A few days ago, talking to the supervisor of a jobsite where I am currently doing some work, he asked me for my phone number. I told him he already had my number. But he was in a panic. Turns out his phone has died and took all of his numbers to the afterlife with it.

2000 numbers, apparently.

Personally, I don’t believe he had 2000 numbers. However, all of his contacts for work were on the phone. He needed to get concrete delivered, and didn’t know who to call anymore.

I told him, “That’s what you get for relying only on your phone.” Of course, I’m not that much different. There are lots of numbers on my phone and nowhere else. But if I lose those numbers, I’ll just never try to call those people.

I already never call those people.

Anyway, I like to have a number of ways to do the same thing. Redundancy is the key to success. I even have multiple coffee makers in case one stops working.

My plan for the summer regarding the mowing of the lawn fell apart a few weeks ago. Namely, I had employed one of my kids to mow it twice a week with a push reel mower. He let it lapse and I watched it grow until I broke out the languishing electric mower and did it myself.

The mower, just at the end of the task, suddenly stopped with a bang.

I thought, oh, it must have a stick caught in it. So, I turned it on its side. No stick. Actually, there was nothing there. Looked very clean, except some of the ground was torn up.

Then I noticed the blade was gone.

Without actually hitting anything, or so I believe because I couldn’t find anything it may have hit, the bolt that holds the blade on (seems to be 5/16) sheared off.

This thing has been endlessly annoying to me since I bought it, so, in a sense, I say good riddance. But its ultimate demise is like the last straw on the annoyance pile. So much so, I’d like to set fire to the whole field and never look at a blade of grass again.

If you notice the blade, there is what looks like a washer in the middle and you may be able to see the four spot welds where I attached it to the blade. I mentioned this previously – probably more than once….

But another annoying thing about trivial annoyances is that you can’t seem to ever fully escape them.

I went looking for a new lawnmower. I’d like one that has fixed wheels and just a simple engine. That’s not what I find. I find ones with rear-wheel drive, even though there’s no seat, and eight-position wheels, which will eventually fail and drop the mower on the ground. I’m tired of wheels falling off the mower.

The only mower that looks like what I want also looks like it’s made out of candy and will break within a few uses.

And back to the phone. It’s a tell-tale thing. The more impressive the technology becomes, the more difficult it is to get it to do only what it’s supposed to be designed for. This phone is great for browsing the internet and checking email and taking pictures of your funny face in the mirror, but it’s absolutely lousy at making phone calls. My phone rings in my pocket and I often end up hanging up the call just by grabbing it to get it out.

What’s all this have to do with woodworking? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll make a scraper out of the lawnmower blade. A scraper that can also make calls.