Brenda buys a drone
This is a story about our Lawn Mower Drone. Yes, you read that right! Read on and watch the videos and see the pictures. Since I hurt my back and am getting older my wife decided we needed a better way to take care of the grass at our place in Arkansas. She reasoned that there were to many rough, unleavened, and hard to reach places that a big riding mower couldn’t handle. Plus too much to try with just a weed wacker. Brenda is also excellent when it comes to surfing the web looking for information. So when she went browsing she found the Dare Devil remote controlled lawn mower. My only concern was since it was a bit complicated who would we find to work on it if it broke in any way? Also it weighs about 300 lbs.
The Delivery
It was to be delivered to our street address in Louisiana. I emphasize at the street! So how might we get it onto our trailer to bring it to our property in Arkansas. As it turned out that was relatively easy. We were home when the big truck pulled up to the house. Good for us the truck had a lift gate. The driver was very cooperative. He let me hook up my trailer and back it up to the rear of his truck. Then he lowered his lift gate even with the bed of the trailer. This enabled him to use his fork lift and drive the big box crate right on to the trailer. Together with me and my grandson we were able to maneuver it to more or less the center. So much for this end of the journey.
unloading
When we arrived at the house in Arkansas I backed the trailer part way to the carport. I left enough room for the tail gate of the trailer to come down and the mower to come off. Watch the video below to see what happened next! https://youtube.com/shorts/ZnQs-XC7aDM?feature=share Brenda was not seriously injured and the mower suffered minor scratches to its paint. The next task was to see if the battery was charged and put some gas in the tank. I should explain that the lawn mower engine is American made and runs on gasoline. The propulsion of the unit runs on a battery. There is a chord to plug it in, plus the battery is charged by the gas engine when it is running. Thus it should not die out in the field away from the electrical outlet 
The Controller
The next problem was the controller. There we no instruction books for either the lawn mower nor the controller. We went to the webpage of the company to see about getting an instructional manual. The answer we got was that there was one on the webpage. I said, “ No there is only a diagram listing the functions of the various buttons and levers.” That we were told is the manual? Then she said, “ Whatever you do, don’t touch the button at the top?” Too late! Apparently that button changes the channel for the remote control! Now it seemed every time Brenda turned it on the controls were rearranged as to their function. However, I must say, my wife is very clever and she managed to make the mower do what she wanted! See the second video!
Disaster
Then there was a minor disaster. I think I was away at the time it happened. Brenda waited for my return to rescue the mower. She was working it along the side of a “driveway” along the front of the house. At its edge is a steep drop off of several feet. The mower had slid off sideways and was unable to drive itself back up. We were glad that our side-by-side came with a winch! In short order we were able to drag it back up to level ground. The next time out we could not get the lawn mower to start. Now I have become a regular customer of the friendly folks at the local True Value hardware store. So I called and they said, bring it on down!” So we did. Good news is the Mechanic quickly diagnosed the problem as a bad spark plug. Brenda got him to give her some basic pointers on small engine repair and off we came. https:/
Brenda was able to get a large portion or our clearing mowed. But then something else went wrong and one of the caterpillar treads would not turn. This time the mower was 100 yards down the hill. The winch did its job again. We dragged it back to the carport. Brenda is determined to be able to fix things herself and went to work taking the panel off the back. There she found a fuse box and discovered the problem, a, blown 50 amp fuse. Off I went back to True Value. 
They had none and suggested the local Bumper to Bumper might. Now this was another adventure. This establishment looks to have been build to service Model Ts! The interior is worn barn board sheik. However, the building went back and back into dimly lit corridors with every tool you can imagine. Although the proprietor didn’t think there was such a thing he was in fact able to find a package with three 50 amp fuses! Back at the homestead Brenda installed one and was back to work. The fuse problem wasn’t over. On our next trip she started to do some more mowing and the fuse blew again. I went to find more, but there were none to be had in a fifty mile radius. In the end she had to order some from Amazon, who in fact do have just about everything. She bought two packages of 25.
We Get Help
Another month later and another trip to the homestead Brenda was determined to get the mower to work. However, every time she put in a new fuse it would blow as soon as she touched the controller. After using up all of one package we were blessed with a visit from Bret, the contractor who build our dream house. He immediately wanted to help and was determined to solve the riddle. After testing this wiring and that and adjusting this and that switch he managed to get it to run. Then it blew another fuse. At this point we have collectively decided the problem is the controller and not the machine and are planning to order a new one, about $70. It better work or as Brenda has said “It’s a $3000 paper weight!”