Tuesday, October 4, 2005

duh

So this past weekend, I was going to mow my lawn, like I usually do.  I bought this brand spankin' new lawnmower about 6 months ago.  My first one ever!  Of course, this was my first house with a yard so I needed a lawn mower.  I didn't buy the best one, but I didn't buy the worst one either.  It was a middle of the road model.  Craftsman something-or-other. 

Any-hoo-ha...I had noticed that it seemded to be very difficult to start for a brand new lawn mower.  I would have to pull that starter cord thing 15 to 20 times each time I tried to start it.  I would be exhausted before I even started!  And I am not in bad shape, either!   So it had been a couple of weeks since the last time I had to use it becuase it's been dry as a bone here.  We had some rain a couple of weekends ago and my grass finally started growing again.  So out comes my lawnmower and I proceed with my ritualistic cord pulling.  I must have yanked that thing 50 times.  I gave myself a rubbing burn that went right through the glove and onto my thumb (that still hurts now, for criminies sake).  So during the course of the past couple of days, I would complain to random coworkers and colleagues and generally anyone who was willing to listen to me gripe, and each time, the same thing was asked of me..."Well, did you prime the motor first?"  I had no clue what they were talking about.  I expressed as much in the conversations.  Each person told me that there is a little red rubber button thing near or on the motor part that you have to push two or three times to get gas into the thingy and that makes it start easier.  I had never seen such an animal, and I figured that maybe I just didn't get a high end enough lawn mower to have this primer button thing.  So i looked it up online while i was at work, and even the cheapest low end mower had a primer.   I got home today from work, thumb still all raw, icky and throbing, and went out to my shed, looked at my lawnmower, and there it was...in all it's rubber glory...the primer.   It may have been imagined, but I swear I could hear my thumb yelling at me and calling me a dorkess.