Wondering why I am always hitting in the yard.

If you have been following my blog you know the first night I brought my just purchased motor-home home, I hit a tree and damaged the long power awning.  That finally got fixed.  I also, while backing up, sideswiped an electric pole.  That damage I fixed myself.  If you remember, I purchased a new lawn tractor not too long ago.  No, I didn't hit the lawn tractor with the motor-home, at least not yet.  I was cutting my front half acre and my neighbor was cutting his place.  He had just bought one of those zero turn lawn mowers that you steer with levers.  We pulled up beside each other and talked about our new lawn toys.  I told him I looked at one of those but didn't want all that stuff flying up in my face.  He said that was a problem but was going to mount a truck mud flap on the front as a shield.  After our discussion, we both took off mowing.


After I mowed almost all of the front, I only had a corner behind a pine tree to cut.  It was where my neighbor's fence met up with mine and it was only two tractor widths wide, not enough room to swing around.  I usually just pull beside my fence and stop at his, back up and move over and run in again.  Since I had been cutting the larger open area, I had the cruse control on.  All you have to do to turn it off is step on the forward or reverse pedals.  The tractor has a hydraulic drive system which makes everything simple.  Now remember, I only have about two hours on the tachometer, so this tractor is still "new" to me.


I came mowing in along my fence still in cruse control and when I just about reached the corner, I stepped on what I thought was the reverse pedal.  It didn't stop, so I stomped on it again and it still didn't stop!!  Then I realized I was stomping on the forward pedal and by that time I was sitting on top of my neighbor's knocked down fence.  I backed off and observed the damage.  I broke both his corner post and another post that the diagonal rail went to.  It was a wire mesh fence and since I hit between the posts, I did not do any damage to my tractor.  I went and told him what happened and he said not to worry about it.  I do, so I dragged a couple of fence posts over there and left them for him.  These are big posts, about eight feet long and look like small electric poles; they will not be knocked down as easily as his old ones.  When my wife and I were leaving to go to town to pick up my blood pressure medicine prescription, I saw him in his front yard working on something.  I stopped to tell him about the posts that I was leaving there for him and found out he was working on a pipe from his well that he had hit with his mower.  Not a good day for cutting grass for either of us.  Guess we were like two boys with new toys (grin).  OK, now you all have a great day and maybe you shouldn't cut any grass today, you hear?