freedom from the gasoline engine

OK! My guess is that you have already misjudged the intent of this post. Although I would appreciate it if gasoline didn't cost so much, I have to relate a couple of figures. Although the grandkids may consider it the dark ages, I do remember buying gas for 23 cents/gallon. However at that time, I was bucking hay bales for 50 cents/hour. (And I weighed about 135 pounds.) So, I could work my butt off for an hour to buy enough gas to drive about 25 miles. That would be a drive to Warsaw to go to the movies. (Another hour of work would by the movie ticket.) In this regard, I don't see today's gas prices so bad. So why am I at war with gasoline engines? Although I think we could be a little kinder to our environment, that isn't my motive. At this point, I have replaced my string trimmer and my "leaf" blower with electric models (Not battery powered cause I spend enough time recharging my drill batteries.) The only small gasoline engine I have left is the lawn mower. This brings me to the reason for this post. I have come to the conclusion that small gasoline engines and I don't work well together. I'm sure my neighbors have enjoyed watching me stand in the driveway pulling that blasted rope. Well, I have finally reached the age and body type that I am concerned with these little monsters actually killing me. Or visa versa.... visa versa??? As I was contemplating this post, I heard Paul Harvey Jr. reporting on Milwaukee's Keith Walendowski. You see, last week, Keith was about to mow his lawn. He seemed to prepare himself by raising his blood alcohol level. Problem is, his Lawn Boy mower wouldn't start. Well, Keith got the last lick in. It seems he went into the house, got his sawed off shotgun and shot the mower. I went to the internet to see what I might find to support this post and found Keith all over the web. You see, his sawed off shotgun was illegal, so now he is facing jail time for shooting his own lawnmower in his own yard. Boy did he touch off a firestorm of righteous people condemning him, gun laws, and booze.... everything but the lawnmower. Although I don't drink or wield a shotgun, I have had those moments when his actions seem perfectly justified. You pull and pull, then it sputters and you pull some more. You set it down and sometimes when you pick it up and pull it again it starts and sometime it just burps at you. I swear I can sometimes hear it chuckling at me. You see, I don't want to be pushed by these evil machines to the point to pull a Walendowski... So I got rid of them and feel so much better for it. I am much less likely to fall over dead while tugging on a little rope. As a side note, Lawn Boy apparently voided the warantee on Keith's mower. You can read all you want by simply putting walendowski into google, however, there is a blog that I especially enjoyed at: http://freedomeden.blogspot.com/2008/07/keith-walendowski-and-his-lawn-boy.html The moral of this story is simple. If you don't know much about small engines, don't own them. That's me. Don't let an inanimate object control your emotions. I really learned this when I was about 10 years old. We had a very large tree in our yard with a very long rope swing. One day I was swinging and jumped out while swinging. Somehow the board on the swing hit me. I grabbed one of the ropes and kicked the swing as hard as I could... Guess who got in the last punch... When you hold one rope and kick the board attached to it, the board will swing around and hit you... I guess you knew this, but my anger had blinded me to the reality. Having come close to heaving my small engine appliance across the driveway, I have decided that as long as I remember to check circuit breakers I can rest in the reliability of the old fashioned household outlet. Now that I have a power cord that will reach all corners of our property, I'm good to go. Keith.... take a hint.