The first thing was the lawnmower. It needs a new charger, to keep the battery up to snuff between uses. I actually have two of them, but since they’re both Toro machines, just alike, they’ll be able to share one.
It took me a while to find the model number, which is on a sticker that you can see if you take off the grass bag but keep the mulching cover open. Moder 20018, which I thought might be the year and month it was made, but when I thought about it, I remembered that I had bought it before I was married.
I found an online site that sold me a new wall-wart for Thirty bucks, plus another four for shipping. It will get here in a week or two.
My wife asked me to figure out how to get the power washer going, and I spent ten minutes watching the online video and then I talked her through dragging out the garden hose and the extension cord and the washing hose, and putting the detergent in the dispenser. It took off the winter dirt like you wouldn’t believe, and I went on to other tasks while she swept the wand over the deck and the siding.
Next was the string trimmer, which I had started up last weekend, but had only a spindle where the string holder goes. I had found the holder, and the bell housing, so I thought I’d be set, and I went and bought a new reel of cutting string.
THe string feedout mechanism is a lot more complicated than you might think: I spent about twnety minutes figuring out how the thing would feed out new string as I tapped it on the ground. I realized that there was a spring missing, and I had to go over to Home Depot to get a replacement part. .
The new spring cost $4 or so, but counting gas, more like seven or eight. I put it all together and it worked fine, and I trimmed the edges on my front walk and then put it back on the roof hook in the shed.
I put away the lawnmower, and closed the doors to the sheds, and went in to check the Honeydo list for the other jobs I have today.