Lawnmower Longevity

I have owned this push mower for 11 years.  I bought it off a co-worker for $20.  It used to start on the first pull of the rope, but it has diminished in dependability over the last many years.  This push mower has really stood up to many repairs, of which I was thinking through just tonight, and thought I should write down:

1.  It doesn't start easily anymore, so I have to remove the spark plug and pour gas into the chamber directly.  Reinstall the plug, and it fires right up.

2.  The "dead man" switch doesn't work anymore - the wire broke to the kill switch on the engine.  Now I have it wired to "run" all the time.  I kill the engine by removing the spark plug boot.

3.  The gas cap once fell off, and I mowed over it and shot it into the pine trees.  I found it, and put it back on, but now it leaks fuel.  It probably leaks more than it uses.

4.  The handle bar uprights collapsed, and have been repaired with a strap of stronger metal.

5.  The rope has broken out of the recoil mechanism.  I have rebuilt this a few times by now.

6.  The rope has no T-handle on it anymore - I mowed that off and never did find it.  I guess its for the best, because the eyelet that holds the string to the handle is gone, too.  The rope is now just short enough that it still starts, but won't get cut shorter anymore.

7.  I have never changed the oil, or sharpened the blade. 

8.  The deck has an 8 inch crack that has been TIG welded back together.

9.  The wheels are due to fall off any time now.  I'm not sure why they haven't.  They wobble pretty bad.

10.  The air intake rubber boot to the carburetor has disintegrated.  Essentially, the air filter is bypassed.

All this, and the crazy thing keeps ticking along.  I think I got my money out of that $20.

34 Pound Laptop

Two days after my laptop computer crashed for what appears to be the last time, I inherited this 1950 Remington Rand "Super-Riter" manual typewriter.  It is awesome in every way.  It doesn't use electricity.  It doesn't have a hard drive to crash.  There is no internet with possible security risks.  And it's also real loud. I now have a tool that can compete with the 3 kids neverending noise.

 My typing speed has suffered tremendously.  On the computer keyboard, I can maintain 60 to 70 words per minute pretty easily, and with few errors.  However, on this beast, I am perhaps half that speed.  I found that I have no strength to peck out letters with my pinky fingers, so I have resorted to stabbing with my index fingers.  I know where all the keys are, of course.  It just takes a different muscle and skill set to use a manual typewriter.  It's a blast.

Lately, Kid #1 has been dictating stories and I have been typing them out.  It's beneficial both ways - I get to type and hear her create, and she gets to hear the "ding" at the end of the line, and pull the "return button" to the right.  I'm not sure what you call it, so it's the "return button".

This typewriter weighs 34 pounds, and came with a little roll around stand that squeeks horrendously when rolled around.  All the better.