A Day in the Life...
Ya buncha greedy sunza...! Wha? My last post wasn't good enough for your finely tuned palates? Hmmmm???
Fine...
Last Monday started out just like any other cool foggy day, except for one thing... it was my folks anniversary. Seeing how it was a semi-special occasion, my mom invited all of her family up for lunch. We were eating at noon.
Of course anybody who's ever had to get anything done before a deadline knows how this tale is going to go already, so I really should just stop now. However... I like to torture you all so you're gonna have to read the whole tale.
The morning was foggy, very foggy, but surprisingly it was fairly warm. A balmy 28 or so. So it was up early, eat a good breakfast and then head out to get the feeding done before the company arrived.
After breakfast, I went outside to get things started and let them warm up. Now by things, I mean the pickup loaded with hay, and also our tractor so that I could load some hay with it. Our tractors are not exactly what you'd call new. No... no pretty new shiny tractors for me. Don't get me wrong... I'd take one if it was given to me, but I lack the 100 grand or so it takes to obtain one.
Our tractor is a Farmall 560 circa 1955. You know the type... the kind that you'd see on some antique calendar somewhere. Metal seat, no fenders on the tires. But the main problem with these kinds of tractors, other than their age, is that they don't possess a cab nor a heater. It also means that you need to press a little button and activate the glow plugs to warm the cylinders up before it'll start.
I went out and fired up the pickup, no sweat. Then I walk up to the tractor... erm... why is the front axle leaning like that? Oh... it's got a flat tire. How typical... oh well... I can probably stretch the air hose that far and maybe it'll stay up for the few minutes it'll take to load the ton bales. So I stretch out the hose and... *whew* just reaches. So I pump up the tire.
Next I walk up to the glow plug button and wedge it on with a little lath that we've cut just for such an occasion.
While the glow plugs were doing their thing, I walked up to the barn and fed and watered a blind calf that we've been feeding and watering for the past few months. I say, "Hello Kid" and he comes running to eat.
So I walk back to the tractor and hit the starter button. The tractor turned over... and over... and over, but failed to start. That's not good. I wipe the frost off of the glow plug meter and... it's not on. I removed the lath and pressed the button by hand. Still nothing. Just what I needed.
So I set out to hotwire the glow plugs directly from the batteries.
I chased down some wire, and hooked it from the battery to the glow plugs on the engine block. The wire started smoking and melted from the load. It was a little warm, but not warm enough to start the tractor.
Eventually... I found a set of jumper cables and completed the circuit that I'd set out to. After a minute or so on simmer... the tractor fired up. Oh... all the time I was doing this, the air was hissing out of the tire, so I pumped it up again.
We fed all of the hay on the pickup, and then I filled the tractor tire again and loaded the pickup with ton bales. Fortunately, I didn't have to chase straw bales that day, so I got away with just pumping up the tire.
We finished feeding, albeit an hour or so later than usual, but the tractor problem... well... things like that just don't get better on their own, so I ran it down to my place and put it in the shop. Fortunately for us, we had another tractor in town, about 5 miles away, so the plan then became for us to go eat, entertain the company, and grab the other tractor the next day and use it instead until we got the 560 fixed.
But wait... there's more... next time, you'll even get to read about it.
****************************
Today's mystery lyric: (Remember the rules folks, no online searching of the lyrics, if you don't know it, you don't have the answer!)
All the feelings that I get
But I still don't miss you yet
Only when I stop to think about it...
Answer to last lyric: Rock and Roll Fantasy by Bad Company
Fine...
Last Monday started out just like any other cool foggy day, except for one thing... it was my folks anniversary. Seeing how it was a semi-special occasion, my mom invited all of her family up for lunch. We were eating at noon.
Of course anybody who's ever had to get anything done before a deadline knows how this tale is going to go already, so I really should just stop now. However... I like to torture you all so you're gonna have to read the whole tale.
The morning was foggy, very foggy, but surprisingly it was fairly warm. A balmy 28 or so. So it was up early, eat a good breakfast and then head out to get the feeding done before the company arrived.
After breakfast, I went outside to get things started and let them warm up. Now by things, I mean the pickup loaded with hay, and also our tractor so that I could load some hay with it. Our tractors are not exactly what you'd call new. No... no pretty new shiny tractors for me. Don't get me wrong... I'd take one if it was given to me, but I lack the 100 grand or so it takes to obtain one.
Our tractor is a Farmall 560 circa 1955. You know the type... the kind that you'd see on some antique calendar somewhere. Metal seat, no fenders on the tires. But the main problem with these kinds of tractors, other than their age, is that they don't possess a cab nor a heater. It also means that you need to press a little button and activate the glow plugs to warm the cylinders up before it'll start.
I went out and fired up the pickup, no sweat. Then I walk up to the tractor... erm... why is the front axle leaning like that? Oh... it's got a flat tire. How typical... oh well... I can probably stretch the air hose that far and maybe it'll stay up for the few minutes it'll take to load the ton bales. So I stretch out the hose and... *whew* just reaches. So I pump up the tire.
Next I walk up to the glow plug button and wedge it on with a little lath that we've cut just for such an occasion.
While the glow plugs were doing their thing, I walked up to the barn and fed and watered a blind calf that we've been feeding and watering for the past few months. I say, "Hello Kid" and he comes running to eat.
So I walk back to the tractor and hit the starter button. The tractor turned over... and over... and over, but failed to start. That's not good. I wipe the frost off of the glow plug meter and... it's not on. I removed the lath and pressed the button by hand. Still nothing. Just what I needed.
So I set out to hotwire the glow plugs directly from the batteries.
I chased down some wire, and hooked it from the battery to the glow plugs on the engine block. The wire started smoking and melted from the load. It was a little warm, but not warm enough to start the tractor.
Eventually... I found a set of jumper cables and completed the circuit that I'd set out to. After a minute or so on simmer... the tractor fired up. Oh... all the time I was doing this, the air was hissing out of the tire, so I pumped it up again.
We fed all of the hay on the pickup, and then I filled the tractor tire again and loaded the pickup with ton bales. Fortunately, I didn't have to chase straw bales that day, so I got away with just pumping up the tire.
We finished feeding, albeit an hour or so later than usual, but the tractor problem... well... things like that just don't get better on their own, so I ran it down to my place and put it in the shop. Fortunately for us, we had another tractor in town, about 5 miles away, so the plan then became for us to go eat, entertain the company, and grab the other tractor the next day and use it instead until we got the 560 fixed.
But wait... there's more... next time, you'll even get to read about it.
****************************
Today's mystery lyric: (Remember the rules folks, no online searching of the lyrics, if you don't know it, you don't have the answer!)
All the feelings that I get
But I still don't miss you yet
Only when I stop to think about it...
Answer to last lyric: Rock and Roll Fantasy by Bad Company
posted by LL at 9:11 PM
10 Comments:
Ha! Everyone else must be working, I'll go first. I am at lunch. First of all congrats to mom & dad. Next a blind baby calf? Now what ever will you do with it when it gets older?? ....Never mind. I don't want to Know. I want to think it will live out it's years as a beloved pet. Sounds like you were having a bad day. See if you were married you could have your wife do 1/2 of all that work. and be done in 1/2 the time. That's how it works here. This post was you, much better than the last one. Faker!
It's about time you posted. We need a picture of the tractor.
TW - Wife? Half? Hahahahahahahaha! Oh... you do come up with some zingers don't you...
And the calf is a weaner, not a baby. When we weaned it, it was fairly blind, but we've kept it in the barn and it's pretty well regained it's sight in the right eye. I think...
DOM - Don't you have a zucchini to give out or something? ;) I'll see what I can find next time...
Ooooo I loved this one, well the post, and maybe the blind calf/cow ..lol
And I believe the answer is
Three Days Grace ? I hate everything about you...
In a way I do miss the farm. It was much better than shoveling out the car from the middle of a city street in a freezing rain/snow storm.
Awww LL... You called him kid, you softie. But I bet he/she will make great veal patties all the same.
I agree with TW- it don't have to be that hard, take on a wife.
GNR - I used to love her, no wait Dani C might be right... Seems like I have just heart hte song.
I was thinking of giving you crap for having to do so much in the cold because your equipment was broken, but after being without a car for two weeks because my transmission went kind of takes the air out of my sails. Stuff breaks and it totally sucks. Hey, someone hands you a shiny new tractor would you ask them if they could swing by my place with a shiny new car?
PS I think this post is a fake too. Just sayin'.
Well, LL, I'd have to say at this point...you should avoid ALL "special days"...before your family fires you! You and wheels don't like to adhere to rules well on those days!
And hey...didn't you know Farmall and Carhart are vested in each other? Farmall lasts forever (we used to have one of them ol' faithfuls)...hence you buy Carharts for warmth and cush on the tush!
It's sad that I agree with you that 28F is warm-ish. *sigh*
Post a Comment
<< Home