Funny how I forgot to mention another FREE item that found Hick this week, when I told of Hick's latest acquisitions yesterday.
One of his buddies called him and said he had a riding lawnmower that he didn't want! Which comes right on the heels of Hick doing something to our current riding mower last week, that resulted in a terrible rattle from something under the mower deck. Or above the mower deck, since I think only grass is below it, heh, heh! Anyhoo... of course Hick wanted it, because he figured he could salvage the deck, and make a Frankenmower out it and ours.
"He said that this mower won't start, and that he doesn't really need it, because his yard is small, and he likes the exercise from using a push mower. So he's looking to get rid of this one, and thought of me. I'm going to borrow my buddy's little trailer to go get the mower."
I don't remember which day Hick went to get the trailer, but he picked up the mower the next day. Maybe in the future, somebody will give him a little trailer!
"I don't know how old this mower is, but not very. I got to looking at it, and it will run. The carburetor leaked gas down into the cylinder, so the piston couldn't move. I took out the spark plug and cranked the engine and flushed the gas out. Then I put the spark plug back, and it started fine. It smokes like a chimney, though. I'll have to change the oil because it's bad."
"So you got it for FREE?"
"Yeah. He didn't want it. It would be about $500-$800 for a used mower in that condition. Probably $1800 to $2000 if it was new."
"I can't believe you get all this stuff."
"People remember me!"
Yeah. That's for sure...
In other follow-up news, Hick and The Veteran and Old Buddy got all the insulation blown into Pony House attic on Tuesday. They used fifty bags of insulation. So that's $500 for The Pony, plus the $50 in labor to Old Buddy, and the $100 in labor to The Veteran, who also helped load and move the insulation, and crawled into the attic to spread it around. Plus there was some foam insulation to go around an electrical thingy, and the rental of the insulation-blower. So a total of around $700 for The Pony to have his house insulated. Much less than the $2000 original estimate of Hick.
Oh, and that insulation-blower? It quit working shortly after they started blowing. Hick took it back to Menards, and the very polite lady gave him a different one. She said, "There's supposed to be a $5 fee to do that, but we'll waive it."
FREEBIE should be Hick's middle name!
Good Deal on that riding lawn mower for Hick and on the installation of insulation for Pony. Why Menards should have a charge to return a rented insulation blower that quit working is beyond me. They should pay $5.00 to Hick for the trip back to Menards for the non working insulation blower:)
ReplyDeleteI heard him mowing today with no strange noises, but forgot to ask which mower he was using.
DeleteThat charge to return a non-working blower that was being rented by the hour makes no sense to me, either. It's like when you buy a phone at the phone store, and they charge you a $30-$40 re-stocking fee! Like you're not supposed to buy the phones they have in stock to sell you!
Freebie should be Hick's FIRST name!
ReplyDeleteIt's seeming more like that every day!
DeleteHick and HeWho have that in common! HeWho is a big tipper when the service is good. We usually frequent the diner with the all you can fish on Friday nights. The waitress always adds extra hushpuppies and gives us go-cups of ice tea. Not for us to pour what is left from the glass on the table, she fills them up! He developes these relationships and I get some of the benefits!
ReplyDeleteWe are like remoras, attached to our sharks, feeding off the scraps they cast off!
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