It seems Murphy’s Law was meant for me. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Never in my life have I had as much difficulty simply trying to get a yard mowed. Not one but two lawn mowers have suffered some type of mechanical problem at the hands of the Hammons Curse.

With all the rain we’ve had recently, my backyard was beginning to look like one of those jungle scenes from one of those Tarzan movies. The only thing we lacked was a wild animal like a lion, tiger or bear trekking its way through the yard to the nearest watering hole.

Gail recently saw a snake in the front yard, but it apparently has not made a return visit, or at least I’m hoping that is the case. The rains have made it necessary to mow the front yard almost every week.

The first lawn mower I used had an extra-long string attached to the handle. I quickly had an inking that was going to cause some kind of problem before long.

It did. The handle somehow worked its way down near the engine or blades and miraculously disappeared. It might have been eaten by the blades as far as I know. Minus the handle, I still managed to start the mower a few times after that. To start it, it took wrapping the string in both hands and pulling as hard as I could. That did the trick until the string itself disappeared. I’m guessing the string somehow worked its way underneath the engine cover. I only discovered that problem after I had gassed it up and pushed it out to the area I was going to cut that day.

I walked and walked the yard hoping I could locate the handle but had no luck. I’m still confident the handle will turn up when I least expect it. That is what I’m banking on.

A friend suggested not too long ago I take the mower to a lawn mower repair shop in Varnado. I’m sure the repair shop can discover the whereabouts of the handle and string if they are indeed still together with the lawn mower.

One mower down, one to go.

Drinking a cup of coffee earlier this week on the front porch, I heard my neighbor hard at work cutting his grass with his own lawn mower. Seeing how my grass was not going to cut itself, I waited a few minutes until I knew he was done to inquire if I could possibly borrow his lawn mower to cut the places I had missed in my yard.

My neighbor on the right side of me, Steve Starnes, didn’t hesitate an instant and agreed to let me use his push mower to cut the grass. His mower was just like the one I had been using, so what could go wrong?

I soon discovered his gas cap had some type of lock on it. I wasn’t aware of it until I had a made a circle and then noticed the gas cap missing.

Again, I walked and walked the yard and came up empty looking for his gas cap. I will continue looking for it until I find it. I’m pretty sure it just didn’t vanish. He was nice about it.

Len Magee, my neighbor on the other side of me, has been kind enough to cut some of my high grass with his riding mower. That has been a big help.

Maybe a riding mower is more my style. It’s less sweat and more production.

Then again, a riding mower has more moving parts. Mowers and me just don’t seem to get along at the moment. If something can be broken, I can break it. Don’t know about Murphy, but that’s Randy’s Law.

Randy Hammons is a staff writer for The Daily News. He can be reached by calling 985-732-2565 or by email at randy.hammons@thebogalusadailynews.com.