Modern Inconveniences

This post should have been written yesterday, but because of a "modern inconvenience" I was unable to type.  Thus, I am doing today what I planned to do yesterday.  By now, I'm sure you're very confused, so let me explain.
I have two very large Bradford Pear trees in my front yard.  Steve & I planted them just a few years after we built the house, so after 28 years of growing, they are quite large.  I really love those trees because they remind me of my home in Cincinnati.  Although Moultrie is beautiful in the spring, the fall leaves much to be desired.  I always miss the beautiful show of colorful leaves when the first frost can be felt in the air.  The Bradford Pear trees supply a bit of color in my front yard every fall.  It is for that reason that I savor every last leaf on the trees and refuse to rake them until all the color is gone.  This year, that ran almost until Thanksgiving.  By that time, I was so busy with holiday plans that I just didn't have time to do yard work.  Every time I made plans to tackle the job, it would rain and spoil my plans.  So on Saturday morning, I rolled up my sleeves, put on my work gloves, started the John Deere lawnmower and attached my new yard sweeper that I had purchased last fall.  This modern convenience allows me to cut the work time almost in half.  It also saves my arms & back from strain.  I had only made two passes at the front yard when I noticed that the sweeper wasn't tracking correctly.  Upon further investigation, I found that the wheel had come loose.  I found a concrete block and propped up the axle so I could see how to fix it.  It wasn't anything major...just the plastic housing around the wheel had jarred loose and allowed the wheel to become disconnected.  I quickly repaired it and got back to work.  Two more passes at the yard and the same thing happened again, only this time, I left the whole wheel mechanism scattered across the front lawn. I decided that the repair would take more expertise than I possessed, so I went to plan B...the leaf blower!  Now I was really reminded of Cincinnati because this is how we cleaned the yards there after the leaves had fallen.    Before cranking it up, I filled the gas tank on the blower so I wouldn't have to stop to refill it in the middle of my job.  To my surprise, it took two more fillings of the gas tank to finish the yard!  All in all, it took me 3 hours to blow all of the pine straw and leaves into appropriate areas.  When I turned off the blower, I was surprised to find that my right arm was still under the impression that the blower was still running.  My arm vibrated and tingled for the rest of the afternoon, just as if the blower was still going.  In addition to the vibration, my muscles were so fatigued from the chore that I could hardly lift a glass of tea.  I plopped down in my chair to watch the football playoff games and didn't move for several hours. So my modern convenience turned into an inconvenience instead.  I must admit that the yard did look beautiful and I had received quite a workout, so the afternoon wasn't a total waste of time.  I still have to figure out how to fix the yard sweeper.  Maybe that roll of duck tape will do the trick.