If all else fails, follow instructions

After much rain and with grass that was growing like a beanstalk, I thought I had better mow our lawn.  I had made an attempt a few days ago and decided the grass was too wet.  I felt the grass and it seemed reasonably dry.  OK, let's get it done before supper time.

Digression: Last year I had traded our gas lawnmower in for a light-weight electric mower.  The old lawnmower's wheels didn't really grab going up the short but sharp incline in front.  It was a lot of work to heave it around and I didn't want to pay the repair bill to get the clutch readjusted.  Even though the electric mower didn't cut as wide a swath, it sure beat heaving the gas mower around.

I started mowing and the blade would slow down.  I banged the mower up and down and big chunks of grass would fall out.  Repeat.  And again.  Then the mower stopped and the gauge showed no power!  What have I done?

I took the battery inside and plugged it into its charger.  Then I started looking for the instructions.  And looking, and looking, and…  I found an update on charging the battery.  The only info I got was that it should take 8-14 hours to charge.

I looked again for the instructions, and looking, and …   Finally I found them, sort of in an obvious place, but under something else.

I looked under "Trouble shooting" and found three important pieces of information.

If the grass is too dense, it might trip the circuit breaker.
If the grass is too dense, raise the height of the deck.
The circuit breaker is located at this place on the handle.

I found the circuit breaker, pushed it, and it went in and stayed in.
I raised the height of the deck to its highest, three inches.
I put the battery back in and worked the controls to get the engine running.

I was no longer shaving the lawn but I was making it look more even than it had.

The time and energy to cut the grass was less than the time and energy to find the manual and make the correct adjustments.

Panic and frustration can be such time wasters!  When will we ever learn to be calm and focused in the face of unexpected problems?

Have I learned my lesson?  Probably not!

See also "If all else fails, read directions".

Piano, piano, pieno!

This is the title of a book I saw a few weeks ago in the Duluth Public Library. At first I thought it was a typo and the book was about music. Then I realized what it really meant. Slow, slow, full! It was a book about the slow food movement. Eat slowly, enjoy what you eat, and be truly satisfied.

Today has been a mix of troppo di fare and basta cosí. Too much to do and it suffices so.

We set out for our cabin in our newly purchased used SUV. As soon as we backed out of the garage I noticed two warning lights on. Panic! These lights weren't on when we brought the vehicle home from the dealer. Somebody else was coming down the alley and so we went to the side street and pulled over.

My wife figured out that one light meant the rear door was open. I got out and closed it properly. The light went off but the other was still on. I figured out that it meant we had low tire pressure. Since we were going to stop to fill the tank, I'd check then.

When I pulled up to the air pump I noticed that the left front tire was really down. When I put the tire gauge to it, nothing registered. I filled it up to the appropriate pressure and checked the warning light. It was still on. I checked the other three tires and a couple needed a couple of pounds. I filled them but the warning light was still on!

I drove over to the gas pump and filled the tank. When I pulled away, the low tire warning light was off but now we had two warning lights that the stability gizmos were not working. Oh great! Do we have to call the dealer already? Oh, but we had gone over a muddy road construction area. Probably the vehicle didn't like the difference in traction among the wheels.

We drove up to our next stop, a lawn and garden store. I wanted to check on the price of a chipper that a friend had bought and was very satisfied with. I found that it was a quarter of the price I had expected and how long it would take to ship. I wasn't ready to buy it today, but I was also curious about a weed whip on wheels.

Surprise! They had three in stock and on sale. Well, how can any guy resist another guy toy? I whipped out my credit card and said I'll take it, plus a chain saw wheel for woody stuff.

We had just enough room in the SUV for it to fit in. Off we went to our cabin. Surprise again! All the warning lights were off!

But, I forgot the USB/FM transmitter for my iPod. We would have to settle for Minnesota Public Radio.

The next little problem was getting the cruise control to work properly. By the third stop sign I had it working the way I wanted. Surprise again! Despite what the manual implies, I can come to a complete stop and have it resume back to the previous speed.

The only blip for the rest of the trip was a straight-line speeder who passed us and then went ten miles per hour slower than I wanted through the curves by Pequaywan Inn.

We unloaded our vehicle just before lunch and wondered how the weather was going to be. There were only about five jobs I wanted to do outside. Do I play with my new toy or take on some other task?

After lunch it was iffy. There would be a misty rain, no rain, a fine-drop rain, and then… I opted for using the new weed whip that would work on wet grass. I won't bore you with the details of the joy and frustration of using it. Suffice to say, I got a lot of high grass and other growth cut over quite a bigger area than I expected.

Two sessions with the weed whip got me to the cocktail hour. I had a bottle of beer and then went for a walk. Oh, no! More work! Tomorrow I'll have to use the chain saw to clear trees that fell across the path. But it was still a delight, seeing our spruce that were growing taller, the large number of birch and red maple that were coming along, and just being out in the fresh, rain-washed air.

Back in the cabin for another beer before dinner. My wife prepared a dinner of barbecued pork, garlic potatoes, fresh beets, and home-made bread. And of course we had to drink some wine with it. And some more wine. It is amazing how easy it is to drink one half-glass after another. I was feeling very much piano, piano, and non pieno. There was still a little dessert my wife had bought at the coffee shop to go with our home-brewed coffee.

My gosh! Where did I get the energy to write all this? Maybe it was Wagner's gift to his wife Cosima on public radio, the Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vänska.

I do know I don't have much energy to practice my own singing and despite going slow, I won't have the patience for a slow internet connection. If this is posted on Friday night, I'll consider it a major achievement.

Basta cosí!