Rain for a Change

The way the tractor show schedules landed this year, The ones I planned to take the Ten to were in May and September.  Wouldn't you know it, after waiting the whole hot and dry summer for the Labor Day show at Pontiac, it rains almost all weekend.  Not one to be easily discouraged, I did still take the Ten to Pontiac, but only for Friday afternoon, parking it back in the garage at home just as it started sprinkling Friday evening.  It was good to get the Ten out again, and since it sat dormant almost all summer, I was glad that I was able to get it started.  It sputtered and smoked a little more than usual to start with, but after giving L a little ride, it got back to normal. 

After raining off and on all day Saturday, the clouds parted a bit Sunday morning and we all went back over to the show, hauling only our wagon and no tractors.  I still didn't have the cup holders done yet for it, but it was done enough to use for the show.  It was a good thing too.  Both boys rode in it most of the time, and it did a good job keeping them out of the mud, of which there was plenty.  The muddy conditions prevented us from seeing too many of the tractors up close, but the boys got to ride the train, and C got to walk around the swap meet.  Since I had already seen the tractors on Friday, we all were able to head home satisfied. 

The rain also provided a good test for my deck-shed project.  A test which it failed.  It didn't leak too badly, probably not any worse than it did before, but it was disappointing that it did leak.  I was able to redo that portion that leaked, and seem to have fixed it (at least for now), but a subsequent phase of the project created some new places for leaks.  A few additional hours of sealing and caulking have hopefully improved those spots.  I could run the sprinkler over it to test it, but I think I will wait for it to rain, and probably am just going to have to accept the fact that it is going to leak sometimes.

Despite the rainy weekend over Labor Day, the following weekend was just about perfect weather-wise.  Saturday morning was mostly filled with errands, including a stop at a garage sale where we found a new, bigger bike for N.  He was really excited to try it out, but we had to add some training wheels.  When we got to Wal-Mart, all they had were pink training wheels, but that wasn't anything that some of Dad's spray paint couldn't cure.  L was equally excited to get the hand-me-down bike from N.  His legs are just a little too short for it, but with his determination he manages to get up on it, and can do a decent job of pedaling.  I'm sure by spring he will be zipping up and down the street on it. 

The nice weather also provided me a good opportunity to get all the tractors out for a group photo.  I got the Wheel Horse back together, and thankfully I had better luck stopping the leaks in the gas tank than I did stopping the leaks in the roof of the shed.  It was fun to get all the tractors out. 

L was excited to go for a ride, and before I knew it, a bunch of the neighborhood kids came over and wanted to go for a ride too.  I hooked up two of the wagons to the Ten and took them all for a ride along the field.  They had so much fun, we had to make a 2nd trip.