about yesterday's to-do list...

Speaking ill of the dead, a well made point, and regarding the goat/solar/water connection...

Yesterday was a bad day.

I got up with a list of things I needed to do. Among this too long list was check out the outboard and do its routine maintenance.

Maybe it's a good time to mention I really, really hate doing anything that involves internal combustion engines.

So, of course, there were problems.

The pull cord would not pull.

Something of a conundrum that. But with no small amount of "Duhs" and "WTFs" I managed to find the cause and the cord now pulls with ease.

The engine did not want to start. So I had to deal with the whole "Why is my engine not starting?" checklist and sort that out.

In the process of getting the engine to start and then run it for a while, I noticed that the engine did not want to stay in neutral and kept jumping, of its own accord, into either forward or reverse.

Can you spell B-U-M-M-E-R ?

Consulting my book on outboard mechanics I quickly sussed out the issue was that I had to adjust the shift rod...

How hard could that be? Seriously, loosen a nut adjust said rod, and hey presto it's a done job.

Did I mention I really, really hate working on internal combustion motors?

I'll fast forward to a whole bunch of hours later with an engine that still seems to want to be in any gear but neutral, a backache of epic proportions, bruised knuckles, and a great desire to see just how far I can fling said internal combustion engine into the bay.

Yes dear reader, I'm well aware that throwing an outboard into the bay would be polluting and bad. Which does not negate my desire to see the infernal piece of marine hardware sleep with the fishes. That said, I agree that a serious dose of sledgehammer and an unmarked grave in the local landfill would be far less polluting...

Which brings us to today's to do list beginning with fix the outboard. Not looking forward to it at all. Nope not my idea of fun in any shape or form.

So, at the end of today, I expect to sort out what little cunning trick or hack is needed to actually make the spawn of hell shift like it should, I'll have added another talent to my skill set, and taken comfort in that what does not kill us makes us stronger two-step.

Well that, or I may just become another case of spontaneous combustion brought on by maxed out frustration with internal combustion engines.

Listening to some Pete Townshend covers

So it goes...