The last couple weeks we have had a lot of fun enjoying the typical activities that come with fall. A trip to the orchard, a U of I football game with the family, a couple weenie roasts, and in general just enjoying the beautiful fall weather we’ve been having. Indian summer has thus far held out, but I think we all know it can’t hang on indefinitely. Like it or not, winter is just around the corner.
With that inevitable onset of colder weather, one of the main projects for last weekend was starting to put away the summer toys and equipment, and get out the winter stuff. I performed what I am assuming will be the last mowing of the year. Following that, I cleaned the push mower and Johnny’s mowing deck, and then winterized the mower, and the rototiller. Of course, putting the mower away for the season also means it’s time to get the snowblower out. I’m anxious to try out the snowplow on Johnny, but not ready to get rid of that snowblower just yet. I also started putting away some of the big toys for the winter. Since it was such a nice weekend, I didn’t want to put all the toys away. I also didn’t quite get all the winter preparation completed, because I was taking advantage of the nice weather some myself.
Every time I walked past Junior, his cracked hood stared back at me just begging to be fixed. With the good weather forecasted for the weekend, I figured it would be a good time to make that repair. It appears at some point someone ran Junior into something. There was a couple inch long crack in the hood, and immediately below it, a small dent in the grill. The hood also had cracks in the corners, which Johnny also had, and is pretty common for that hood design.
The first step was reinforcing the fiberglass, followed by filling in the cracks with bondo. This produced one of those “you know you’re an engineer if…” moments. There probably aren’t a lot of people that the smell of fiberglass resin and bondo triggers college flashbacks, but if you every worked on a Formula SAE team, you know what I’m talking about. The bondo also proved to be a fun activity with N. He saw me mixing up a batch, and was curious what I was up to. I told him it was like playdough for daddies. He thought that was cool, and helped me fill in a few little divots I missed with the first coat.
Fortunately, the weekend weather proved ideal for painting. I had the perfect temperature and wind conditions for painting the hood and grill outside. Also, since we’ve had a few frosts, I didn’t have to worry so much about bugs flying into the wet paint. I was extremely pleased with the results. The only problem is it might look too good, and get me thinking more about painting the rest of the tractor.
Painting the rest of Junior will have to take a back seat for at least a little while though. Ebay season officially started last week as well. I need to get busy in Santa’s workshop to take advantage of the holiday buying season, and replenish the toy/tractor fund.
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