Well, it wasn't ALL bad, just parts.  Well, not parts, just part.

I've been having problems getting Mom's Mantis tiller to stay running. I could get it started but it would sputter out in short order. Today I wanted to get all those tomatoes planted, and figured to get the rest of Mom's garden tilled it would be easier to dethatch the part that's still under grass. It took The Man several tries, but between the two of us we were able to get the tiller (now fitted with the dethatching attachments) working and I got an additional three feet of the garden ready for tilling.

The constant stopping whenever the thing was allowed to idle started grating on my nerves, so I checked the owner's manual troubleshooting guide. It said to adjust the carburetor. I tried... and now it won't turn over at all!  Now, I can adjust the dual carburetors on our Datsun Z cars and Roadsters until they purr like kittens, but I can't get one little two-stroke engine carb to work right!  This is going to put me back at least a few days, since Mondays are not good days for me to get up to Mom's house to do heavy-duty garden duties (my home business takes most of my Mondays.)  And, I pulled a muscle in my leg during the whole thing, so I'm grumpy AND sore.

I hoed the area in my garden where I plan on putting a row of Hopi pink corn.  I'm probably a couple weeks late, but I understand this plant is pretty early producing, so hopefully it won't make a difference. I still need to plant the Mandan squash and New Zealand blue squash seeds (also a bit late, but who's counting?) If I can carve out a few minutes tomorrow I'll pop the seeds in the ground and be done with it.