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.