R.I.P. John Deere

John "110" Deere, age 36, was pronounced dead on arrival after being rushed to Russ' Repair on Saturday.  "He was doing what he loved most to do - cutting grass" said his best friend Craig.  "He wouldn't have wanted to go out any other way.  It was sudden and painless."

Russ concluded that the cause of death was a blown-out piston, caused by the ignition of carbon deposits resulting from bad rings and years of burning oil and smoking.  "They don't make those engines anymore" said Russ.  "We would have had to find him a new piston, bore out the cylinder, get a new gasket, and well..." he said in a trailing voice.

Mr. Deere will be missed by the family's dogs Frank and Ralph, who loved to chase him around the yard.

His friend Craig has plans to park him on a hill in the yard as a memorial to John "just like the farmers do with their old equipment" he said.  A late fall event is also planned around Halloween where a straw dummy could be placed in his seat "kinda like a scarecrow".

John was registered as a parts donor, and was known to be active in the perpetuation of the Original JD Lawn Tractor league.  The family intends on honoring all requests for parts "'cuz that's what John always wanted most".

Freeing up time for the boat project

When summer first arrives in Minnesota, all things green launch into a frenzy of new growth.  It's a fantastic time of trees putting out leaves, pine trees budding, and perennial plants blooming.  Everything is in a hurry to grow and flower and spread its seed before winter returns again after autumn.  That's the good news.

Bad news is that the grass in the lawn grows at the same frantic pace, which means if you don't want the mosquitoes to create a permanent encampment at your place, you need to keep cutting it.  At least every weekend.  Maybe even more often.

Here in the northwoods, the mosquitoes can be fierce.  And of the two green acres we live on, one is made up of dense pine, and the other we've cleared and planted grass.  Last year the grass came along nicely, and it was "good exercise" cutting it.  This year the grass seems to be fighting to take over the woods, and cutting it is more good exercise than we'd bargained for.

But hope springs eternal...  and craigslist has riding lawn mowers!

Like some sort of karma, there's an olde John Deere rider for sale just a few blocks from where I got this olde boat.  So this weekend, another visit to Alexandria, MN.  This time with the pickup trailer and some sort of ramp to drive the mower up on.

The JD 110 was the first riding mower produced by John Deere back in 1963, and this one was the last version of the 110 in 1974.  The guy says it starts and runs, even though it smokes a bit upon starting.  But I figure that sounded just like me, so it might be a good match.

Ah...  life will be good with a riding lawn mower...  I can visualize it now (with a bit of help from the 1973 John Deere sales catalog)...  Cutting the grass in no time while Leta cooks up something tastey on the grill, leaving plenty of time to keep the boat project moving forward.  Makes you wonder what part of the 20th century we came from, doesn't it?

Well, I know now why they invented riding lawn mowers:  so a person has more time for other things on the weekend.  Seems like a vicious cycle in a way, doesn't it?  More stuff, less time; so more stuff to make more time; repeat the cycle...

(to be continued...)