Back in Business

You'd think with all the rain we had last weekend, I would have found some time to post an update on the blog.  Somehow, I just never got around to it. The weekend was kind of a bust project-wise.  Saturday C ran some errands and went to a baby shower, so I had quite a bit of time with the boys.  We played and got a few little things done, but nothing major.  Sunday brought more rain.  I had hopes of checking out a snow blade for Johnny that had popped up on Craigslist, but after tentatively setting plans with the seller for Sunday afternoon, he never called me back with a definite time to meet.  It's still listed for sale, so I haven't completely given up hope, but I'm not going to hold my breath. 

Although I didn't get to do any Craigslist buying over the weekend, I did get to do some selling.  I had planned on selling our pink Power Wheels Harley a while ago, but C convinced me to keep it a while longer since the kids liked to play with it.  While it was popular for a while, it had sat unused for the last few weeks so I decided it was OK to sell it.  When I told N someone was coming to buy it, at first he said he didn't want to sell it, but when they came and took it, it didn't bother him at all. 

Once the rain stopped this week, I was able to get some Power Wheels parts out from under the deck to rebuild a Jeep I had picked up a few weeks ago.  While I have drastically scaled back my Power Wheels refurbishing, I haven't totally given it up.  Although the jeep was lacking any wheels when I picked it up, I had some replacements squirreled away, and the boys and I were able to clean it up and rebuild it.  I'll let them try it out for a while and have some fun with it before I sell it.  I also cleared out a Power Wheels Bigfoot I had in the shed.  It was fully functional, and it pained me to throw it away, but I got more for the desirable parts than I probably would have selling the truck whole locally. 

It looks like more rain in the forecast for this weekend, but I'm hoping to get at least a little good weather.  I'm caught up on mowing, but I'm itching to try out my carburetor repair on the Cat, and try to troubleshoot the miss under load.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Gettin' our Kicks

I tried really hard not to let the fact that this weekend was Mother's Day get overshadowed by my excitement of putting my Cat tractor in it's first tractor show.  Hopefully I was at least moderately successful.  That said, I did spend a good part of last week and this weekend preparing for the Lexington Route 66 Tractor Show.

While I was anxious to finish up all the last minute preparations Friday night, I did hold off long enough to let both boys watch the farmer planting corn behind our house.  He didn't start until right after we had put them to bed, but who knows how many more years we will be able to watch that out our back window.

Despite getting a delayed start, I didn't have to stay up too late to finish getting ready.  The biggest task was assembling my new weight distribution hitch.  The hitch went together pretty well, except for the 1 3/4" nut on the hitch ball.  I had mistakenly assumed a crescent wrench would work, but the space was too tight to get it in there.  I made do with a pair of channel locks, at least good enough for trip to Lexington and back.

While pretty small, the Lexington Route 66 Tractor Show provided me with an ideal opportunity to show my tractor.  C and L stayed home due to L's current mid-day nap schedule, but N went with me.  He was excited to go to the show and to go see Baba and Grandpa. The show couldn't have gone better.  The weather cooperated, and it was nice to be able to relax at B&G's house instead of spending the whole day at the show.  As an added bonus, my tractor won a trophy for it's class at the show.  It turned out to be a great day.

Of course it wouldn't be a DDT weekend if we stopped there.  No, there were still plenty of things to do around the house.  Shortly after getting home, I mowed the lawn.  C watched the boys while I push mowed most of the yard, but needed me to watch the boys before I had a chance to mow the waterway with the tractor.  Fortunately, both boys were game for riding along while I mowed, so I hitched up the wagon and both rode along.

Sunday was mostly a clean up day; putting the Cat back in the garage and putting all the hauling gear away, cleaning up the garage, and tidying up the deck shed.  With another day of gorgeous weather, all us boys got to play outside quite a bit.  C and N flew a kite, and L and I go the disc back out and tried to even out the transition between our yard and the new house next door.  The neighbors also all came out, so the kids got to play together and we got to visit a bit.  A great way to wrap up another great week.

It's Alive!

Today was a major triumph on the Cat.  I've been working a little each evening this week on the carburetor.  Each step was a learning process.  I was a little apprehensive about my chances for success given that even the experts say the carbs on these tractors are tricky, and things didn't quite go back together the way they came apart.  Still, I assembled it per the specs, and voila, it started on the 3rd crank.  I took both of the boys for a couple laps around the lot next door.  The boys were thrilled.  The realtor down the street just starting his open house didn't seem to be as excited about it.  The tractor still seems to be running rich, so I've still got some adjustments to make, but I'm excited that the tractor is once again mobile. 

Getting the Cat running was far from the only thing we had going on this weekend.  Friday was predicted to be such a nice day, and I wanted to make sure I got the Cat running this weekend ahead of the tractor show next weekend, so I took the day off.  As it turned out, the tractor work on Friday was pretty minimal, but I did get some yard work done.  C took N to the zoo, and L helped me build up the creek bank in a few spots that had washed out.  That gave us the perfect chance to use the trailer I got for Johnny earlier in the week.  The guy I got it from said he bought it 6 years ago hadn't used it at all.  It did look brand new, and for about half the price they go for new, I couldn't pass it up.  It also comes in handy when both boys want tractor rides at the same time. 

The weekend to-do list also included mowing, putting together a new grill, and tilling up a spot for a garden.  In spite of all of that, we still found time for some play, and to go out for a dinner date for C's birthday.   Another jam-packed weekend, but we wouldn't have it any other way.