Why is the Grass So Tall??

Figuring that a B&B should always have a manicured-looking lawn, we went ahead and splurged on a nice zero-turn mower less than a year ago. I volunteered to take over the grass mowing job since Paul is at the building so often, but I'm thinking that I might be fired very soon. I had to go get him once to get the mower out of the mud it got stuck in. Another time I had to report that I had accidentally bulldozed into the brick side of our steps crumbling it into pieces. (My argument was that it waws over 150 years old so it was about time to replace it anyway!)

But this time I think I've really done it. I filled the mower with gas and proceeded to cut the lawn. After a while it started to sputter and die much like a mower does when it runs out of gas. That couldn't be though because I had just filled it. I lifted the seat (where the tank was on our LAST mower), took off the lid which read "Do not top off" and looked inside... yep, plenty of gas. Then I looked to the right and noticed a big black container-like part. Hmmm- what goes in there? I took the top off and looked inside. It was empty. Then it hit me. That's where the gas should've gone.

Sooo, the lawn will have to wait until Paul can flush out the system and add new hydrolic fluid 'cause that's where the gas went. We are praying it didn't do any damage to the mower. If all is well with it, I bet he'll have the grass cut before I even get home from work! I guess I don't blame him for wanting to take the job back!