Riding Lawn Mowers

My Dad and I picked up our "new" riding lawn mower from my Uncle's garage last night. It's not brand new, but it's probably the newest rider we've ever owned. Over the years, we've tried getting our hands on a riding lawn mower, but haven't had too much success. Back when I was really little, I remember my dad owning a rider, with the steering wheel right up front and the engine of the machine in the back. Unfortunately that's about all I remember of it. I recall my dad giving me a few rides on the contraption, but that's about it. I honestly don't ever remember what happened to it, but I'm thinking it simply broke down and was just too costly to repair. It did seem like a vintage mower with not a lot of hope left for it.

Fast forward approximately ten years when my dad and I was given an old relic to fix up from my Uncle. It was a Sears model - probably from the 1970's. It was pretty well beat up, but as long as we had all of the parts, we could make it work. We took it apart, grinded off all of the old rust and paint from the machine, re-assembled the riding lawn mower - now all we had to do is get it running. Only trouble is, we were missing the mower deck. For those unfamiliar with riding lawn mowers, the mower deck is what sits under the machine itself and does all of the cutting. Some mowers have two blades, others three that make up the mower deck. Well, I remember being assured from my Uncle that the mower deck was sitting around in his garage, somewhere. Well we found a mower deck, but it wasn't the right one. We never did find something compatible for that particular model, so we ended up scrapping that particular machine. Kind of tragic, considering all of the work we put into that machine.

Now, fast forward another five years. Ah yes, we basically repeat the story, only with a few details changed. Again, we received this old beat-up riding lawn mower from my Uncle. We actually had it running at first, but it was in desperate need of repair. I even remember the motor leaking oil. So we took the machine all apart and gave it a new look. I can't remember the make of this particular machine, but when we were finished giving it a makeover, we turned it into a John Deere designed riding lawn mower. At that stage in my life, I was collecting anything I could with John Deere on it. So I was pretty thrilled to be able to transform this rider into a John Deere. We even cut out a John Deere logo from a paper plate and used it as a stencil to paint it on the machine. It turned out really slick. We attached a new motor to it and had it running for awhile. But then we began experiencing constant trouble with it. The drive belts that connected the mower deck to the pulley on the motor kept slipping off. It began happening too frequently - and after being inspected by my uncle, it was determined we needed a new pulley. Well, how easy is it to find a pulley for such an old machine? Well, my uncle did find one. But we never did find out if it actually would've worked. This riding lawn mower either sat in the garage during the warm months or back in one of the sheds during the colder months. All it needed was this new pulley to be installed, but it never happened. Finally, my mom got so sick of seeing it just sitting there, she told my dad to get rid of it. And he finally did, dismantling all of our hard work. Today, the machine sits in the woods at my Uncle's property, rusting away.

Flash forward to late last year. I was with my dad while visiting my Uncle at his garage as we looked for stuff for my house (I was looking for any furniture items he could give me). In his garage sat a nice looking, 1990's style riding lawn mower. My uncle tells us it hadn't been ran all that often. And instead of giving us clunkers to try and fix up, he would let us have that particular machine, because it seemed like he had a bunch of modern-looking riding lawn mowers already! Needless to say, we were thrilled. My dad's not getting any younger and his lawn is quite hilly. So tonight, as the clouds roll in, I wonder if my dad is enjoying his first modern-looking riding lawn mower, the first he's ever owned. It's been a long time coming, believe me.