Day 3478

It's almost an unwritten rule that something will quit working when you need it the most. Now that the huge pile of brush is gone, it was time to tame the front yard. A big patch of grass was dead, but the rest was about a foot tall. I plugged the mower into the charger when I got up this morning and quickly discovered that the charger didn't work. It was pretty easy to see why. There was water leaking out of the case. I shook the charger and I could hear water sloshing around inside. This must have happened during the big windstorm that blew the greenhouse apart. The charger for the electric lawnmower is a rectangular plastic brick. It never occurred to me that it wasn't watertight.

I looked for a replacement charger online and quickly discovered that the part isn't available anymore. Hey, it's an old lawnmower. Was I going to have to buy a new lawnmower just because I couldn't find the right 24 volt charger? I kept looking and eventually discovered other folks in the same situation I was. A few people mentioned that there was a charger for another brand of lawnmower that could still be used instead of my discontinued model.  Ordering things that people recommend online can be a risky business. Often people don't know what they are talking about. I wish they would just agree on things. According to the reviews, this replacement charger worked perfectly, was better than the original, didn't work at all, arrived broken, or had a plug that was difficult to attach to the mower. Oh, well. It was still a heck of a lot cheaper than a new mower. I ordered one from Amazon and we'll see pretty soon if it works.

The mower battery still had about half a charge so I was able to chop down some of the high grass and tall weeds before the mower died. This is why I'm not a big fan of yard work. It never goes as planned. Janet asked why I hadn't gotten any bids on replacing the greenhouse yet. It's on my list. I do things every day, but I just haven't gotten to this yet. I don't think making the greenhouse a higher priority would have saved the battery charger anyway. I'm pretty sure that this thing was ruined on June 10 when the violent storm blew through town. I just haven't gone inside what's left of the greenhouse since then.

I had thought about going up on the roof today, but by the time I finished monkeying around with the lawnmower it was too hot. There is a metal flashing around the edge of the roof that gets so hot during the summer that it burns your hands. Somewhere I have some lightweight gloves I can use to keep from getting burned but I didn't feel like looking for them. I was tired anyway. The roof can wait. I took my two long walks and called it a day.

Janet and I were wondering what to eat on the Fourth of July and decided on hot dogs. We haven't had hot dogs in ages. They're not good for you. You don't even want to know what they're made of. But few things could be more American. My childhood is filled with memories of hot dogs. Sometimes we grilled them. Other times we just boiled them in a pot of water on the stove. They were even good cut up and mixed with baked beans. Hot dogs and potato salad actually sounds like a good idea for the Fourth.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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