That Large Acquisition

I mentioned a large purchase a week or so ago. Well, it arrived on Tuesday.

What is lurking back there in the shadows?

It's big.

Well, the delivery guy was a young man with nothing on his mind except delivery. He was going to leave it in the middle of the driveway. "Wait a minute," I said. "You've got a pallet jack... we are at least going to put it over at the edge."

So we did that, and he was gone in a flash.

Um... what just happened here? I now have a new lawnmower, but it's not even fully assembled. It's in a crate stacked on a pallet. The wheels aren't even on the pallet. It weighs (according to the specs) 615 pounds. I don't think I'm getting this baby on the ground without help.

Friend Dan to the rescue again. He and I together were actually able to get it on the ground. He wanted to see it put together, so we assembled the disconnected pieces. It does have oil in it, but no gas. I will go get gas tomorrow. Oh, and Riley! Riley helped of course because I got a pupper fix.

Yes, this is a big deal. But I just couldn't face another summer of having a mower that didn't work more often than it did. I had gotten the former mower started, and did a little bit last week, but it was already acting up. And it just never was heavy-duty enough for what I'm trying to do here.

I did go to the retalier where I made the purchase and suggested to them that they at least warn people who order this (with the free delivery option because the store didn't have any in stock) that they are going to get something that isn't ready to run. I also mentioned that I paid the same price as I would have if this had been on their floor, ready to run and drive onto my trailer. But they didn't offer to give me any money back. No comment.

I am holding my breath until I actually have it running tomorrow, but I'm tentatively thrilled that I once again own a tractor worthy of the name. 547 cc engine. 15.7 HP, 42" deck. 18-in turning radius. Vroom, vroom!

And I am going to owe Dan bigtime. He seems to be my secret weapon for success this season.

I had high energy today and got a lot of work done outside as well as editing and other stuff. Finished the first weed-through on the rock garden for the year. I know I promised you flowers today, but the mower took priority. Flowers tomorrow!

See A Little Help from a Friend