@Typo-MAGAshiv Nice one. A broken machine is a puzzle, solving the puzzle and getting a working machine as the reward is very satisfying.

You say you were not a tool guy when younger. This is actually quite similar to my own story. I was a young intellectual who liked the outdoors but only in a gentlemanly sort of way -it was just a huge adventure playground. I wasn't really practical. Friends would come to me with practical problems to solve because I liked solving problems but I had no basic skills and anything I solved was just from first principles not because I knew how to do it.

I can even remember once telling my friends "I have no interest in being able to fix my car, when I can pay a fat greasy man to do it while I go and do something more interesting" I used to think that guys who liked fixing stuff were really just compensating for small dicks or a lack of anything manly to do in life.

Life took a few turns and I ended up working outdoors as a tradesman and boy did I have some catching up to do! I discovered that it was actually very satisfying to fix something not throw it away or be dependent on getting someone else to fix it. It was even more satisfying to make a part with steel and cutting tools when you couldn't easily buy one. It was far more fun to make ammunition to fit your rifle perfectly than to buy the finest ammunition and the finest rifle.

Being able to fix stuff gives you a feeling of much greater security. You are not stuck being dependant when something goes wrong.

At first my lady looked in disgust at my collection of "junk" in the garage -parts and fixings saved from stuff that is broken. But over time she has come to accept that when something breaks I will probably have "something that I can use to fix that" in my junk. The junk is no longer loathed. At least I am no longer told it should go.

She is glad when I fix stuff but I still know though that she would rather have had a gentleman who just bought the new replacement she wanted every time something broke. However to me its almost a moral issue -why throw away when you can fix? Why buy heating oil when you can cut wood? I am not an eco geek or anything but waste just seems not as good as repair, expense not as good as moderation. However women love the power to just make it fixed by paying someone to fix it.

Women really want the king who can order it done not the craftsman who gets it done. When you put it like that its obvious.

spending most of my holiday weekend repairing a riding mower

I replaced a dead battery and the 20a fuse we blew jump starting the mower.

Removed and cleaned the air filter. Didn't replace because it wasn't that bad.

Removed and replaced the spark plugs. Old ones had some buildup of smoke/carbon. They didn't look as bad as the demo photos for "replace", but they also didn't look as good as the demo photos for "still ok". Just went ahead and set the gaps on the new ones and installed.

I finally got the mower to start when I had tightened the cable for the throttle and choke, and then fiddled with the choke plate (air filter removed again so I could see it), but it ran unevenly, and the throttle wasn't working correctly. I had overtightened the cable, and had to readjust. Had it purring like one of our cats, but ran out of daylight. I'll have to finish mowing today.

Credit to the wife for a) trying to mow while I was at work on Saturday so that we could just have fun together the rest of this weekend (the best laid plans!), and b) keeping me supplied with ice water while I was working, and c) simultaneously researching on another device to assist in troubleshooting.

As soon as I finish a few things, it's off to finish the mowing.