To back up two weekends ago, they were calling for rain all weekend, so I made a mad dash Friday night to get all my outdoor activities done. I got the Cat out and drove it around to try out my carb fix. It held up, and continues to hold up, well. In addition to testing out the carb, I wanted to run it around a bit to warm up the transmission oil. You are supposed to warm it up some before you change it, and I never ran the tractor long enough last fall to warm it up. Of course L helped with the laps up and down the waterway to test out the tractor. I also got Johnny and the disc out to smooth out some dirt that had washed into the waterway from the field during the heavy rains the previous week. The disc did a nice job chopping up the bean stubble, and loosening the dirt to plant some grass seed. While I had both tractors out, I took the opportunity to get a picture of them together.
After putting the boys to bed and putting the tractors away, I drained the oil out of the Cat, only to find that some of the drain plugs were missing. Fortunately the plugs were just simple pipe plugs, and easy to replace. Time will only tell the long term effects of running without them. Despite calling for rain all weekend, it turned out better than they predicted. We did get some storms come through Saturday afternoon, and again Saturday night, but still got some flowers planted and mulch put out. We also got in some good time playing and visiting with the neighbors.
Despite this past weekend being a 3-day holiday weekend, I did not try to cram 50% more projects in. Saturday morning we decided to go out and check out some garage sales. C found some clothes for the boys, and I found a lawn roller. I figured the Cat will occasionally tear up the lawn, and I will want to smooth it back out so a roller would come in handy. Still, I almost passed on it, but the guy selling it was a Cat retiree whose name I recognized as being involved in testing of some pretty significant Cat machines. Buying the roller gave me the chance to talk to him a bit, and let him know how much I would appreciate old Cat pictures or memorabilia he might want to get rid of some day.
On Sunday, a good part of the day was spent installing C's new kitchen TV. Her old one was on it's last legs, so the need for a replacement was imminent. The whole process took quite a bit longer than I expected, but I think the end product turned out pretty nice. After spending all day working in the kitchen, we decided to have a picnic in the garage, which of course the boys loved.
Monday my only real plans were to mow, and take the Cat out to try some new spark plug wires I installed. Somewhere along the way, I decided it would be a good time to clean out the garage. It did need it, and other than the wind trying to counteract my sweeping, it was a good day for it. The boys kept busy washing a Barbie Jeep I recently picked up, as well as the front porch and porch furniture, and anything else we could think of having them hose off. They were drenched by the time it was all done, but the warm weather was good for that. After several hours cleaning and putting everything back, I still had to mow. I don't know if it was just the weather, but mowing seemed to take alot longer than usual. After finishing that, I was happy to sit back and watch the boys and the neighbor kids play in their sprinkler, and enjoy a relaxing night.
This coming weekend is Cherry Fest, which is always alot of fun. Saturday I am running in the 5K, and plan on taking L with me in the jogging stroller like I did with N 2 years ago. I've been doing more running in the mornings before everyone is up, so I have only gotten to take L out once in the jogging stroller. I'm also not in as good of shape as I was 2 years ago, so the race could be interesting. I'm not sure what else the weekend will bring, but I'm sure it won't be boring.
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