The Ole Ball Game

N earned a free ticket to a Chiefs game for reading books a few weeks ago, but it was so hot we decided to stay home.  Tonight was another opportunity for a free night with the Chiefs through work, and the weather was much more cooperative.  I was just looking forward to a night out with the fam at the ballpark and some free hot dogs, but it turned out to be much more. 

As we walked in, one of the Chiefs staff stopped us and asked if Nick wanted to help paint home plate as part of the pre-game routine.  I didn't know that was part of the routine, but we got to go down on the field and paint home plate just before they threw out the first pitch.  N was super-excited. 

We had to wait a little bit to go down on the field for painting the plate.  While we were waiting Pete Vonachen, founder of the Peoria Chiefs, came up and teased N about wanting to trade him his hat (from the Lexington Tractor Show) for a baseball.  Pete has a tradition of giving little boys baseballs, and there is a statue of him giving a boy a baseball as you walk in to the ball park.  N did not want to trade his hat, but he got the ball anyway.  He also got one for painting the plate, so thankfully we had one for each boy. 

My managers put out a very nice spread for all of us and our families.  I couldn't even tell you what the score of the game was while we were there, but it was a beautiful night, with good food, family and friends.  What could possibly top off the evening?   How about getting to see Mr. Belding from the show "Saved By the Bell".  It's a bit of a stetch for Teacher Appreciation Night to bring in a guy who played the principle on a 90's TV show, but I guess I get it.  The line for his autograph was surprisingly long, and we certainly weren't going to wait, but it's not every day you get to see a sort-of celebrity.  It was a great night all around.

Cherry Fest

Two weeks since my last update; now that's more like my normal schedule. 

We've been busy the last couple weekends with things that have kept me out of the workshop for the most part.  The weekend before last we finally had our big garage sale.  Boy did we have alot of stuff to get rid of.  I felt like we did get rid of alot of the odd and ends, but still had quite a bit of kids clothes left.  I also didn't get a whole lot of interest in the tractor parts I had for sale, but that wasn't a big surprise since I had them priced reasonable for someone that needed them, not so cheap that someone would buy them looking to resell them.

The power wheels, on the other hand, sold fairly quickly.  The two highest priced ones sold before we even actually opened.  The buyer came a day early trying to buy them, then showed up the day of the sale 20 minutes before we opened.  They even helped us get things setup just so we could "open" and let them buy them.  L did have some issues with us selling the skid steer.  He was happy to demonstrate it for potential buyers, but was not keen on other kids sitting in it or driving it.  When someone actually bought it, we had to distract him by taking him to the back yard just so he wouldn't get upset.  To help him get over it, I got down the four wheel drive Bigfoot I put together a couple years ago.  It was a big hit, and I think the skid steer is a distant memory now.  To further celebrate the end of the garage sale, and try to beat the heat, we got out our good ole kiddy car wash.  The boys found it no less fun than last year. 

I did sneak in some workshop time in spite of the garage sale.  The Memorial day weekend was a deadline I had set for myself to get my "new" mower deck for Johnny done.  The deck that came with Johnny looked good from a distance, but it had some pretty gnarly rust and cobbled up repairs, and the bearings were noisy.  I had bought a deck in better condition with bearings already replaced last year, with the intent of repainting it and swapping the "old" one out.  That plan hit a major snag when I got it home and realized it was missing the main drive pulley.   The missing pulley relegated that project to the back burner. 

Fast forward to a couple months ago, when I came across someone in the Peoria area looking for a mower deck for a 110.  After talking to him, we struck a deal where I would sell him my "old" deck when I got the "new" one done, with a Memorial day target date.  The cosmetic part of the restoration was straightforward, just some sanding and some paint.  It took a while to find one, but as it turned out, the missing pulley just saved me the aggravation of trying to remove the old, pressed-in pulley shaft.  I was able to buy a complete assembly, with new pulley, bearings and shaft.  I left the new part in the freezer for a few days, and then when it came time for the install I heated up the hole.  It slid in with little effort, but didn't take long for the shaft to warm up and be stuck in place.  So far I have only done a quick test, but the bearings were nice and quiet.

Wildlife upate: Memorial day weekend was not kind to the bunnies.  I think the hot, dry weather was rough on them, and they mowed all the vacant lots so their mommy didn't have as many places to hide.  The poor things started dropping one by one, yet it seemed there were still several hopping around.  In all, I think there must have been 6 or 7 to start with.  After we got down to just a couple left, I stopped seeing them all together.  Our robins on the other hand, seemed to have done OK.  It's amazing how fast they grow.  One day I checked and their were 3 birds crammed in that nest, the next day it was empty.  We have seen a couple of the adolescent birds around the yard and on the deck, doing what they do best; making a mess. 

This past weekend brought the Washington Cherry Festival.  We didn't take part in it much last year, but took full advantage of it this year.  Friday we went to a friends house and watched the fireworks.  The boys did pretty well with staying up late to watch the show.  In spite of the late bedtime, they also did pretty well with getting up to watch the 5K race and doing the carnival rides.  C was supposed to run the race this year, but her back was bothering her so we switched her entry to me at the last minute.  It wasn't my best 5K time, but it was nice to have the family all there cheering me on.  We went home just long enough to eat breakfast and shower, and then it was back up to the carnival.  The boys did all the usual kiddie rides, but my favorite was riding with them on the Ferris wheel.  We also caught the tail end of the pedal tractor pull.  N took a turn, and then they got out their "big boy" pedal tractor and let me give it a try.  I think I did OK considering I just ran a 5K.

And finally, with all the garage sale revenue burning a hole in her pocket, C determined it was time to go shopping at everybody's favorite seller of furniture assembly projects, IKEA.  They were having a sale on some pieces that fit with our decorating plans.  We had debated on going up as a family, but ended up leaving the boys with Grammy and Grandpa, which was a very good idea.  After nearly 4 hours in the store, we loaded up a carload of boxes and headed home.  The boys were very excited to help put the stuff together.  We channeled that enthusiasm into sorting the hardware into little containers, which they both did a nice job with.  It took nearly 3 hours to do the first piece, which was enough for one night, so they will get plenty more opportunities to help.

Spring Wildlife

Three posts in one week, how crazy is that?  I guess I'm making up for lost time.

One of the highlights of this weekend, and the inspiration for the title of this entry, is some new wildlife we have around the house.  C and I had both noticed a "bald" spot in the middle of our phlox.  I just figured the boys had done something to it.  While we were all outside, C suggested maybe an animal had done it.  As we took a closer look, we noticed something moving, and then a baby rabbit poked it's head out, followed by two more.  We haven't seen many rabbits around lately, but I guess we now know what they have been up to. 

More expected was some new feathered "friends".  When C pruned the bushes a couple weeks ago, she discovered a robin nest in our burning bush.  There were three eggs in the nest.  We left this one alone, unlike the one we also found in the flue of our garage heater.  On Friday, we found one baby bird and two eggs.  On Saturday afternoon, there were two baby birds and one egg.  And finally, on Sunday afternoon, we saw the third bird climbing out of it's egg.  It has been great for the boys to watch, and I think it is the first time I had ever witnessed the hatching process that closely. 

The most intrusive wildlife this weekend was of the 6-legged variety. I have been working in the garage the past few nights with the garage door open.  About 8:30, the June bugs start to attack.  Normally they are just annoying with their kamikaze crashes into lights and other things in the garage, or their loud buzzing when they get stuck somewhere.  When one decided to climb up my back inside my shirt, that crossed the line.

Of course we didn't spend all weekend watching the wildlife.  Far from it.  We spent a fair amount of time getting ready for the garage sale.  I also had the Cat 5K on Saturday morning.  After that, we went out to check on the progress of the Cat Twenty Mr. Bates is restoring for the Cat Visitor Center.  It's incredible to see the tractor all painted and with the tracks back on, when I was just out there two weeks ago and it was just stripped down to the engine and powertrain. 

The boys didn't have much attention span for daddy and Mr. Bates talking old tractors, but they did enjoy checking out the forklift, loader and motor grader.  I think some day they will appreciate seeing the exhibit in the visitor center and knowing they saw it as it was going together.

Picking makes for Grinning - Spring '12 Edition

I've shared my bulk trash "picking" exploits here before, so I thought I would share my latest finds.
 A few weeks ago was Washington clean up week.  The "professional" pickers were out in full force, which made it difficult to come across any good finds.  I did manage to snag a couple items.  The first was a Power Wheels Cat Skid Steer.  As usual, it was dirty and didn't work initially, but after a good cleaning and a new foot pedal switch, it runs like a champ.  This one has stick-steer with the steering in the rear, so it is a challenge to drive.  Both boys figured it out fairly quickly, but they still get confused on occasion.  The "new" seems to have worn off of this one quicker than normal, but it's pretty tough to compete with our existing fleet.   

The second was a Power Wheels four wheeler.  We've had a couple of this model before, but it was cosmetically in good condition, which makes for good garage sale material.  I knew I had plenty of spare parts for this one, which appears to only have needed an upgrade to the current style of battery connectors.  Despite having had a number of four wheelers over the past couple years, this one has been surprisingly popular.  

East Peoria clean up was last week.  I didn't see as many of the professionals out, but I wasn't able to go out at "prime" time like I was for Washington.  Again, I made out with a couple finds.  I found a few Power Wheels, but the only one that I brought home was a John Deere Gator.  It is terribly faded, and I almost left it until I noticed someone had recently put brand new tires on it.  It had a broken shifter, and my intent was to just part it out.  I wanted to get it working, at least temporarily, just to test out the components.  As it turns out, other than the broken shifter, the only issue was a spot where a wire had gotten pinched and cut the insulation.  This caused it to short out and a fuse to trip.  With the wiring repaired and a substitute shifter in place, it runs like a champ.  We had one of these before, and it was so nice, and the going price for them so high, that I just couldn't justify keeping it.  This one is so cosmetically bad that I don't have to worry about selling it.  I forgot how handy these can be, as L helped me haul some flowers and garden stuff around the yard as we were finishing up our spring planting. 

One last find was a garden wagon.  I don't really need another wagon, but I can't resist them when I see them.  This one is bigger than our other wagons, which could come in handy since the boys are getting too big to both fit in the one we currently have. Of course there was a reason that it was in the trash; the handle is broken.  I just need to repair that, and we'll be back in business.

Home Sweet Back-Home

The end of April/start of May is always a hectic time around our house. Including the extended family, we have three birthdays and mother's day in a two week span.  Starting last year, we also inserted a tractor show into the schedule.  Throwing my sister's graduation and my brother's work schedule into the mix, makes pulling it all off all the more complicated.  The final plan brought us back home to Lexington two weeks in a row.  Not a big deal considering we are the closest ones to home, in fact, it was two nice weekends. 

The first weekend was actually C's birthday weekend.  To celebrate, we did a dinner-and-a-movie date.  It has been way too long since we went to a movie.  Usually, we look at what's playing and decide there is nothing worth seeing.  This time, C had something in mind she wanted to see.  Working around our baby sitter's availability put us in a little time crunch to enjoy dinner and make it to the movie. I figured it wouldn't hurt to miss some of the commercials and previews.  What I didn't count on was the movie actually being full.  Oh, we still got to see the movie, but the only seats available were in the very front row.  I only sat in the front row at a movie one other time, which, believe it or not, was at "Ernest Saves Christmas" with one of my grade school classmates.  The movie probably won't win any Academy Awards, but it was a little better than Ernest, and was good enough to make for a nice date. 

The trip home later in the weekend for the rest of the birthdays was also nice.  The boys and their cousins played nice together.  They are finally getting old enough you don't have to watch them all the time, and we can enjoy the visits a little more.  We brought home a couple little "baby" trees from grandpa's flower beds.  We'll see if they can grow faster than the Earth Day give-away oak trees I got a couple years ago that are maybe a couple inches taller than when I brought them home. 

All the birthday festivities took up quite a bit of the weekend, but I did find time to get the Ten put back together.  I debated on it, but did end up buying Cat bolts to use on the Ten since they were only a little more than the bolts at Menards.  More surprising was that I could still get valve cover gaskets, and that they were only $2.50 each.  I got it all put back together, and after a few turns of the crank, it fired up.  We didn't go far, but the boys and I took the Ten for a quick test drive just to make sure it would run for the "big" Lexington tractor show. 

I had forgotten how much work it was to get ready for a tractor show.  Thankfully, I was able to still borrow a trailer, and the owner did all the check-out on it ahead of time.  Still, I had to go get it, and get the tractors loaded the day before, since we planned on leaving first-thing in the morning.  I decided to take Junior along with the Ten since we had plenty of room on the trailer, and I had just finished redoing it. 

The tractor show was nice.  The weather was better this year than last year.  C decided to come, which meant L got to come too.  L helped me get the tractors in place while N played at the inflatables.  When we all came back to check on the tractors, it's funny the hear the boys repeat what I tell them.  They are very quick to point out to others (including me) that certain parts are hot and shouldn't be touched (even if it's been hours since the tractor was running).  They also told someone else not to sit on Junior so they don't scratch the fenders (I wonder where they heard that?) 

Both boys headed home after lunch, which let me enjoy some time at home by myself.  It was nice to relax a bit and spend some time with just Mom and Dad.  We went back up for the end of the show and the awards ceremony.  The little Ten took home 1st place in the unrestored class again this year.  It's nice to win, but really for me the best part is just the opportunity to take it out to a show that has stuff for the boys to do, and allows us to spend time with family.  Oh, and it wouldn't be a trip home without bringing home something from mom and dad's basement.  This time it my old wagon for my pedal tractor.  The boys have been wanting to pull stuff with their tractor, and the little trailer fit the bill just right.

With the tractor show out of the way, it was time to get caught up on some overdue yard work. I had been keeping up with the mowing, but I got some extra help this last time.

 The boys and C had started some garden plants and flowers already.  I finally got the garden tilled, so we got them put into the ground.  So far so good.  I think all the plants that started in the pots took when we got them in the garden.  Hopefully over the summer and fall we will have peas, carrots, corn, pumpkins and watermelon. 

Junior's New Look

As I mentioned in my last post, the workshop was shut down a few weeks back while we took a family vacation.  It was some much needed down time away from work and all the distractions at home.  Unlike our last vacation, which ended early when we all got sick, this one went even better than planned.  We got to do almost all the activities we planned without feeling rushed or crunched for time.  It was nice to spend some quality time with C and the boys without feeling like I should be doing some chore, or wanting to work on some project.

We've now been back for a couple weeks, and things are pretty much back to normal.  The workshop has been very busy.  I have been fighting a loosing battle with dandelions and decided to upgrade my fire power.  I researched small sprayer units to use with a tractor and settled on a small, 9 gallon unit.  I originally was thinking of mounting it on the tractor, but ultimately decided to go with a pull-behind arrangement.  The least expensive option was modifying a moving dolly.  I cut it down and converted it to a trailer.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  As for the sprayer itself, I still haven't gotten to use it other than trying it out with just water.  It has been too windy when I have had the time to do some spraying.  It currently just has a wand, but I plan on adding a broadcast nozzle to allow me to do some spraying that way as well. 

The other major project has been finishing up the restoration of Junior.  I had a small snag with getting the carburetor working properly.  The engine just did not run consistently, even after doing a rebuild.  I discovered that a part not included in the rebuild kit was worn and needed to be replaced.  It runs better now, although the throttle modulation is still not as good as I would like.  It's good enough for now though.  I hope to put it to work pulling the sprayer soon.  In the meantime, it looks really nice.  I was going for a look like Grandpa's 4010 puller, and although I'm biased, I think it looks pretty good. 

While I was at it painting parts for Junior, I redid L's little power wheels tractor.  Decals are discontinued for it, but I lucked out and found a set for cheap on Ebay.  It almost looks like a new tractor.  L hopped right on and is driving it like a pro, even being able to put it into reverse when he needs to back up.  N doesn't seem to be too happy about being too big for it, but is doing an OK job of coping.  He did ask to get his pedal tractor down so he had a tractor to ride.  He is really improved on his pedaling strength this year.  Not to be outdone, L took a turn on the tractor and did some pedaling himself.  He has trouble reaching the pedals, even with the seat all the way up, but he seems to get the concept. 

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So two tractor projects down, one more to go.  Every time I'm out in the garage, that big yellow hunk of tractor stared back at me.  I'm sure it is wondering when it's going to get some attention to get put back together again.  The boys have both also asked me if they can go for a ride on it.  I have been working on it here and there, but no concerted effort to get it wrapped up. The clock is ticking for the Lexington tractor show again, so my time is running out.  I don't want to jinx myself, but I should be able to get everything put back together in time, but I'll let you know for sure in another week.

Paintin' Place

This post is yet another to file in the "long overdue" category.  Although I am writing this during some down time on our vacation, I probably will not even post this one until I get back, by which time I'll have enough material for another post, which itself will probably come weeks after-the-fact.  Such is life.

Given that this is coming so far after the fact, I'll keep this (relatively) short and sweet.  The biggest workshop project the past few weeks as been painting parts for Junior.  In the past, I've been relegated to painting parts in the back yard, at the mercy of weather and wind conditions.  With the new house in the back yard further limiting the favorable wind directions for painting, I decided to experiment with a home-built paint booth.  long story-short, it worked great.  The paint booth was relatively inexpensive to build, fairly easy to set up and take down, and produced excellent results. While I had it set up, I also painted the exhaust manifolds for the Ten, and even painted some of the sun-faded green parts of L's little power wheels tractor.  Preparing for our vacation significantly limited my time to re-assemble Junior.  What time I did find, things went fairly well.  I still need to do some work on the engine before I put it back in.  I expect things to mostly be smooth sailing from there, although in saying that I am probably jinxing myself.

Speaking of power wheels, we have fired up few of the boys' rides for the season.  N still fits in the jeep.  His driving skills were a little rusty at first, but he quickly got back up to speed, literally.  L doesn't quite have the hang of a steering wheel, but does just fine on the Harley with its handle bars.  He is already asking me to turn the "fast" back on so he can keep up with N.  He also really likes riding along in the jeep while N drives, and N does a pretty good job of being careful with his little brother.  The kid-powered rides have been getting a work out as well.  N is getting really fast on his bike.  L doesn't have the pedalling down yet, but he can scoot on his tricycle pretty fast, especially down hill. 

All the spring weather has continued to motivate the wildlife around our house.  We have had one more serenade from the coyotes, and the owl roosted one evening on the neighbor's roof, treating us to who-who-whoing as we were watching TV.  While clearing some dead vegitation from the flower bed I found a pretty good sized toad.  L wasn't quite ready to touch  it, but it didn't bother N any.  We turned it loose down by the creek.

 
One major task on our to-do list before leaving was upgrading our phones.  2 years ago when we got our last phones we opted not to jump on the smart phone bandwagon just yet.  I still think that was the right decision then, but it isn't taking us long to fall in love with our new iPhones.  C loves the apps for helping her find food that fits her dietary needs, and I love having maps and weather at my finger tips.  We elected to hold off on buying any cases for our phones when we got them due to the mark ups at the phone store.  We ordered some from Amazon as soon as we got home, but that still left us treating our unprotected phones with kid gloves for a few days.  Fortunately, our "Otterbox" cases arrived just in time for us to take them on the trip.  Both of us have managed to drop our phones already since getting them, and in both instances, they have already earned their keep.