Lawn mower maintenance

My dad would have been so proud of me this morning. How many times did I watch him take apart our lawn mowers? At least two or three times each summer. And he had this aluminum pie plate that he kept spare parts in because every time he took something apart there were always leftover pieces when got finished putting it back together. I think I've mentioned before the pitiful state of our lawn mower. Well, Nate & I took it apart this morning. I was going to do it myself and that must have scared him because he got out the owner's manual and was reading it while I was dumping out the old oil. I didn't do much to it -- just changed the oil and cleaned out this sponge thing that I think was some kind of air filter whatever. But I had seen my dad do it so many times I wasn't too worried about it. I didn't know if it would work when I was done since Dad didn't always have such good luck with it, but it turned out really well. When I started cutting the grass last night I thought for sure I would be at Lowe's this morning buying a new mower, but it's amazing what a little maintenance can do. It almost sounded like a new machine, and it certainly wasn't blowing that black smoke out at me anymore! =) So, thanks Dad for showing me how to take apart a lawn mower.