Sometimes all you need is a rock!

Ah summertime...

Kids activities, family time, sunny days, thunder storms, late nights and....

3 foot weeds all over my front lawn. Don't get me wrong, I fully enjoyed the deer that came by to graze on the jungle growing out front. Why the tall weeds? My awesome lawnmower that will mow down the 5 foot tall corn stalk like weeds out back broke. Not a big deal (so I thought) just a cable snapped, I'll go get a new one and be back in business in no time.

Sunday morning I finally decide to go write down all the info on the mower so I can search online for the proper part. First set back.... The lawnmower is a Craftsman which means I am limited to only certain places that will carry parts. I go online to Sears and look up the part needed. Of course it is not available at our Sears.
Good news: it is only an $11 part, Bad news : the only places that have it in stock are over an hour away.
I could order it online, but unless I want to pay for expedited shipping it will take over a week to get here and we have family coming from out of state THIS weekend.

Monday I decide to go to our local Sears because I have been told that they will just get an item in stock at another store brought to there store. Nope, not true. They want me to place an order and pay for shipping...could have done that myself.

Today I decided to go to Home Depot, just for the hell of it to see if they have anything similar, or some sort of universal part that might work. 3 very helpful men try their best, but they have nothing that will work. They suggest 2 other local places to try, so off I go. First place looked promising, the man working there rifled around his shelves like the wand guy in a Harry Potter movie, but didn't end up having it. On to the next place....Low and behold the guy says that they carry the part...yay...BUT...they are out of stock....Grrrrr

Defeated, I go home and decide to take a closer look at the mower and see if I have any other options. Please forgive the following technical terms....LOL

The cable that ran from the handle down to the engine has this little rubber stopper thingy that pulls this other doojiggy in and out. you pull up the handle, doojiggy moves, mower can start. I sit there trying to figure out how to replace a wire so that I can pull it open...can't find anything that looks like it might work.
I start looking around some more.... Then I see it......

A ROCK!!!

I jammed a rock behind the little thingy that goes in and out to hold it out and TA-DA... the mower starts...VICTORY!!!

I did a test patch to make sure the rock will not fall out and go flying causing someone severe bodily harm and it seemed good to go. No this is not a permanent solution and I will probably order the part next week, but I feel pretty succesful in my McGyver type solution.

Just goes to show you that sometimes, all you need is a rock!
Take that Sears ;)