The Beast

I ended up making a picture of the Beast today. At least that is what we call her around here. I finally had the time, along with some sensible plan, to get her fired up for the first time this season.

It wouldn't run correctly when I started it up for the first time to mow in March or April. Had I known what to do I would have fixed it right then. But I didn't, so the little guy came out. Over the next handful of weeks I got advice on how to get it running. The carb needed cleaned out. I bought some Gumout. In case you aren't familiar with Gumout its pretty nasty stuff. It smells worse than paint thinner, and like most useful things, the state of California has determined it can really mess up a lab-rat. I found time on a day off to clean the carb. But after removing it from the motor, I wasn't exactly sure where or how much to spray. So, I reassembled it, and went mowing with the little one once again.

This isn't exactly a bad thing. With the little mower it takes me about 2 hours to knock down the lawn. Its also not so demanding, so I had a lot of free mental time. I thought about a lot of things, pleaded to God, got mad at nature, sweated. However, taking that time is somewhat selfish, so I knew I should try again to use the proper tool for the job. In the meantime I had gotten more advice on how to bring the big one to life, just flood the carb with that cleaner stuff -- okay, It seems pretty brute force, but it worked.

After cleaning up the carb, and wiping the airfilter down with some gasoline (another liquid that strikes fear into the hearts of Californian lab-rats), it fired up before I had pulled the cord halfway.

I was so excited. Mowing my lawn with the Beast takes me about 40% of the time that it takes with my little push-mower. I decided the Beast needed some photo-love.

Lighting is pretty simple. I have a light rimming the back, the key is camera right, fill coming in camera left. I "posed" her in the garage, her den. All in all a pretty simple picture, maybe it belongs displayed alongside my boots.