A Red Herring

About twenty-two years ago I bought a spanking new, Honda HS928 snowblower. It always started right up and performed perfectly, easily handling even heavy snowfalls. That is, until I went to use it last week. It started fine as usual but then as soon as I drove it out of it's little shed, it stopped and refused to restart. So, I consulted the manual. On page sixty, it stated, "The engine cannot be cranked if the blue connector is not connected." There was indeed a blue connector. But it was not connected to anything. Furthermore, that female connector had no male counterpart anywhere at all. Believe me, I looked over every inch of the area thoroughly. The manual lied!!! A red herring which distracted me from the real problem.

Then this afternoon, with bright sunshine on the machine, I spotted something. A mouse had made a nest under the gas tank, jamming the throttle linkage completely with dried grass. After I tweezed out the material, the Honda happily started right up and ran beautifully as always. Life can throw surprises, huh? 

The little building my snowblower stays in was once my Mom's chicken coop. There is a small trap door for keeping predators out at night while the chickens slept. In light of the mouse nest/snowblower lesson, I've now opened that little trap door to invite in neighbourhood feline prowlers.  Also, I sprayed smelly carburetor cleaner where the mouse had built her nest as a bit of a deterrent.

My faithful old Honda snowblower had a pest problem.

The manual fibbed about the blue connector!

The female blue connector on my machine has no male counterpart at all!

Part of the mouse nest that had jammed my throttle linkage.

The little trap door beside the window had kept Mom's chickens safe within.

That trap door is now open and accessible to furry little hunters of mice.

 

The sight of cat scratched wallpaper finally annoyed me enough to redecorate a bit. Over the years, house-mate Ellie Mae, has been sharpening her claws on the lower portions. Maybe she was trying to tell me that the hall had just too much dark green paint. After I removed and repainted the damaged part, I would have to agree. The hall was too dark and in my opinion looks much better now.

Before: Ellie Mae had naughtily sharpened her claws on the hallway wallpaper.

After: I still need to buy semi-gloss paint for the baseboards and door trim.

She comfortably watches road traffic from her window bed.

Butter wouldn't melt as she poses beside her treat dish.