Is service too much to ask?

I mowed the lawn for the first time this spring. It was a nice Sunday afternoon and all was going good. I was in the back yard and made enough rounds until it was a mohawk (a strip a grass down the middle. I was going down the back stretch when the tractor made a sound and stopped!

The engine was running but the gears would not engage. The tractor locked up. I tried a few dumb things and then called it a day.

Today I called the local company that sells "Green and Yellow tractors that run like a Deer" and had the following conversation. I tell my story and get the the place where the engine runs but the gears don't. He says, "What is the make and model?" "Oh. that model is not being made any longer." "Some of the older tractors have sealed transmissions. It may cost $1,000.00 or more to fix it." You say it is in the back yard? It need to tell you that we will probably tear up your lawn when we pull it out! We charge $50.00 to pick it up"

At this point I say, "Well, I sure don't need a lawn ornament that big."

He says that he will put it on the list.

This afternoon, my brother -in -law came over a checked it out. he found a belt that had broke and figured out how to get the wheels rolling and we pushed it to the front yard.

How can I be excited about these guys working on it? They tried every possible way to ask me to give up without even looking at the tractor.

Mowing season is not fun yet,