I have been threatening to
cut the dogs’ yard for weeks now, but have been putting it off because I
figured that the old lawn mower would need some maintenance. I just couldn’t put it off any longer; the
weeds were much taller than the dogs. So,
I went out and tried to pull my old lawn mower back from where it had been
sitting all winter. Dang, it seemed to
be stuck, so I tried to lift it up. OH
DANG, FIRE ANTS!!! (BTW, I do use “dang”
for 95% of my cussing) Yep, they used my
lawn mower as a shelter from the rain. Just
what I needed, a few billion mad fire ants!
I finally got the lawn mower
pulled out from beside the porch to an open area, bumped it up and down a few
times, and then remembered that I didn’t get any gas for it. I opened the gas cap and checked, and there
was just a hint of gas in the bottom. I
looked around and found an old gas can.
Yep, it had a few inches of gas in it. I smelled it and it didn’t smell like gasoline
should. Oh well, it was all I had and I
didn’t want to go for gas. I dumped it
in the tank, put the gas cap back on, and yanked the starter cord. It didn’t even sputter, so I yanked it
again. I couldn’t believe it; it started
right up on the second pull!! I must
have done something right when I rebuilt the carburetor over a year ago. Do you remember that blog? Here is a link: http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2010/10/mower-resurrection.html The dogs seem
a lot happier about going out now, so I will change the oil in the mower and go
get some fresh gasoline and if I feel like it, I will cut some grass. Well not for a few days, the weather man says
it is going to get real stormy around here.
You all have a great day now,
you hear?
Well done Sir!!
ReplyDeleteNow, since you're an expert now come up here and put a new starter rope assembly on my Honda. It's a long one that runs all the way up the handle. ( I think it's gonna need a whole assemble) I 'll buy the parts and provide a clean working area and LUNCH, (once it's running again :-) )
Thot you were gonna say you poured that foul smelling stuff ON the fire ants...lololol. What DID you do with them?
ReplyDeleteBTW, dang is my word too.
I wondered about the ants too.
ReplyDeleteOK Ben, I will pencil it in my schedule, but don't hold your breath (grin).
ReplyDeleteTrouble, since 99 percent of their nest was up under the mower deck, they just scattered. I got spoiled in the drought, the fire ants stayed down deep under ground.
Gypsy, they are still around. There are so many of them around here it doesn't help to kill them. I poked a hole in a lot mounds one year and dumped poison down them, but they just seemed to build up another mound next to it.
Now that you have the mower working, you don't have much of an excuse not to mow!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could get the son to come do it...ya know, put on the "I'm too old" show for him and see if it works!
Then again, he probably knows you too well for that to be effective !
Good luck with the ants!
Do what I did to some red ants in Alpine one year. I tried everything to get rid of them. I got the bright idea of taking a tire iron and knocking it down their hole about a foot, poured some black powder down that hole & put some canon fuse in there, sat a big ole rock on top of that and lit it. What happened next was I found Jesus I never prayed so hard that, that dang rock didn't hit my house when it came down. Got rid of them ants though.
ReplyDeleteI LIKE my red ants, and they kill fire ants.
ReplyDeleteyou sure lucked out with that mower. Gas goes bad so quickly these days.
ReplyDeleteOne nice thing about chilly NH -no fire ants. We do have some biting ants, but nothing like the sting of a fire ant. They don't take over the whole yard either.
That comment by Jim up there Ant Control
ReplyDeleteIt's a fact I know for 100% I was there!!
Hermit, my son keeps the front mowed and the part I mow keeps shrinking every year.
ReplyDeleteJim, I like your methods of ant control.
Sixberrs, I sure did luck out. I couldn't believe it when it started.
Ben, did you hold your ears or cover your head?