Lawnmower Part 1

Just a little background: About two years ago, we inherited a "riding" lawn mower from a co-worker for free. While we received it for free it took close to $400 to get it moving (other than dragging it behind the car). It has done fairly well until mid-summer of this year. Parts started falling off despite my best efforts. As of today, the lawnmower is pretty much an engine with a steering wheel. I have had to remove most of the frame in order for the beast to have enough power to move. In some instances I need to get off and coax it to run. I also have to jump start the mower due to something with the starting unit (battery works fine). Well today I decided I was going to mow the lawn. After going through the pre-mow checklist (30 minutes), I thought I was ready. WRONG. The tire that I just pumped up was flat again. No problem. I have the green goo stuff that can be pumped into the tire to plug the holes. (That was an adventure in itself). So after another 30 minutes, I started mowing. Adonyah decided she wanted to help so we were having a great time watching the clippings fly. In a matter of minutes, the left tire was riding on the rims. (By the way, you can have a zero turn mower to the right if the left tire is completely flat). I left the mower running, because if it is shut off then I have to jump start it again, and I pumped up the tire. I thought I was set again. Three more minutes passed and again I was back to the zero turn to the right scenario. Needless to say I carried the pump with me from that time forward. It was quite the event holding onto Adonyah, a bicycle pump and trying to steer a rusted machine that is ready to buck me off. Every three minutes the tire was pumped up and we finished the job!
Eric/Adonyah 1:Mower 0
Pretty sad that I wrote all of this about my lawn mower!
--Eric