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View Full Version : How to "Break In" the new Riding Lawn Mower



Leigh Costello
11-23-2009, 11:42 PM
Or, aka, you did what with my shiny new orange Simplicity?!?!

I will begin by saying, if your spouse kills the rider, you get to use the new replacement first. I shall carve this in stone and put it near our shed - then of course, I will hide.

Two weeks ago, the leaves had fallen and hidden nearly all of the grass in our side yard (about 1/2 acre of shaded glory in the hot summer) and needed to be mulched. I told hubby, you just rest in here and I will mulch those leaves so fast you won't even know I was outside.

Got the new shiny orange Simplicity out, set the height to very high, and off I went, mulching and making big leaves disappear. Pass the playset that our daughter has outgrown, mulch, mulch, mulching from one end of the sideyard to the other. Need to get closer to the playset, get those pesky leaves under the swing...there, oops, steer around the base of the fort...good, got them...back around to the swing and get lined up and speed at a mighty fast 6 mph and up the front-end goes!

The swing is attacking the height adjusting lever, it won't let go! Up! Up! HOLY COW, I am falling off, my left leg is on the ground, I can make it! I can...dang it, my shoestring is caught! NOT gonna make it! Visions of Footloose tractor chicken scenes race through my head. The mower, oh no, is going to be wrecked before we have made our first 12mos-same-as-cash payment...NOOOO....I rock my foot back, the mower inches back, with me hopping in reverse with my shoestring holding tight. Thank goodness for hydrostatic transmissions! Ever so carefully reversing and hopping. Swing set portion of playset now down, mower slowly reversing, still hopping....there, mower has all four wheels on the ground. Hop back on, and realize that the mower never stalled. The seat pressure switch didn't work. Pat my now wild hair like nothing happened and thank God for his guardian angels once again.

After all was mulched and neatly mowed, hubby got out the blower and cleaned our newly broken-in orange, somewhat shiny Simplicity.

Now the rest of the story. I dislocated my left hip. Once that got taken care of, I realized my right ankle was achy. A few days of light duty...all better. Then, my right knee begins giving out at odd times, like showing a customer our newest ornament designs for the season. Or just putting the laundry away. So, today I went to my orthopedic surgeon. He tapped my knee, X-rayed it, sent me for more tests and now I will be on crutches, recovering from surgery for the Holidays.

Stupid leaves! Stupid swing! Stupid Leigh!

Ken Fitzgerald
11-24-2009, 12:24 AM
Leigh...heal well!

Aren't you glad your berry picking friend wasn't there to keep you company?

Belinda Barfield
11-24-2009, 8:06 AM
Oh goodness Leigh! Bless your heart, you have the worst luck! Heal fast, although I know in your world there is no such thing as fast enough. If you continue in this manner we are going to have to tie you down to that rocker on the front porch. :D (yeah, like THAT'S going to happen)

Lee Schierer
11-24-2009, 5:12 PM
Great choice on the lawn mower. we love ours.

My driver seems to come a bit close the discharge side of the deck once or twice too often so the rubber shield has been "adjusted" several times from close encounters with immovable objects. Nothing quite as exciting as your swing set adventure. We do love the hydrostatic drive as long as I remember to push the little lever back in when I move it in the garage without starting it.

Tony De Masi
11-24-2009, 5:56 PM
Leigh, sending you wishes for a speedy recovery from your ordeal.

Also, have you ever thought of doing some writing, story telling? For the time it took me to read your post I was riveted.

Tony

Leigh Costello
11-25-2009, 1:11 AM
Addendum to last night's post: Do NOT practice with crutches near a beagle pup. I have a bag of frozen whole kernal corn on my left hand right now...I do believe a finger or two may have serious color effects by morning. I was finally getting the hang of the crutches when our 8 month old beagle mix puppy decided to attack one of the crutches in mid swing. I put my hand out to keep from falling on her...smacked the door jamb and wowweee!! That hurt. Dog 1, Leigh -2 :eek:

So after surgery in the morning, hubby is buying a nice harness and tie out to keep my darling puppy safe...outside.

Life is an adventure!

btw Belinda, that rocker on the porch is looking mighty inviting about now! :D

Belinda Barfield
11-25-2009, 8:56 AM
Leigh, sending you wishes for a speedy recovery from your ordeal.

Also, have you ever thought of doing some writing, story telling? For the time it took me to read your post I was riveted.

Tony

Tony, I have encouraged Leigh on several occasions to start writing.


Addendum to last night's post: Do NOT practice with crutches near a beagle pup. I have a bag of frozen whole kernal corn on my left hand right now...I do believe a finger or two may have serious color effects by morning. I was finally getting the hang of the crutches when our 8 month old beagle mix puppy decided to attack one of the crutches in mid swing. I put my hand out to keep from falling on her...smacked the door jamb and wowweee!! That hurt. Dog 1, Leigh -2 :eek:

So after surgery in the morning, hubby is buying a nice harness and tie out to keep my darling puppy safe...outside.

Life is an adventure!

btw Belinda, that rocker on the porch is looking mighty inviting about now! :D

Leigh, you can write your stories from the rocker!:D

Go now and sit down, do not move, restrain puppy . . . you don't have that many uninjured body parts left!

Not to horn in on your thread, but I can relate to the crutches incident. I broke my foot four years ago. First experience with crutches. I'm pretty clumsy on my best days and tend to bump into things that weren't there just a second ago. I'm also pretty stubborn. So, third or fourth day on the crutches I decide that instead of asking someone to take paperwork out to the shop, I was capable of doing it myself. I start down the 20 foot tile hallway from my office to the shop. Just as I reached the door right crutch slips on the tile, crutch goes one way and I go the other. My instinct was to protect the broken foot . . . which I did to a certain extent . . . I rolled it to the outside and severely sprained my ankle. I also fell to the floor, striking my shoulder against the wall on the way down. The next day not only was my foot black and blue, but my ankle was as well and swollen to twice the normal size. I had a softball size bruise on my hip and a large bruise on my shoulder.

I could handle the bumps and bruises, but when the crutch shot out from under me it hit the shop door. Natually my shop guys came running to see what happened. The indignity of their finding me in a heap on the floor, and the ensuing uproar of laughter, did not soothe my bruised ego in the least.

You wouldn't happen to have an extra rocker, would you? :D

Leigh Costello
11-27-2009, 12:14 AM
Belinda, You would have been very proud of me today. Went to hubby's family Thanksgiving to feast and rest. Being very sure footed with crutches (NOT), I made my way down the hill covered with gravel. Did great until the gravitational pull of the earth conquered my less than graceful attempt to properly use crutches on gravel. I managed to keep my weight on my "good" leg and did a one-legged gravel surf right into the wall of the brother-in-laws log home. My family and in-laws laughed, gut busting laughs. So I took a bow and said "I'll be here all night!"

So, the rocker on the porch has a mate, come on up, bring your crutches and we can compare techniques. ;)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Leigh Costello
11-30-2009, 11:45 PM
Got the brace removed today, no need for crutches. Just work on range of motion and I will be set. So glad I was in shape before surgery. :D

Belinda Barfield
12-01-2009, 9:12 AM
That's good news Leigh. Glad to hear it. You'll have the boogie back in your boogie - oogie - oogie in no time!

Rod Sheridan
12-01-2009, 2:37 PM
I have to admit that between Belinda and Leigh, I get more entertainment out of my $6 contribution to SMC than can possibly be believed.......Rod.

Belinda Barfield
12-01-2009, 3:22 PM
Thank you Rod. Leigh and I are thinking of taking our show on the road. Since it's traditional in show business to say "break a leg" before a performance we'll be taking the crutches along! I figure if we time things just right, with our two good feet, we can manage a reasonable tap dance. I'm not sure we're up to ballet yet. If the dancing goes okay and we don't break any further bones we'll try crutch juggling. Worse case scenario, we dazzle the audience with our synchronized rocking. Want to be our first booking?

Rod Sheridan
12-01-2009, 7:01 PM
Thank you Rod. Leigh and I are thinking of taking our show on the road. Since it's traditional in show business to say "break a leg" before a performance we'll be taking the crutches along! I figure if we time things just right, with our two good feet, we can manage a reasonable tap dance. I'm not sure we're up to ballet yet. If the dancing goes okay and we don't break any further bones we'll try crutch juggling. Worse case scenario, we dazzle the audience with our synchronized rocking. Want to be our first booking?


You bet..............Rod.