We bought a new MTD Yardman lawn mower from Home Depot at the end of August. After mowing our lawn 8 times over the last 8 weeks, the rewind on the starter rope quit working. No problem. We have a two year warranty. So, I took it to a service shop.

The service shop said that they would look at it but they doubted that MTD would stand by their warranty. That didn’t sound too promising.  But, since the warranty covered everything except normal wear and tear, I figured that I should be covered.  After all, a starter rope recoil should last more than 2 months.

Well, after a couple of days, the repair shop called. They said that MTD had rejected my claim because they do not cover normal wear and tear.

Normal wear and tear??!! We used it 8 times!!! What is the normal life expectancy on a starter rope recoil???

It seems, that while we have a 2 year warranty, the warranty is limited to only parts that are not excluded under normal wear and tear.

So, that means that if you take the mower out of the box and push it across the ground, you have used the wheels and the handle and thus voided the warranty on those parts. Plus, if you even start the mower, the engine, starter, mower blades, and such, are no longer covered by the warranty.

So my advice to any one who has purchased a MTD Yardman mower, keep it in the box for two years. Either that or forget about a warranty because MTD won’t honor your claim if you have ever used your mower.

WHAT A SCAM!!!

MTD Yardman have not heard the last of this!!!  I will start with the blog and go from there.

A few years ago, there was a stray cat living in the parking ramp here at the state. Since he could be seen peaking up over the edge of a cardboard box, he was named Wilson.

I always referred to him as a stray, but, in order to be politically correct, I am told that I should refer to him as a Ferrel cat. Now, I don’t know what being politically correct has to do with Ferrel cats but apparently it does. (What ever.)

In an effort to control the wild pig population in Michigan, the DNRE has declared an open season on Ferrel pigs. Now, I would have called them “wild pigs” but I guess in order to be politically correct, they have to be called “Ferrel” pigs.

When I drive in downtown Detroit, I see homeless men standing on the corners looking for handouts. Normally, I would refer to them as “homeless”. But, in order to be politically correct, I guess I should refer to them as “Ferrel Men.”

I saw a billboard the other day advertising a health club.  The ad said “$30 per month, no commitments, no egos.”

Now, I am not sure what to make of the ad.  What do they mean by “no commitments”?  Do they meant that you are not required to show up?  Or, maybe if you do show up, you are not committed to an exercise routine?

And what about the “no egos”?  What is that all about?  Does that mean that there won’t be any muscle bound instructors running around calling you a wimp.

Well, it sounds like the perfect health club for most people.  You don’t actually need to exercise or even show up.  Once you pay your $30 dollars, you can tell the world that you belong to a health club.

I wonder if they actually have exercise equipment at this club?

At the foot of the beds here at Karmanos, there is a joy stick which controls the bed. By moving the joy stick, you can change the position of the bed. Raise and lower the foot, raise and lower the head, raise and lower the whole bed.

While it is not very exciting, there is not much to do here at Karmanos.

I guess in this day and age of high tech, there is no longer any such thing as a plain old toilet. And as such, the toilets here at Karmanos are equipped to accept accessories. On either side of the bowl, there is a flange. By placing a plastic tray on either side of the flanges, they are able to easily collect what ever they need.

I imagine that if they ran hot water to them, they could even use them as vegetable steamers.

In order to save money and be green, the toilets here at Karmanos only use 1 gallon per flush as opposed to the old 3 gallon per flush variety.

Now these water saving toilets work well for “number one”, but “number two” is a different matter. With number two, you have to flush at least 4 times to get done what needs to be done.

Granted, these toilets do save on water since the average person does a “number one” quite a few more times than a number 2. But, flushing a “number two” does take a bit of patience and determination. In fact, it becomes more of a battle of the wills. “You will go down!”

Most of the times, I win. But, sometimes I just give up and move on. There are some things in life that should not be complicated and this is one of them. I should just be able to pull the handle and leave. No fuss, no muss.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. After all, it is easier than putting out the trash.

Everything at the Karmanos hospital is geared for a professional imagine. So I guess that it should not have been a surprise to discover that the toilet paper dispensers are also Professional.

Now, I am not sure what makes these dispensers Professional. Maybe it is because there are two rolls available. My dispensers at home only have one roll so does that make them amateur?

When I go into restroom at bars and restaurants, their dispensers have huge rolls mounted sideways on the wall. I guess these are the commercial series.

Well, any way, I guess the Professional is for people who know exactly what to do and how to get things done.

Get er done!

During my recent stay in Cincinnati, I noted about 30 cars parked at the far end of the hotel parking lot. At first, I thought that the cars belonged to the staff. But, some, if not all of the cars, were there 24×7.

My next thought was that the cars belonged to some students at a near by college and that they had permission to park there. Again, since the cars never moved, this seemed to make the most sense.

Then, when I got up at 5AM the other morning, all of the cars were gone. They were there when I went to bed at 10PM. And there was a police car in the parking lot instead.

I had to wonder at the sudden disappearance. It is almost like they were towed. I can’t imagine that all 30 owners showed up during the night and drove off. But, like many things that I observe, I will never know.

The neighborhood that Yosef and Rachel live in is an eclectic mix for sure. There are high end restaurants just down the street from tattoo parlors.

However, just around the corner from one expensive restaurant is the Bondage Emporium. And, it is just as the name suggests.

This men’s only establishment caters to those who like to wear suggestive black leather which displays their, well, special parts. And, to this end, it has a very strict dress code. In short, if you could wear it in a regular bar, you can’t wear it in the Bondage Emporium.

Plus, they have a weekly events calendar. Tuesdays are pool nights and Wednesdays are hump nights. (I’m not even going to go there.)

Well, it is safe to say that they don’t get many visitors off the street.

Since my daughter and son-in-law purchased a house that was 100 years old, Kathy and I decided to give them a new front door as a wedding gift. So, after the wedding, we took them to the local lumber yard to pick out a new front door and a storm door to go with it.

Once they had found the perfect door, the man at the counter directed them to a selection of storm doors. Since they had already decided on the swing for the main door, the salesman quickly pointed out a storm door with a complimentary swing. So, we purchased it.

The first requirement, was installing the door glass. I guess the manufacture was too lazy to install the glass so, we were required to do so.

No problem. Just install the 6 foot clipping retainer on either side of the window.

Problem!!! The clip doesn’t fit. After an hour, it was installed. Great!!!

Well, while the box for the storm door said that it was a right hand swing, when we started installing it, we discovered that it could be either. No problem, until we read the worthless instructions.

The directions were vague and the pictures were indecipherable. So, we were left guessing. This meant a trip to the lumber yard to look at the display.

Once we looked at the display, it all made sense. Unfortunately, each time we had a question, we needed to make a trip to the lumber yard. This, of course, took time and gas for each trip to the lumber yard.

Ultimately, we got the storm door installed but it took as much effort as it did for installing the outside door.

Once, while we were inspecting the display door, we saw another couple looking at these doors. I wanted to say, “NO!!!, don’t do it”, but I didn’t.

While the new door is installed, the next time I will look at a different brand.

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