Friday

I got an amazing amount of sleep last night. I slept from 11:30 PM straight through until 4:00 AM, when I got up to go to the bathroom. I went back to bed and slept until 6:00 AM, took another bathroom break and then went back to bed until 7:30!!!

But, I was still weak and still have the damn fever. So, I called my boss again and told him I'd see him Monday morning.

I putzed around inside (did a load of laundry, etc.) until about 10:00 AM and then reluctantly went out into the garage. With great difficulty, I finally got the mower deck back on, the replacement cable hooked up, the deck re-leveled and the trickle charger hooked to the battery. I was dirty, sweaty, grimy and sore. So, I shook off my clothes as best as I could and sat down in the rocker on the front porch to take a break.

I gave myself 1/2 hour to recover, and then I went out to cut the grass. I cut the front lawn and the side lawn (it's been way too long and there are grass clipping clumps everywhere). But the mower is working flawlessly!

Then I went out back. I started on the first of the four outside cuts I make (that's how my Dad showed me to plow or disc a field and it works on grass cutting, too).

Then I got to the area by the house, between the new arbor and the reflecting pool. Here it's a little trickier. You have to go as far as you can, then stop and release the Power Take-Off (PTO), back up (you can't back up with the blades running or the engine dies - it's a safety thing), re-engage the PTO and drive forward again (about four or five times). It worked fine the first couple of times, but the third time I engaged the PTO, nothing happened!

"Oh crap!" I thought, "The cable came off!" It was a difficult installation. So, I pulled it forward, got off and lay on the grass to check. No, cables working fine... WTF? So, I looked at the deck and saw the one idler pulley was about 2 inches too high and canted over.

Now, this was the pulley that had caused all the trouble. You have to tighten it until the other idler pulley can't move and then back it off a quarter turn. So, if I had just done that, it might still be fine. But, no, not me! I had the damn deck off and was gonna do it right! So, I had taken it all apart, sprayed everything with penetrating oil, greased it and put it back together.

Well, by reaching way under the deck, I verified that the nut had come off. Totally ticked off, I ran the mower back in the garage, grabbed the garage magnet and went out to try and find the nut. No such luck. Then it occurred to me it might have come off anywhere and, when it fell off and hit the blades, it would have shot off like a rock.

I gave up. I went and lay down on the hammock and tried to forget about it. I did a physical inventory. I have more bumps, bruises scrapes, cuts and sore spots on my poor body than you would believe. I look like I got in a fight with Attila the Hun and the only thing he didn't do to me was kill me. The worst spots were my right hip (lying on the garage floor, I'd guess), both knees and my right shoulder.

But it was sunny with a nice breeze and eventually I fell asleep for an hour or so. I woke up and went inside. I took my shower to get all the gunk off me. I put on my robe, went in the bedroom to dress. Instead I lay down on the bed and slept until my daughter Melissa called around 6:30 PM.

We didn't talk long. She said she didn't want to tire me out, just see how I was doing.

When we hung up, my friend B___ called. I told him the lawnmower story and he said, "Did you clean the penetrating oil off with alcohol?" I said, "Well, no. Why?" He said that lock nuts or even Threadlocker will not work if the threads have oil on them. Then he said, "Did you buy a new lock nut?" "Ummm... No, why?" he said a lock nut only works once!

Damn! Wish I'd know all that a day ago!

This really has been the week from hell for me...

He also suggested I call Lu and let her know the situation, so she could decide if she really wanted to stay here. I hadn't yet, because I thought I'd be better by now. I called but just got the answering machine. She did call me back. I suggested she stop by for the keys and stay at Lake Orion for a few days, just in case. She said she'd think about it and let me know.

When we hung up, I decided it was time for breakfast/lunch/dinner. So, I warmed up a can of chicken noodle soup. I was starving, so I ate half the can. It tasted great!

But a half hour later, I threw it all up. I blame that on overeating, rather than still being sick.

Because of my two naps, I stayed up until midnight, and then went to bed.