We broke Peanut!  Allow me to backtrack a little and introduce Peanut.  Remember the lawnmower I bought?  The cute one with the red trim?  I decided to name it Peanut.  It seemed apt for a little lawnmower with a lot of umph and cuteness.  Well, we broke Peanut.  The handlebar was poorly welded on so it broke off.  Since Peanut was still under warranty, I took him (yes, I decided he is a him) back to the shop for repairs. 

This part tickles me.  I walked into the Car and General repair shop, and I was the only woman on the shop floor, except for the cashier.  I was quickly ushered in, asked what the problem was, offered help to get Peanut out of the car, offered a nice seat, asked if I wanted some water! I was chuckling inside.  Kenya is largely a male dominated society, and honestly, most people would expect a man to be dealing with broken machinery like Peanut.  Personally, I like to tinker, and I like to understand how machines work, so even if there had been a man in my life, I suspect I would still be the one out and about trying to get Peanut fixed.  Anywho, once Peanut was given his “admission” number, I settled down to wait.  The Technician had promised me this would be a two-hour job at the most, and that “Madam” should just take a seat and wait. 

I am poor at waiting, so when I saw them wheel Peanut to the workshop, I followed under the pretext of going to look for the bathroom.  I found the bathrooms, tucked away in the workshop, amidst broken motorbikes and tuk-tuk’s (3-wheeler Piaggio) and other bits and bobs of metal.  You would think the bathroom would smell of grease and used oil.  I walked in and was welcomed by the scent of Jasmine and Lavender.  I have no idea where it was coming from – believe me, I searched.  Anyway, I quickly got out of the bathrooms and went on to find Peanut. 

The Technician and a colleague were busy welding him, so I stood by to watch.  Once again, male society that is Kenya, they promptly and very politely told me to go back inside and wait at the reception.  So, I wandered off to the tractor section to look at the merchandise.  Apparently, Car and General assemble Kubota tractors, which according to my research (University of Internet of course), are excellent for small holder homesteads and farms.  I think I should consider buying one.  My grounds keepers are overwhelmed and I think we need to seriously consider mechanizing.  90 minutes after my arrival, Peanut was done and the “discharge” documents were ready.  The security guard asked me (very politely) to bring my car closer so they could load Peanut on.  The Technician came by to give a few words of advice and made me promise we would not mow the lawn when the grass was wet with dew, and that we would take exceptionally good care of Peanut. I went back home, a very happy lady.  I like these Car and General people. 

In the meantime, I have been talking to neighbors and those Ikinda people (Kenya Horticultural Society – Lower Eastern) to try and find sheep.  I am still convinced that these are the most efficient lawn mowers.  They eat the grass and you eventually eat them.  I have always wondered about the whole sheep being eaten by the wolf narrative.  The shepherd is the main danger to the sheep, not the wolf. My search yielded fruit! I now have a ram (from my neighbor) and 3 young ewes (from the Ikinda people) to be delivered or picked by the end of the month.  I can’t wait to have them home and get on with this biological lawn mowing experiment.  I spoke to my cousin (who is also part of the Ikinda group) as I want to visit her and find out how to build a proper sheep house.  This is so exciting!!!