“Dog-Mower” Alarm Clock

I usually wake up around 7:15. This morning I was awakened by the double sounds of our dog, Amber, barking and the lawnmower at 6:15. Even though I’ve been awake for a while now, I’m feeling a bit grumpy and tired. My husband will take a mid-morning nap soon, if not already, in his chair in the living room.

He gets up before I do many mornings, does some morning chores and then waits for me to come down. Amber was still barking to come in. I checked on my husband, finding him out mowing again. He came in when I was just finishing up the rest of the morning chores, plus getting a crock pot of chili started for our dinner this evening.

He had finished mowing some areas he hasn’t been able to mow with the old mower. He said he hasn’t had to put the mower in reverse yet. He simply turns the ‘arms’ of the mower and it spins in place (zero-turn) and he continues on. He is enjoying his new toy. I’m glad, AND I’m most happy that he was finished before it’s due to get hot today, even though I’m feeling a bit sleep-deprived.

Last night he spent quite a while online trying to find supplies for the mower, such as oil and air filters, spark plugs, a cover for the mower, the two belts needed, etc. He had a list of what he’d found and then asked me to help him with the ordering. We used his list, then looked for less expensive places to purchase them. We saved about $200 by doing this. We got everything ordered so we’ll have what we need.

The first thing will be an oil change after the first 8 hours of mowing. Oh, he ordered some kind of gadget that keeps a running total of how long the engine has run, so we can perform the maintenance required at certain times.

We have a master log spreadsheet we’ve kept for years, documenting things we want to be able to refer to, such as “when did we buy the new mower?”. We gathered the model and serial numbers and logged them.

I’ll either do more weeding this morning or I’ll weed whack. I’m not sure which yet.

Enjoy your day!