Poor Lawnie, our faithful lawnmower, wheezed her last and dropped dead in the yard today.The old girl could only manage to get through about half the front yard before she called it quits. It's always sad to lose a member of the family, kids.
My wife and I bought Lawnie back in the spring of 2002 after I had thrown a fit. Yes, I was mad as usual and my wife agreed to a new lawnmower to shut me up.
We had this horrible Lawn-Boy mower and I was to the point where I was going to throw it in a lake somewhere. I know people love those Lawn-Boy mowers but I sincerely hate them. They're heavy, clunky, expensive pieces of crap. Oh, and you've got to pour oil in their gas, too. What a drag.
After lugging that awful thing around my yard for a few weeks, I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I hated the thing, in fact, and wanted to go to a smaller, simpler machine. That's when we got Lawnie -- a Murray mower powered by a Briggs & Stratton engine. Not only did that mower allow us to get rid of the hated Lawn-Boy, I managed to keep it running for seven years -- not bad for a machine that cost me $100.
I'm certain my son is even more torn up over the loss of Lawnie than I am. A few years ago, I was thinking about buying a riding lawnmower. But then I realized something -- I've got a son. Yes, I'm sure he loved having the task of mowing the lawn every week during the spring and summer. I'm certain he loves the idea of contributing some effort to the betterment of the household. All that dancing and whooping he was doing when it became obvious that Lawnie had given up the ghost was merely his way of disguising his pain.
His true emotions came to the surface after my wife and I got back from the store and presented our son with his new mower -- another push mower powered by a Briggs & Stratton engine. We named that one Junior and then our son got upset. He was howling about not wanting to mow the lawn and I just know he was only doing that because he didn't feel right about mowing with anything other than his beloved Lawnie.
I'd like to think that, at least.
Oh, and by the way, I will get my riding lawn mower one day. That, however, won't be until my kids are gone and I have to mow the lawn myself. It just wouldn't be fair to let them get attached to Junior and then replace it with something else, would it?
Paid ads at Entrecard
All of you fine Entrecard members are aware by now that the site is accepting paid ads. You'll not find one paid ad on my Entrecard widget here or on the other blogs I control -- Straight Shooting Real Estate and All Arkie Army. Why? My emphasis is on the advertisers who have saved up their credits and have chosen to spend them here. I'll not share that Entrecard widget with anyone who has thrown a few bucks into the system.
And, yes, those paid ads are shared on that widget, meaning people who spend their Entrecard credits on a blog that accepts paid advertisements will only appear half the time on that widget. Want to spend those Entrecard credits here? Good for you! Your ad won't fight for time with a paid ad. Count on it.
On further consideration...
I may just accept some of those paid ads on the All Arkie Army blog. Why? I want to do a little experimenting -- see how that one fares in rank against the two that don't accept them. It's my guess that this blog and the real estate one will be rather ostracized at Epinions while the "good soldier" blog will benefit in some way.
I'll just have to see, won't I?
18 comments:
Oh poor sLawnie!
Hicham -- Yes, it's a sad, sad thing.
I hear good things about Toro mowers. I had a couple of Craftsmen mowers die within a very short time. It's sad how companies will build great products until they can afford to sell crap based on their name alone. You almost never hear bad things about Craftsmen products, but everything they sell nowadays is pure junk.
Regarding paid ads... The way I see it, the more they are shown the faster their funds are depleted (in the case of those who choose CPM anyway). Eventually it will mean more money for those of us who horde our credits :)
My thought exactly on the paid ads. The widget is reserved for advertisers who bought an ad using EC credits.
I missing my 52 inch John Deere. I loved that mower.
I am actually bewildered by the Paid Ads thing on Entrecard and I would pack up right now and leave were it for the fact that I have discovered a great community that gives good traffic here....
I don't know if it is still the case that if you reject these mercenary ads, you get pushed back to the category, where no one can see you or click on your widget.
About your mowing business: Do Child Welfare know about this child abuse?
I paved my yard once my kid was old enough to move out.
I'm trying to sort out the EC mess. And it is a mess, as today, I had over 30 paid ads to consider. I will assume they will sort it out. EC has been good for me, so they deserve a chance to figure out how to fix this mess.
I logged on to Entrecard today and had like 15 paid ads waiting. I think this is going to make it tougher for fellow EC's to get the word out about their blog. These paid ads were just clogging up the system.
I never thought to reject them all. Some of the paid advertisers are regular blogger who are trying to promote their etsy sites. I am torn. It took me forever to wade through the paid ones to reject the ones I didn't like. What a waste of time. Ugh.
I rejected a ton today. A few slipped thru earlier before I realized what was going on, but as it stands now I'll be rejecting the vast majority of paid ads.
When I was a kid my dad had an old ugly orange mower that was welded from all four bolts that held the engine to the God forsaken deck. Needless to say, I didn't miss it when it met it's just fate at the hands of a rock that shot out the front side leaving a hole that was irreparable. My Dad, of course, wanted to fix it. My Mom insisted the next one would come out the back and kill me. A long hard battle ensued in which my Dad insisted it would only break my shins or something. He lost, I got a new mower, and he wiped the tears away as he hauled the old one to the junk yard. He never named it. I did. I won;t repeat the name here.
I did not know how the E card deal worked until I accepted a few ... I will be following your lead in the future.
Happy mowing!!!!!!!!
Fuzion -- I do believe mine is made by the same bunch that manufactures Toro. I don't really care -- I just wanted the Briggs & Stratton engine.
Credit hording, huh? There's an idea...
BK -- Precisely. I may accept some on my "All Arkie" blog just to experiment and see what happens. My guess is, that will will go up in rank at Entrecard while my other two will suffer.
Danny -- Ah, you're talking about a riding mower, huh? I'll experience the joy of those after my kids are out of the house and I'm stuck mowing the lawn again.
Yeah, I know that's rotten.
Denford -- I'm betting those who don't accept paid ads do get pushed back in their categories. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
Does child welfare know about this mowing business? Hell, this is Arkansas. They encourage it!
Da Old Man -- That's how I feel about it. They're kind of defensive and smug right now about their program. Take a trip through the forums and aggravate some people. You'll have a big time.
Harrison -- I've been rejecting those things right and left. I keep getting those instead of ads from people paying with credits, and that concerns me.
Karen -- It's almost like work, isn't it?
Valdese -- I figure on just plain rejecting them. That ought to work.
Steve -- Aww, come on. Share!
Speedcat -- I'd caution against that! I stay in trouble wherever I go ;)
I thought about blocking all paid ads and start a list with all EntreCard blogs who will refuse paid ads in order for EC members to know which blogs are paid-ad free.
I am still debating. As of right now I do accept paid ads but if there are plenty of members opposed maybe I have to revisit the idea of a paid-ad-free-list.
Apollo -- That's a very good idea. If you get such a thing built, let me know!
Living in Benton, maybe you should have bought a goat instead in order to keep the grass cut?
(By the way, I don't understand the Entrecard stuff myself. I just drop on a regular basis and let my wife do the rest!)
Paul
Eat Well. Live Well.
PurpleGreenPops.com
I will let you know if I get the No Paid Ad list going.
I'd never heard of Entrecard. I'll check it out.
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