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. 

Sibling Rivalry

There comes a point with all children when they begin competing with their siblings.  L seems to grow more independent every day.  Most of the time I don't think he or N remembers that he isn't even two yet.  Almost as soon as he could walk, L would watch for N to stop playing with something, sneak over, and then take off running with it.  More recently, the fun of just swiping a toy has given way to a genuine desire to play with it like his big brother.  Of course, this competition goes both ways.  L has started playing more with "big boy" toys that N has interest in playing with as well.  L has passed the stage where he will instantly trade toys with N, and assume that he is getting something good just because big brother was playing with it.  It is going to be a long spring and summer for both of them learning to share and take turns.  Given equal toys though, they can play together pretty nicely.  This was evident on Saturday.  It was too muddy to play in the dirt, but I let them play in the rocks.  They both had loaders, and, for the most part, could take turns loading the dump truck.  Watching the boys play nicely together, in the sun, with the flowers in bloom, was a very beautiful sight.

The sibling rivalry apparently also rubbed off on my tractors this week. After my successful mowing exercise last weekend, I declared victory on Johnny and finally turned my attention to the carburetor rebuild on the Cat.  The carb, while complete, looks pretty nasty from years of neglect.  Upon starting the disassembly  process, I saw the nastiness continued on the inside.  I'm certain the carb has been rebuilt at some point during the tractor's 82 year life, but I suspect it was before the advent of ethanol fuels.  I have no way of knowing what the condition of the float would be otherwise, but whatever coating was on the cork had severely deteriorated.  It's no wonder it didn't meter fuel very well.

I didn't get too far on the carb before Thursday, when we had a break in the rain and I thought I better get the yard mowed.  I enlisted Johnny's help in doing the back yard, and as I was almost done, the engine speed started racing much faster than I wanted it too.  I guess Johnny didn't like me giving all my attention to the other tractor.  Fortunately, it just turned out that the governor needed readjusting.  Still that relatively easy fix took up most of my limited shop time over the weekend.  I'm going to have to hit the carb work hard this week if I want to have the tractor ready for the Route 66 show in two weeks.

I'll close this entry with an invention I came up with today.  I can remember Dad grumbling about the grass in our Easter baskets making a mess as I was growing up.  This morning I got to have one of those moments for myself.  I was cleaning up after breakfast as C was getting ready for church, and turned my back on N as I was getting L cleaned up and out of his high chair.  When I turned back around, N was standing on the couch using the yellow grass from his Easter basket as "pixie dust", sprinkling it all over.  I immediately commanded him to clean it up, which he begrudgingly started to do.  L, ever the little helper, jumped in too.  However, it didn't take long before we had built up enough static charge that more grass was sticking to our hands and arms than we were putting back into the basket.  This development quickly frustrated all of us, and I could see we were getting nowhere fast.  The whole thing seemed very similar to picking up the fake pine needles our Christmas tree leaves behind, which I usually do by wrapping masking tape around my fingers.  I didn't think that the boys would be able to help much that way, but then I saw their monster trucks sitting there and I had an idea.  I wrapped the truck tires in tape, and had them see who could pick up the most grass with their truck.  We filled the tape several times before we were done, but it was a good way to get them to help, and it did a good job of picking it all up.  We will probably still be finding pieces of grass for months, but at least we got most of it.

Mowing with Johnny

It was another wonderful weekend.  Saturday's crummy weather was ideal for finishing up the last little details for putting the mower deck on the 110.  It was also a good day for dyeing Easter eggs with Baba and Grandpa.  After the eggs, we played in the garage.  N really loved kicking the soccer ball around with everyone, and going out for pizza afterwards.  As C was putting N to bed he told her, "Baba and Grandpa are the best".

Of course Sunday was Palm Sunday, which we thought N would enjoy at church. As we got to the sanctuary, they ushered N into the room where all the kids were waiting to parade in with the palm branches.  He seemed excited at first, but after waiting a little while for things to get started he decided he didn't want to do it. Once he made up his mind he didn't want to do it, there was no convincing him otherwise.  I don't know where he might get that stubbornness from. 

After church, while L napped, N and I washed our tractors.  I wanted to clean up Johnny for some pictures after I mounted up the mower deck. I figured the deck would never look that good again, but needed to clean the dirt off from our discing exercise .  N enjoyed washing his pedal tractor so much, I had him wash Grave Digger too.  Of course he got himself soaking wet in the process, but at least I had him put on his muddy shoes first so we got those cleaned off.

Getting the deck mounted on Johnny was a little more difficult than I expected, but I got it done nonetheless.  L helped me with the first mowing with the newly installed deck. I thought he might be afraid when I started up the mower, but he didn't even flinch.  He rode along the entire time, except when I made him get off while I did a couple passes on the slope.  In addition to Mommy and N watching, we even had some Sunday drivers stop at the dead end and watch us for a few rounds.

Signs of Spring

In the race between my grass and me getting the mower deck finished, the grass won. Fortunately I hedged my bets and got the push mower prepped last weekend so it was ready to go. The lawn was looking pretty shaggy by mid-week, so I went ahead and push mowed it. The freshly cut lawn looked good, especially with the tulips and phlox starting to bloom.

Adding to the delay in getting the mower deck finished was taking time to get a new implement for the tractor this week. While I was sitting at the courthouse waiting on jury duty, I found a garden tractor-sized disc on Craigslist. It looked like it could be fun, the price was right, condition was OK, so I bought it. It turns out it is a Brinly, which appears to be THE attachment brand of choice for the garden tractor crowd. Obviously it needs some help cosmetically, but it is complete. L and I gave it a try after work one night this week. Even with three 25lb blocks on it, it didn't do much in the hard clay in the lot next to us. However, at the house site on the other side where the dirt was less compacted, it did OK. I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do with the disc long-term, but it is another fun little toy, and project, to add to the collection. 

Despite the distraction of the disc, I did get some work done on the mower deck this week. I got it all reassembled and the decals put on. It should be ready to mount this weekend. As I was putting the finishing touches on it last night, I heard a "squeak, squeak, squeak" coming from the Cat tractor. No, it wasn't the tractor begging for some long-overdue attention, it was a mouse, or, more accurately, mice. A mouse had crawled up inside the lower seat cushion frame and built a nest. Fortunately it looks like the nest was made from materials other than the seat cushion itself. This discovery came on the same day I had already disposed of a mouse that had fallen into our recycle bin. As I was cleaning up the seat cushion, I heard scratching once again from the same recycle bin. Yet another mouse had found it's way in there. After disposing of it, and the seat cushion mess, I put out a bunch of glue traps to try to bring the invasion under control. I suspect the combination of the return to colder weather, and the farmer tilling the field behind our house is what is driving them in. On a positive note, I'm taking the tilling of the field as a good sign the neighborhood expansion won't continue to behind our house. I guess we have to take both the good and the bad that comes with living "in the country". 

Rollin' and Ridin'

What a weekend!

This was one of those weekends that when you finally sit down on Sunday night, you wonder just how you squeezed so much into just two days.  It does help if you jump right in on Friday night, which we did.  Thursday's rain and Friday's clouds meant Friday after work the yard was soft, but not soggy; perfect for using the yard roller.  I have to admit, I know the benefits of rolling your yard are somewhat dubious, but our yard has always been a bit bumpy from when the grass first came up in clumps.  I guess I'll find out the first time I mow if it did any good, but of course the boys and I had fun doing it. 

 Saturday's big project was painting the mower deck.  We started our day off right by going out for breakfast.  We have a Saturday tradition of going and getting McD's, but this Saturday we decided to try going to a restaurant for breakfast.  It was a nice change, but the luxury of having a more elaborate breakfast versus just having breakfast show up, ready to eat was lost on the boys.  Nonetheless, I started the day energized, and ready to get some things done.  I had prepped the mower deck for painting during the week, so I took it out in the back yard and primed it in the morning.  While I was waiting for the primer to dry I gave my truck a much needed wash.  After lunch, I started in on the yellow paint.  It took 3 cans, and I've got a nice blister on my nozzle finger, but I think the paint job turned out pretty decent.  The grass could probably have been mowed this weekend, but I wanted to let the paint cure for a couple days before I start putting the deck back together.

After the painting was done, it was time to take the boys for another ride.  This time we got the wagon out so both could go at the same time.  Although all the fresh air and sunshine had started to wear them down by this point, they still made me make multiple laps around the house, and several trips up and down the street. 

Sunday a little more laid back, but only slightly.  After church, L napped an N helped me plant some grass seed, and picked a nice dandelion bouquet for Mommy.  After lunch and a Playdough session, N went with me to return the roller, aerator and dethatcher to my coworker that I borrowed them from.  On the way home, we stopped at Wal-mart to get the truck an oil change, and then Menards to get a few things.  L had gone with C to run some errands as well, so when we all got home the boys were ready to play.  N was driving his Grave Digger around, and L wanted a ride, so I decided to let N take L out for a closely supervised ride.  They both had a ball.

With as warm as it was, N insisted we get icecream after supper, so he and I made a DQ run as C put L to bed.  As we were eating our icecream, some of the neighbors down the street came outside, and since N couldn't go to bed right after icecream, we let him play with the neighbors until after dark.  Finally, we all came inside, exhuasted after a busy, but wonderful, weekend.  So long as the storms don't keep us up tonight, we should sleep pretty well.