First Mowing

Initially I planned on working from the Hilliard office but that soon changed once I was settled at my desk enjoying coffee, internet, and a little work. Sandwiched in there, too, was a trip upstairs to deliver Mindy’s coffee. At the time it was 40 degrees under cloudy skies.

By 645am I’d pretty much decided that I would go ahead and work from home. After all, I was already engaged in work related activities. Because of the change of plans, I didn’t head out for run until after Bella was on the school bus. Between the time Mindy left, which was near 730am, and 8am, I walked the pug, stretched and meditated.

This, by the way, was the last school day of the week for both Mindy and the kids - Good Friday. As such, we made arrangements to have Rocky & Landon overnight. Tried reaching out to Ashley, too, to see about having Olivia over as well. As of Thursday morning we hadn’t heard back.

Once Bella was safely off to school, I headed off for a run completing the full 4.1 miles in something short of 40 minutes. By then the cloudy skies from earlier were showing signs of clearing. I had two important calls to join, one at 1030am and another at 2pm. Aside from a brief break after my first call, I stayed busy straight through until 230pm when the 2nd call wrapped up.
By then it was mostly sunny and warm – about 66 degrees. I headed to the shed to get the mowers so I could reinstall the freshly sharpened blades. It didn’t take too long to get the tractor blades on, but there was a pretty big problem. As soon as I gave it a practice run loud clanking rang out from the mower deck. Holy moly! I quickly shut down the blades and then the entire mower. Looking underneath, one of the blades had worked its way loose. I was certain that I’d torqued it down well. Hmmm?

I pulled back into the garage without engaging the blades but struggled to roll up the tire ramps. Instead of driving right up the ramps, the tractor would only push the ramps forward across the smooth concrete floor. Funny, I pulled right up just 5 minutes earlier. No matter what I tried, same results. By then it was after 3pm and Jacob home from school. I solicited his assistance. Having him drive the tractor forward while I positioned my feet in front of the ramps to hopefully keep them in place. Worked like a charm.

This time I took a little more care reinstalling the blades, making sure they were secure and tight. I was sure I had them placed correctly – sharp side pointing up. After torqueing down the blades I drove the tractor around back before testing it again. Same results. Loud clanking from the mower deck. I quickly shut down the blades and drove back to the garage. Not only was I at a loss, but also a little pissed! What in the world?

Before dealing with the tractor, I went ahead and put the sharpened blade back on the Toro push mower. I took a couple practice swaths with it, too. That went without a hitch. Back to the tractor. Had the same problem getting it on the ramps. Called for Jacob’s help again, and by then Bella was home from school and was wondering just what in the heck I was doing. Later, she called me out for swearing. Oops!

Once again the blades had worked loose. What in the heck was going on? Before progressing, I went to my PC and Google to see if I might find a video for installing the mower blades on a John Deere. Now, keep in mind, I’ve done this before without any problems. Buy hey …

I found a couple YouTube videos not only for removing and installing the blades, but for my exact model too. Sweet! Both were homemade – definitely not professionally done. Oh boy! The first one turned out being nothing more than a guy trying to sell his tractor. No help whatsoever. The second, the video was blurry at best, and when he got to the blade removal part, the camera was aimed incorrectly completely shielding the viewer from seeing what he was doing. What a goober!

I wasn’t about to give up. Instead, I went for my owner’s manual in the basement file cabinet, something in hindsight, I should’ve earlier. The blade removal/installation section was somewhat vague but pointed to a couple ahh-ha’s. One, there was a bolded warning to avoid lubricating the threads of the blade bolts or risk damage or injury (???). Oops! And I lubricate and clean the washers and bolts before putting the blades back on. It also suggested cleaning the small metal cups protecting the blade shafts.

I headed back to the garage to not only remove and wipe the blade blots clean of any residual lubricating oil but to also clean the blade shaft cups. Both were chalked full of debris. I gathered that while I was able to tighten the blades down securely, one of them never snugged up and over the end of the blade shaft as required. My hunch was correct. After securing the blades for a third time, my problem was finally solved.

I headed back to my desk where I wrapped up my work day. And once my work day was wrapped up, I headed out to cut at least some of the lawn, or so I thought. I did the tractor mowing first, managing to get maybe 90% of the yard with it. What the heck? Once Mindy was home, I decided to head back out and do the rest with the push mower. That went well too. This being my first cut, I didn’t bother trimming or edging. I did, however, take the time to blow the clippings from the drive and walk.

Mindy shared that the boys weren’t coming over until 8pm, that way we’d have enough time to relax, have dinner, and accomplish a few chores. For dinner we had a number of leftovers to choose from. I had wings and a small piece of sub. Shortly after our dinner, Mindy headed off to Target to get Easter stuff for the kids. She reminded me that the boys would be there soon. Somewhere sandwiched in there I finally got a much needed shower. Felt a lot better after that.

Mindy was gone for about 90 minutes. Finally talked with Ashley. She and Olivia were at the grocery store. Made arrangements for Olivia to spend the night, too. Said they had other plans but knew that Olivia would very much prefer to stay with us. Said she’d bring her over after they were done. Cool!

Neighbor Pat gave a call asking if we were up for a visit. Sure. Didn’t know it at the time but he was home alone, the wife out running errands. Hadn’t spent much time with Pat recently. He, Mindy and I sat in the livingroom chatting until all three of the grandkids showed up. The boys arrived first, then Olivia just a few minutes later. Things were a bit wild for a while, the kids all very excited and wound up. Pat didn’t stay all that long. Thinking he headed for home around 830pm.

In addition to having the grandkids, both Jacob & Bella were hosting overnight guests of their own. Jacob had his friend Caleb over, and Bella had Makayla. Yep, we had a house full!

The grandkids played games, snacked, and got baths over the next hour or so. Jacob & Caleb planned on ordering pizza after the wee ones were in bed. Mindy and I weren’t up that late, either. Thinking the two of us were in bed before 1015pm.