Musing #1: I was listening to a favorite radio show in the car the other day and they were talking about trying to fix a car problem. Any idea what show this was? Anyway, I got to thinking about fixing things around the house. Not a broken screen or something like that, but something mechanical like a lawnmower, the garbage disposal or a VCR (yes, I still have one).
I learned from my father that if you don't know what's wrong with some piece of equipment, there is a very good chance you can still fix it just by taking it apart and putting it back together again and not doing anything else to it. Sometimes you find a problem you can address, but very often, nothing appears to be wrong.
I don't know why this works, but I suspect it's similar to the old "power off reset". You know, unplug it, count to 10 and plug it back in and...fixed...sometimes. FYI, counting to 9 doesn't work.
I also have a variation of this that I assume is unique to me. It's the flip the lawnmower technique. My dad gave me an old Lawnboy when I bought my first house. It was, shall we say, unpredictable. It would be running great, but stop to empty the grass bag and you might not be finishing the lawn. One time when it wouldn't start, out of frustration, I grabbed the handle and just gave it a twirl, flipping the mower 360 degrees and landing it hard back on its wheels. Next pull, started right up. There's probably some complex fuel flow explanation, but who cares, it worked and it worked regularly. Had to buy wheels a little more often though.
I never heard the lawn mower story. Don't try that with the tractor.
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