And you thought you had bad luck...

[yardatwork]

Geesh...can these past few weeks get worse...well with my luck...probably! So many of you know that a few weeks back I almost cut off three fingers after shoving my hand under the mower deck while the blades were still spinning...ALL MY FAULT, but the fingers have healed nicely.

Two weeks ago my John Deere M655 blew a hose and all the hydro fluid dropped into a high end clients yard...burnt up his grass and the tractor repair cost me around $100.00 for a blown hose, fluid, and labor. That was on a Wednesday. Then on Saturday, the Deere started "growling" because...the hydro pump went cause the lack of fluid for those few seconds ruined it. So, back to the mechanic (9/11), $712.00 later and a new pump the Deere is fixed. Go to drive the Deere off the trailer and it won't start. When I turn the key over, smoke starts pouring out from under the seat/ignition/throttle area...almost sure it's the ignition switch. At this point the Deere can sit for a few weeks before that repair.

One of my Toro Z400s has been leaking hydro oil all year. I finally have the time to get it fixed after pinpointing that the drive motor needs replaced. So last Friday they put in a new motor and I picked it up on Saturday (9/12)...that ran me $585.00. Only to find out that the other side is starting to leak...not bad, but none the less.

Well...my OTHER Toro Z400 was backed off the trailer last Thursday and low and behold...hydro oil on the trailer. Checked the hydro fluid and it was down a half quart. Can you see where this is going??!!! Already spent $1300.00 to fix one Toro and the Deere. The one Toro still needs fixed and now this Toro is going to need fixed...AHHHHH!

With all that being said, what else can go wrong? How about the Husqvarna trimmer starting to lose power yesterday. I feel the motor area and it's burning hot. I decide to put the trimmer in the bed of the truck and grab the other Husq trimmer to finish the job. When I put the one giving me trouble in the bed, like a sign from above, it flipped upside down showing an interesting sight...oil and lube mixed with what looked like metal shaving around the gearbox area.

Geesh...I almost forgot about the "commercial" Craftsman trimmer breaking down last Tuesday. It was a quick purchase to complete a days worth of work while another trimmer was being fixed last year...I didn't have any big dreams for this thing and it showed it's true "commercial" ability...one year of use. This trimmer is identical in design to the Husqvarna 125L. Probably made in the same factory, but just different body casing. However, this trimmer has a lot of low grade, plastic internal parts

If you had trouble following all that, I apologize. All I know is that I'm writing checks like crazy for repairs and I'm getting pissed!!! And to make things worse...today Quarter 3 taxes were due. Thousands of dollars all gone in a few days!

But guess what...I'M SELF EMPLOYEED AND LOVE IT!!!