OK, no rain so far this summer, so no new weeds. But I did try today to start up the lawn tractor, started right up, again, no need to spray in any starting fluid. So I'm convinced that the choke was stuck open, and I had freed that up, so now it chokes (closed) in the up position and then releases. So now I'll watch for that, and add spring or clean up if necessary.
Good time for me to do an oil and filter change on it; maybe tomorrow.