The Green Mower, March 3,1997

The river rises every fall, sometimes it goes back down. Snow melt kept the river up though winter. Spring would be here soon. Well the river was up, back water had all it's tributaries is this area full. It wouldn't take much rain to cover the roads.
I had put the green lawn mower up for the winter. So on a warm March day I decided to tune up the mower before warmer days came around. I pushed the mower out of the garage, checked all the fluids and tires. I sat in the seat and put the key into the ignition, turned the key, nothing. I rechecked the battery fluids and cleaned the battery posts. I tried again, nothing. I got my battery charger out and charged the battery, nothing. Something must be wrong with the starter, I  tried it and I got some movement. Well maybe this gadget called my solenoid is bad, or maybe one of my wires is bad?  I'll call tomorrow and have the dealer come pick it up and take a look. The dealer came by the next day, the young man said that the dealership had changed hands as we pushed the mower on to the trailer. I said give me a call when you find out something? Friday the seventh day of March, Laurel had a appointment to have a tooth pulled, I went off to work. I came home that afternoon and Laurel was all numb, she felt like she had a mouthful of cotton and her speech was a little slurred. And by the way, the dealer just called a few minutes ago and said we needed a new engine on our lawn mower, because that one was shot. I looked at her in disbelief, this can't be so. I was sure that I had an electrical problem. I called the dealer back, he confirmed that the motor was shot. I said don't do anything to the mower, I've got to talk to Laurel about this. We decided that tomorrow we would go look at a new green mower since that one was shot. I called him back and said we would be out tomorrow and look at a new mower. He said that his sales personal would not be there, they were on their way to a green dealers sales workshop. Can anyone show me/sell me a mower?  He said that a young man would be here, but he could not sell us a mower. I said ok, ok!  Well Saturday morning, Laurel was feeling much better. She said  "Let me call this place in Paducah. They have always been nice to us." So she called the Paducah green dealer, while I was in the shower. Laurel said that they'd be more than happy to sell or show us a mower. So Laurel called the local green dealer and said to bring the mower back whenever they had a chance, they said "no one was there except me and someone will be here Monday". Laurel and I went off to Paducah to look at new mowers. Well we did find one bigger and stronger, something that would handle the fast, wet, thick, spring grasses in our yard. After all the dealing that day, they said that someone would bring it out Monday morning and it would be ours. That night the rain started. It rained, and it rained. Remember the river. The rain closed a lot of roads. What took 30 minutes, now took 90 minutes. Roads were closed everywhere. People were using yawls to get to their homes. People got up earlier to travel 70 miles, etc.  Monday morning our new green machine arrived, the salesman that sold it to us, delivered it, along with the some paperwork. He said he had a time finding a way to get here, because of the road closings, we chatted about the unusual high water, kicked the tires on the mower and said good bye. Laurel and I walked around the mower wondering who was going to ride her first. I said go ahead. She cranked her up, it started first lick, and I started working on the trimming. We were happy. The local dealer said that he would bring my old mower back when the water went down off the local road, I said no hurry, fine. A week went by, the water started to fall, it started to fall off the roads. Laurel was in the house and I was rolling up the garden hose, the new green mower was in the garage out of sight. The local dealers pickup and trailer pulled up with our old mower strapped down. I called Laurel from the door as the young man untied the mower. As Laurel came to the door, I looked back as the young man climbed aboard the old mower. Laurel and I looked at each other in astonishment as the young boy put the key into the ignition and cranked up the old mower and drove it off the trailer. I said what did they do to it? "Nothing came the reply. I was just to deliver it." This young man knew nothing of what had transpired. We paid for the delivery. We were a little upset. I fixed the electrical problem on the old mower, now we have two green machines.

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Batteries

Batteries, I am not much on jewelry. I remember Kathy saying that it was a lot of vain bullshit. So wearing jewelry is not what I do. Time has mellowed the harshness. The first ornament to come was a watch. Working outside and not seeing the sun on one day and seeing the sun two days later turned off my internal clock. When I first met Laurel I could look at the sun and tell you the time of day within a few minutes. After the watch Laurel wanted me to wear a ring, that never happened. Glasses came next, they slide down, as I could not see papers to sign or read. Next in line came a copper bracelet, my ankles and back are constant reminders of how physical I have worked. The copper bracelet came as a gift from Allison.
Laurel and I were on our way to Paducah, some dinner and maybe a show. I said Laurel can we stop by that jewelry store there. It is right inside the doors at the mall. I needed a battery for my Seiko watch. The sign said watch repair. Seiko clocks were in abundance, on display. I handed my watch to the elderly man and asked him if he could put a battery in my watch. I'll see what I can do, came the reply. I told him that Laurel and I were going to run a few errands and come back in an hour or so. We did our shopping and came back. The man said that he had never seen a watch do that before as he handed me my watch in three pieces. He said the back would not go back on. He fiddled and heehawed for a few minutes, when I realized that I had made a mistake coming to this jeweler. I said what do I owe you. We left talking to each other, we left talking to each other. Looking back over our shoulder, we left talking to each other. Looking back over our shoulder.
We stopped at another jeweler and had him look at it, he said a part was missing. Laurel and went to pennys, where we bought the watch. We had to send it back to the factory. It still runs fine, it's practical, used, black and steel.
 badaba

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