Apr 12, 2023 3 min read

Did you have a nice Easter? The weather was perfect with skies turning sunny and temperatures staying mild and comfortable through the day.

I’ll remember this Easter mainly because it was the first day we cut the grass this year. Our schedules have been so hectic, and combined with rain or windy weather on our days off, we had to wait until this past weekend to mow. The grass was getting longer and longer each time it rained and we had procrastinated long enough.

I named my little Honda lawnmower after the legendary race car driver Mario Andretti when I bought it a few years ago. It’s small but mighty and fast – just like Mario. Before we could fire up Mario Andretti for the first cut of the season, I had to give him a tune-up. I changed the oil and cleaned the air filter. I’ve done both of those before, but this was the first time I would attempt to change the spark plug. I was trying to hurry since I had to work that evening and my husband was going to Easter family dinner. After about 15 minutes of exasperation, I finally gave up on trying to figure out how to get the spark plug wrench I bought to work correctly. I found the correct socket wrench size but decided I’d better wait until next week to try to change it.

My husband filled Mario up with gas and turned the key. Nothing. We tried and tried again, then tried pulling the cord for a manual start. Nothing. I rechecked the gas and oil levels along with the spark plug cap and made sure the fuel switch was set to open. The engine was trying to turn over, so it didn’t seem like a dead battery. We just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. We let it sit for a few more minutes and then – being the ever-impatient person I am – I yanked the cord again. Puff! A cloud of smoke billowed out from the exhaust. Puff! Another one. We looked at each other in horror and confusion.

I shrugged my shoulders, turned the key two more times and the little engine that could finally started chugging away with a final grand cloud of smoke. I pushed in the clutch handle and started rolling Mario Andretti forward as the engine finally quit gasping and started emitting that familiar hum. Success! My husband smiled and took over mowing duties while I happily fired up the battery-powered weed wacker and attacked the edges.

I’ll put off changing out the spark plug and applying lawn feed and weed killer until next week. The lawn looks beautiful now, and it is great exercise to take turns mowing it ourselves.

I guess we really can’t complain since we didn’t touch the snow shovel at all this past winter!

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.