Monday, October 11, 2004

Ken to the rescue.

I know very little about motors of any kind. So when I killed the lawn mower, I knew exactly what to do. I would call my favorite auto mechanics teacher and Auto Zone employee, Ken.

I told Ken the tale of my lawn mower woes. How it had been putting and blowing out black smoke. That it started after the day Tater was bored and he cleaned the mower. He took great care in his cleaning. Much like some one would was a car. That he soaped it up, and sprayed it off with the water hose. He even used an old rag to dry. I was impressed, for he did this with out my urging, and he made it sparkle like new. Ken said washing the lawn mower isn't the best idea.
That the gas probably had water in it. I should buy some gas/water treatment. I should also change the spark plug, just because.

Ken was also over confident that a mere novice like myself could pull the spark plug out. And take it to Auto Zone. Where a friendly Auto Zone employee (Ken) would help me find the exact spark plug that I needed. Sounds simple doesn't it?

I pulled the spark plug. It did not budge. I thought, this is a job that requires tools. I located the tool box. I found the pliers. This was going to be easy now. Now armed with tools, I again pulled the plug. There was no movement. I started to rationalize, the mower is old perhaps the plug need a little wiggle to get it loose. So I tried to wiggle and pull. Still stuck.

I wanted to twist, but first I had to think, lefty loosey, righty tighty. That's right, turn to the left. So I gripped the spark plug with the pliers and turned to the left. Nothing happened. I tried for a good 15 minutes and I was still unsuccessful.

I called Barbie, and demanded asked nicely (even bribed with carrot cake) that she send Ken to my house ASAP, to fix the dead mower. He could fit my mower repair in during his lunch break.

Ken comes over, and guess what? You can't pull out a spark plug. You must twist the nut like thing that looked to be attacked to the lawn mower, but in reality is part of the spark plug. Needless to say Ken laughed. Tomorrow he will likely tell a class full of teenagers that know far more than I, about my spark plug ignorance. They too will laugh.

But I'm not worried because I got revenge. I made a carrot cake, and I didn't share. ;)

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