The Go Kart Debacle

I love that word…debacle. It just sounds funny to me. So, how many of you have husbands that think they can buy things that are “a little broken” and fix them up as good as new? Well, my Big Buckaroo is notoriously frugal, he has come a long way in the past 8 years since we were married, but if there is a deal on something he really “needs”, he is there. And, the majority of the time, these little projects end up becoming quiet expensive.

Case in point, the Go Kart. One day he comes home from helping a friend and says that he saw an old Go Kart in the yard of someone that goes to our church. The first sign that a Go Kart Debacle was going to happen was that he said, “oh, they don’t even use it anymore, the grass is grown up all around it”. Grass grown up all around it? I hear bells going off, oh, no, that is the rattling of money because I know we are going to have to drop some change on this baby. It is a different story for Big Buckaroo, he sees a challenge. People that have tween children don’t just put a Go Kart out to pasture because they are bored with it, there is something wrong with it, this is my simple woman logic. But, oh no, Big Buckaroo’s eyes are dancing at this point. He is getting it all laid out in his head of what he is going to work on first and certainly in about a week he and the little buckaroos will be riding the Go Kart course in the pasture like they are Dale Jr. So, he starts by messing around with the engine, he checks into the cost of a new one, it is $300. He decides that he will take it to a small engine repair shop, much cheaper and it will be as good as new. While the engine was at the shop, in his excitement and preparation for the Daytona Pasture 500, he buys helmets, goggles and earplugs for the boys. Ching, Ching, more money toward this debacle. However, I will say that this was good exercise for him because for the weeks while the engine was at the shop, they boys hopped in and Big Buckaroo pushed them around the house a zillion times. This was probably good for me, like baby steps. I was not and am not ready for my will-be-5-next-week baby to be driving at top speeds around the pasture.

The engine is finally ready, he puts it in and it does not start. It putters a little but they are not riding like the wind yet. He works on it, comes inside reeking of some horrible fluid/gas mixture and says that it is a minor setback but he has it figured out. He then returns the broken engine to the small engine repair shop and tells them what is wrong with it that they did not fix. A little later it is ready and he gets it back and puts it in. He pulls the string to start it and it breaks, oh just another minor setback.

This goes on and on people, setback after setback, days of working outside on this Go Kart, more and more nasty fluid/gas mixture smelling husband, ugh. Every once in a while it will work for about 3 trips around the house and then sputter and stop. Minor setback my foot!

Months later here we are with a Go Kart that does not work but a Big Buckaroo who is not giving up. Determination at its finest.

This is a pattern, he also bought an Isuzu Trooper that this same thing has been happening with for about a year now. No Go Kart and No Trooper, just money spent “fixing” these toys, but Big Buckaroo assures me that by him “fixing” these things we are saving money. All I have to say is “what a DEBACLE!”

Big Buckaroo pushing the little buckaroos around with their friend Ri in the middle. Who needs a treadmill, just push the non-working Go Cart around the house for about 15 minutes with three wild kiddos in it.