Our lawn desperately needed to be mowed. The grass hasn't been growing very quickly recently -- although the weeds seem to grow at the same pace regardless of the weather. However, it had been long enough that it really needed to be mowed. Actually, it should have been mowed the previous weekend, but events dictated otherwise.
I knew it was going to be hot today (mid-90s), so I planned to start at 9:00 AM. (People who mow their grass before 9 AM should be shot. Well, they should at least be secretly glared at with resentment!)
I fired up the riding mower, cut the first lap of the lawn (enough to make it clear to everyone how badly the lawn needed to be mowed), and then the mower stopped.
By "stopped", I don't mean that the engine quit. The engine ran fine. The blades didn't stop either. They kept turning fine. It was the wheels that stopped.
I could have mowed the grass that was directly under the mower all day, but that was it.
Forward? Nope. Reverse? Nope. Could I push it? Yep.
Long story short: A stick got in a place where sticks don't belong and knocked a belt off.
The good news is, it's something I can probably fix. The bad news is, now I have to fix it.
All I have to do is figure out how to do so. One obstacle is that I have no service ramp to roll the mower on, so that I can more easily get at things from below. I went to Lowe's, but they didn't have what I want. I guess I'll try auto service supply stores tomorrow.
To add to the fun, our Internet service has been very erratic for the last week or two. It will be working fine, then it will stop working for a few minutes, then it will work for a few minutes, then it will be out for several minutes, then it will work for an hour, then it will be out, etc. On, off, on, off. It's very annoying! I'll be calling Comcast in the morning.
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