Comet 19"

     Here’s another old story for you.  This “old dog” has been around since the 1960’s.  It was drafted from the Gambles store in Limon and pressed into active duty on the farm.  It has outlived two Lawn Boys and a riding mower.

 

 

      It has been through a few alterations, like the Lawn Boy handle that replaces the original one that broke several years ago.

 

     One engine overhaul

 

      At least one set of new wheels

 

      It gets awakened once or twice a year, usually to knock down the old asparagus fronds and the dried out mint leaves some time before it’s time for those two early-growers to spring forth.

    Due to the exceptionally dry year, it was pretty light duty for the old feller this year.  The near-100 mile per hour winds from last Memorial Day destroyed the nascent asparagus fronds, and they never recovered during the hot dry summer.  The few dried stems hardly made the engine groan.  Will there be any asparagus this spring?

 

     The mint shows sign of coming forth.  So time to resurrect the old Comet.

     The starter wouldn’t work.  I pulled the cowling, thinking to buy a rope pulley and replace the recoil starter (the spring has broken and been spliced at least once).  The solution was much easier:  rust kept the little ball bearings from rolling down into the slots like a bunch of roulette balls where they jam a gear-like disc when forced one way, and skip out of the way when the torque is heading the other direction.  Thus, it turns the engine when you pull the rope, and when the engine starts, the balls hop up harmlessly out of the way of the spinning shaft.  The bashful little fellows were held up out of the action by rust.

     Bottom line, a little WD40 followed by a few drops of oil, reassembly, a little prime gas down the carburetor throat, three pulls on the now-functional starting rope, and the old Briggs is humming right along.

 

     The unruly mint is tamed.  And the Charley Brown kite is snagged in the tree.  Well, it is March.  The tree is actually helping hold the kite while I snap the picture.  But, the mint stems are gone.  

The kite took off--like an old lawn mower

 

Long live the good old things that still work and don’t require much in the way of maintenance.