I spent much of the day yesterday with maintenance-type issues on campus. You see, I am the maintenance person for the campus as well as a houseparent. Of course, the houseparent role takes priority and I do maintenance only as I can.
Yesterday, our mower broke down just a few minutes after I had started mowing around one of the cottages. The belt that went from the engine to the mower deck had broken and was laying in the grass a few feet behind the mower.
After obtaining a new belt, I undertook the task of figuring out how to install the thing. I had a book, and it had some explanation, but not much. It also had a couple of drawings. I messed around with it and finally formulated a plan of attack.
Getting the belt in place, I found that it was several inches shorter than it needed to be. I called the dealer, who assured me that the belt he gave me was the correct size. I told him I would look at the mower again to see if I had made a mistake of some kind, although in my mind I was sure I had not.
However, when I took the time to look at the rather crude drawings, I discovered that I had incorrectly placed the belt around the idler pulleys. I didn’t have time to do a correct placement yesterday, but know that when I make the correction today, it will work just fine.
I didn’t look at the drawings that were with the instructions because they were rather crude and I didn’t believe they were of much value. I also was rather proud of the fact that I could figure out how to make the repair all on my own and didn’t really need the help, thank you. Evidently, I shouldn't have patted myself on the back quite so quickly.
There’s a lesson here. I think it would be wise to heed it.
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