spending most of my holiday weekend repairing a riding mower

I replaced a dead battery and the 20a fuse we blew jump starting the mower.

Removed and cleaned the air filter. Didn't replace because it wasn't that bad.

Removed and replaced the spark plugs. Old ones had some buildup of smoke/carbon. They didn't look as bad as the demo photos for "replace", but they also didn't look as good as the demo photos for "still ok". Just went ahead and set the gaps on the new ones and installed.

I finally got the mower to start when I had tightened the cable for the throttle and choke, and then fiddled with the choke plate (air filter removed again so I could see it), but it ran unevenly, and the throttle wasn't working correctly. I had overtightened the cable, and had to readjust. Had it purring like one of our cats, but ran out of daylight. I'll have to finish mowing today.

Credit to the wife for a) trying to mow while I was at work on Saturday so that we could just have fun together the rest of this weekend (the best laid plans!), and b) keeping me supplied with ice water while I was working, and c) simultaneously researching on another device to assist in troubleshooting.

As soon as I finish a few things, it's off to finish the mowing.

@mustangfrank1 I'm going to address this in a different order than what you said/asked because there are some misconceptions that need clearing up.

Keeping the site private will not grow the site

WAATGM isn't private. WATGMA, the child sub, is because it has migrated to forums.red only.

WAATGM has been restricted to 18+ for the past several years in an attempt to stay ahead of any attempts at banning or quarantining the sub. That can keep newbies from finding it as easily, but we (the WAATGM mod team) thought it worth it.

until the Reddit Mods closes that one down as well

Important distinction: you meant reddit admins. I was a mod at reddit for WAATGM and WATGMA. Mods are volunteers who own and run the various subreddits.

Admins are actual paid employees of reddit, and they fucking suck. They're the ones who permanently suspended me and @polishknight, they're the ones who banned the MGTOW subs, and they're the ones who quarantined TRP.

[creating different subreddits to bring in more people]

It won't work, most of us don't have time for that (I've barely been on here lately, and I have many conversations I haven't replied to yet from the past couple of weeks), and if reddit admins catch on, they'll ban all the subs for "ban evasion" like they did the MGTOW subs that weren't even connected to the original /r/MGTOW.

I've been intending to take it up with the rest of the WAATGM mod team that maybe we should remove the 18+ setting from the sub to get more visibility. We might discuss it privately, but this (changing the setting) probably won't happen very soon.

@Typo-MAGAshiv

Yes. It's very lucrative, and if you get into the union for your trade, you have all kinds of freedom.

Interesting take. I have never worked for a union only ever along side a union and felt I had more freedoms, but at that point I was also bidding my own jobs, picking and choosing what and who I would subcontract for.

I do understand unions typically supply you with work, even if your company doesn't have it or lets you go.

My experience has also been I make more even when I'm not running the jobs as a non union employee but I've been blessed with very small, Mom and Pop type crews. This is the only time my benefits have been comparable to a good union job tho.

I would second any young man reading this, who finds sitting at desk all day daunting. I wish it had been pushed more when I was in highschool versus you have to go to college and get a higher education for a good life.

All those CAP classes did shit for me. Maybe had I taken a few shop classes. That and the stigma ever trade is filled with a tyrant of a boss who live to scream and cuss you out.

@Kloi

Are you working more hours?

No, still doing about the same as I always have, 50-60. I had a short break of 40 only from mid January until mid April.

What made my time disappear was taking back over the shit my wife had previously taken over from me because I just didn't have the time, primarily much of the yard work. When I was always gone, she'd do the mowing and some other things (I still did the weed whacking because she can't start it).

Now that I'm home more, I've taken back the chores that used to be mine.

That, and sleeping more. I'm more well-rested than I've been in years. I still have some catching up to do.

Have you ever shared what trade you're in publicly?

Not on purpose.

Follow up question, would you recommend a young guy getting into the trades? Why or why not?

Yes. It's very lucrative, and if you get into the union for your trade, you have all kinds of freedom.