Car doors, eclipses and mowers

You know how sometimes, something happens in a certain way, making you feel like a choice dummy when it really isn’t your fault? Well, maybe you don’t. But anyway, it happened to me.

It happened in the Walmart parking lot – which has nothing to do with Walmart, it’s just where I happened to be at the time. Anyway, there I stood, with a goofy look on my face and my car door handle in my hand.

By that, I mean it was no longer attached to the car. I buzzed the lock, grabbed the handle and voila! Instead of getting into my car, I’m looking at the handle and wondering what the hey.

Of course, this was not the first adventure I’ve had with my car in the Walmart lot. I locked my keys in the trunk and had to trudge home and back though the snow this past winter.

At least there wasn’t snow. And at least I could still get in through the passenger side door. Then on my hands and knees, I was able to reach over and open the driver’s side door by the inside handle. For a moment I longingly reminisced about the good old days, with bench style seats, and all you had to do was slide over and not bother with the doggone console. Oh, well.

Then I was faced with a problem. I had other places to go. I could leave the window down, so after transacting my other business, I could reach in and open the car door that way. However, it started raining. So I had to leave the window closed, which meant crawling over the console again. And again. I began to hate consoles.

I know that in recent columns, I have advised people to drive old cars, as a precaution against having them stolen. But I have to admit that sometimes old cars do have their little drawbacks.

Of course, I had to do something about this. The first place I went was extremely courteous when they informed me that they didn’t do that type of work. The second place was better, but I had to come back the next day because the guy who gave estimates wasn’t in.

The next day, I got an estimate, which wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. And with luck, by the time this is read, I may be able to love my console again.

•••••

A lot of folks are all excited about the upcoming solar eclipse, which is fine with me. They don’t come around every day, and they put on a show like nothing else. It kind of reminds us that the sun is important, and it always makes me appreciate old Sol. We’d be in trouble without him.

I may walk outside during the eclipse, but I’m not going to buy special glasses. I figure as long as I don’t look up I’ll be fine. I just want to see what other folks are doing.

Of course, if I’ve heard right, we won’t have a total eclipse here, but a fairly short drive would put me in a place where the blackout will be complete. But I don’t think I’ll go. Too many other folks might have the same idea, and I’m not big on crowds. Especially in the dark.

•••••

So if you didn’t get enough of a laugh out of my adventure with the car door handle, here’s something else that might help you think I’m a complete nut. I didn’t say anything until I tried it and it worked. But anyway, here goes.

Just in case there’s anyone who doesn’t already know this, I don’t like yard work. However, I do like mowers that are reliable. I had one for years and years and years that never gave me any trouble, usually started on the first pull, but finally gave up the ghost.

I then had a riding mower for several years, which worked out until it started having problems. Since then, I have had two walk-behind mowers, both of which were, in my opinion, junk. Is it just me, or is something going on with gas lawn mowers?

Anyway, I was bemoaning my problems and thinking of a possible solution, when Alice, dear girl, out of the blue suggested the same solution. We thought about it, and then I did it.

I ordered an electric mower. A corded electric mower. Go ahead and laugh. But I’ve used them before. Way back in the deeps of time, on Trigg Avenue in Memphis, we had a corded electric mower that did just fine. Of course, back then that’s the only kind of electric mower there was.

However, battery driven mowers seemed a bit pricey when I looked.

Anyway I ordered it, it arrived, I did the simple assembly, and then I waited for the weather to dry up and warm up a little.

I used it Thursday. And yes, I had to deal with the extension cord. But it didn’t vapor lock or anything else on me, and I didn’t have to pull anything. Just push a button. If I liked yard work, I’d say hooray.