I had a strange problem while mowing the lawn the other day. While not stri ctly gardening, I thought others on this group might find the story interes ting, or at least humorous.
After cutting the first section of lawn by the garden and compost bins, I n oticed that the right side was cutting much lower than the left, so I got o ff to inspect. Everything looked good; the mower deck was level and all of its connections were connected. So I got back on and continued cutting; aga in, it was uneven, high left, low right. So I got off to inspect again; sti ll no noticeable problems.
I tried lowering the deck to the minimum and raising it back up a few times in hopes that might shake something loose, but it still cut unevenly. So I parked it by the basement door to do a complete inspection and get some to ols, if needed. I'm not sure why, but I put my foot on the big rear tire on the right side and it went flat, lowering the right side of the mowing dec k. When I removed my foot, it popped back and the right side of the deck wa s elevated even with the left. Apparently there was enough air in the tire to support just the tractor, but when I sat on it, my added weight flattene d the tire, throwing the mowing deck off level. I should have thought of th at earlier, but better late than never.
I pumped up the tire and completed mowing the lawn with a nice, even cut. N ext time, I'll check all the tires before starting to mow.
Paul