The Lawnmower Situation

    Let me begin this story by saying, "Dad, it's not the John Deere…it's the Cub Cadet."  Now that he knows it's not the mower he passed on to us when they moved to Arizona, I'll begin…Two days ago I cut the pond pasture since all animals were moved out of there.  Yesterday was to be the yard, but all things must stop when I'm keeping a ewe company while she's in the throws of labor.
    Today I was bound and determined to finish.  I may have been bound and determined, but that old Cub Cadet had other ideas.  When I started the project it seemed like CC (that's the mower) was a bit sluggish.  I thought the job was going to take forever.  After a while I remembered the lawn tractor fix it man said something about how dirty it was when he gave it an overhaul a few months ago.  He also said he was surprised Hon let it get so dirty. I just nodded and kept my mouth shut since I'm the one that takes care of CC, which is oddly enough just putting gas in it.  I figured maybe that was it, it was dirty, because the blades were spinning pretty slowly. I got out a stick (after turning off the mower - safety first) and started poking around underneath it.  I think I've heard Hon call that the "deck." Well, that deck part was chocked full of grass and all sorts of stuff.  I kept poking and swishing all the stuff off I could get to.  I will admit it was a lot.  Then I turned the mower back on and surprise surprise old CC started going faster like she'd had caffeine put in her tank.  I think she started purring.   So I continued on…
    When I got to the part down by the fire pit I have to get real close to a bunch of bushes and pricker bushes (ouch).  Didn't think anything of it.  CC was still running real good.  Next thing I knew I started smelling some smoke.  I ignored it figuring it wasn't important, maybe the neighbor was burning something.  Well, then I looked
down.  There was some smoking coming from that deck part I had just cleaned off not long before. Of course I turned CC off, got myself another stick, and started poking around.  I figured I must have gotten something clogged up in there since there was room again to get stuff up in there.  I poked and prodded, not sure if I had come up with whatever was causing the smoke. I hopefully thought maybe I remedied the situation by poking around enough, turned the mower back on, pulled up the blade spinning lever and…nothing.  No spinning and thankfully no smoke, so I limped CC over to the house for Hon to take a look at when he gets home.  I'm not sure if I should tell him about the smoke part yet.  I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  Sometimes ignorance really can be bliss.
    Oh, I learned another thing today.  Poison Ivy vines have little hairs on them.  I didn't know that before I started using part of one to poke around at CC's deck to get the stuff out.  The things we learn!  Smiling & Waving, Sharon