dependability

I had about 60 yards more to mow (that's going back and forth) before the wheel fell off. I finished the back yard on three wheels and some fancy one-wheel turning.

Five years ago, the little beauty cost me $99.00 at Home Depot. She's been dependable and true -- one pull and a start -- every year since. It's a surprising track record, considering that I found her completely submerged in the flooded shed (which sits too close to the back easement) a summer after I bought her. She sat upside down in pieces on the garage floor for about a week. Half a can of quick start spray and a prayer had her humming like her old self just in time for the first dry day of spring that year.

Because I'm so cheap, it's only fitting that the wire guide on the 13 year old electric weed whacker would also break on this very same day. Karma? Maybe. Or maybe a cosmic challenge to see if I can get my two old wounded warriors taped and bandaged for one more year -- or at least through next weekend.