of to the costs of producing the ribbons.
And thirdly, I am a Navy wife. It is obvious to everyone who knows me (and that's the only folks I care about) that I AM supporting the troops. I am the one holding down the fort for six months while he's gone, I'm the one sending him care packages to make it easier for him to be away, I'm the one managing his money so he's got some to spend overseas, I'm the one making sure his daughter is happy and healthy. If I weren't doing all of this, he couldn't focus on his job. So yeah, I'd say I was supporting the troops.
There, I've gotten up on my soapbox again. So sorry! :o) But I have opinions, and sometimes I just gotta share 'em!