The
oil is supposed to be changed on the ride on lawn mower every
fifty hours. We’re wrapping up the seventh season of use on it,
and should be slightly over one hundred fifty hours of use when
winter storage arrives this year. Feels like I’m using it far
more than twenty hours a season, but that’s about what the gauge
is counting.
Every
fifty hours. Twenty-one or so hours of use per year. When would
you change the oil? Every season? Every other season? Every fifty
hours, regardless of where it falls?
That’s
a rhetorical question. I’m not looking for a response. Instead,
I’m just tossing the general concept out there.
We
are told to do certain things at certain times. Oil changes happen
to be a good one to use as an example. Our vehicles need oil changes.
How far do you drive before taking it in? And, is it included
as part of your purchase agreement?
There
are all sorts of other things. When to change the filter for the
central air. Getting the furnace cleaned. Visiting the dentist.
You get the idea. We have to schedule and plan and set up our
calendars (or at least watch the usage display and track the hours).
Quite a thrill (and rarely with convenient timing).
I
find the real fun ones are those that hit at a specific moment.
Buy
a new car. They’ll probably tempt you with all sorts of things,
from free oil changes to protection packages that include maintenance.
I’m not saying these things are good. Not saying they’re bad.
But for anyone that has to bring their car to their dealer every
five thousand miles for something, the impact is stunning.
You
want to be on time. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and so on. You
don’t want to bring it in too early. You don’t want to be too
late. You pretty much want to pull into the service bay around
9,997 miles. But some of that depends on when the appointments
are available. You might call four hundred miles ahead of time,
with a major family trip planned in fourteen days, only to find
out their service calendar is booked solid for three weeks.
Where
will you be when the literal and/or figurative fifty hours hits?
It’s
not just about vehicles and equipment and service plans though.
What
about doctors?
Insurance
coverage has set it up often that routine claims likely won’t
be covered if they fall inside a certain range of time. So, your
next cleaning needs to be scheduled for six months plus one day
at the dentist. Or, for the annual physical, we’ll place it out
one year plus one day from the last.
I
honestly didn’t know that many of us were looking to shave three
to five days off the dentist visit time frame so we could sneak
in an extra cleaning every twenty years. But for those of you
that have, good for you.
So
much of our life… our activities… is measured out in different
ways. Mileage. Hours of use. Calendars. This isn’t even a Sunday
then Monday then Tuesday kind of thing, which the world makes
our usual cycle. It’s a take one hundred steps, call me at ninety-seven,
and be fearful the ceiling will crumble if we actually meet at
one-hundred-one.
The
moon circles the Earth circles the sun. Mars and Jupiter circle
the sun as well, but at a different rate. Everything in motion
at different speeds along different paths throughout the universe.
But I’m guessing it’s too much of a stretch to compare waiting
an extra day to visit your primary care doctor with the collision
of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies.
What
matters right now is mowing the lawn. And whether you gauge it
by miles of use of the end of the year, it’s time for me to start
thinking about changing the oil.