There wasn't supposed to be a part 2....

Wednesday I started the mowing in the pasture. First I had to jump the tractor...I managed to put another stratch on the pickup truck. I took off and started mowing and did pretty well, only scalping the earth in a couple places as I got the hang of it. The worse one is right in front of the barn (of course). After about an hour and a half, maybe more, out of the blue, the tractor died. Huh? Well, what with phone calls, a miles walk (total), the wrong wrenches, a little elbow grease, a bucket of sweat, some growls from the engine, and some smoke, it was determined to leave the tractor sit in the field overnight. Daddy called Carl who came out the next day and fixed it and returned it to the barn.

Returned it to the barn? Yes...by Wednesday night the strange tightness and stiffness in my shoulders and neck that I ignored that morning had settled in. I should have listened to my mother and taken it easy that day. As it was, I was down with the old viral infection again that leaps on me occasionally. I'm still getting over it. I have a bit of the 'head' feeling still but I am having difficulty being still...Rest is the main thing to do for this.

I am fully planning on going to the A.'s tomorrow night for the SCV meeting (I have an invite!), so I really want to make sure I feel good. I also am going to go vote tomorrow, headache or no. I also have to get Granddaddy some more banana's :D

So now, I'm finally getting around to the tractor tales. The saga started Saturday.

As I mentioned, I was planning on getting that ol' tractor roaring to life and and mowing dastardly weeds and briars in the pasture. Nix.

I had two problems. #1: I could not get the tow-bar removed. I tried. My stomach muscles still are a bit sore from the tummy crunches I was doing while attempting to budge that thing.
Problem #2: While looking for the dipstick into the hydralic fluid--I broke a piece. Granted, I thought it was the cap for the dipstick and I have seen Daddy use screwdrivers on caps with 'ears' on them. Long distance diagonstics were rather unconclusive. So...mowing was off the radar. I ended up riding Snip after a half-hour bit battle.

To continue the tractor tales...this morning I decided I would go mow our grass. As I was fixing to leave to go hook the Kubota up to the battery charger, Granddaddy told me that Carl (an uncle's brother) was coming over to help with the John Deere. So I zipped over and back. I still got here about 10-20 minutes before Carl :)

When he got here, we went direct to the tractor. He talked about tractors and fixed problem #1--the tow-bar. He made it look fairly easy :D He looked at problem #2 and said it was nothing to worry about--apparently it used to have wires hooked to it to measure something--don't remember exactly. Anyway, that thing that looks like a battery is in all practically a battery...

Carl hunted for the hydralic leak some but couldn't find it exactly. He filled it up and decided it was such a slow leak not to worry about it. I think he suspects there is a leaky O-ring. I also asked him to put some more diesel in it for me. Those five gallon cans aren't the lightest things in the world.

Once done with all this, I attempted to crank the thing. Well...it didn't crank even though it did turn over. We jumped it and it started real beautifully. I backed out--trying to get ahold how everything worked and drove it around a bit. Then I backed up to the mower and Carl hooked it up for me.

By this point it was time to feed Granddaddy lunch. I offered lunch and a drink to Carl when he came in to say 'howdy' to Granddaddy, but he refused both. After looking at the tree for a little bit (I didn't tell Granddaddy that he was), he left.

Post-lunch and coffee and dishes I took off to go mow our place. It wasn't as bad as last time so it didn't take me quite as long as usual. But first, I had to get the rascal started. I turned the key and it clicked once then was silent. So I dashed up to the RV tent, roared back in the truck, and jumped the Kubota. It rattled to life immediately. I left it running and returned the truck to it's place. As usual, I had to air up the right-rear tire. I greased the mower while running--not my usual practice, but I didn't want to have to jump it again.

The other thing I did today of any importance has to do not with a tractor, but with a critter with a tail. I noticed a couple of days ago that Snip has a fairly deep cut on the back of his right front foot. I've put coconut oil in it a couple of times, but it didn't look like it was healing as nicely as I'd hoped. I plopped myself down here in front of the computer and looked up horse cuts...After reading a bit, I decided it wouldn't hurt at anyrate to bandage it...so I got a gauze pad, some medical tape and the coconut oil. Well, when the medical tape got wet in the still dewy grass, it didn't stick so good. Knowing that I was headed over to the home place today, I decided that I would pick up the old compression wrap. So, tonight, I was surprised to see the morning's messy bandage job still on--sort of. Anyway, I rebandaged his foot with the compression wrap over a guaze patch covered in coconut oil. Hopefully, my horse doctoring will work alright. This evening, I had to removed my hat because Snip was nibbling at it. Once I took it off, he attempted the same gig with my hair. I scolded him while laughing...it rather tickles :)

Now, I really must go...it rumbleth out of doors....bye now!

That's what I did this afternoon...I ran errands. It took a couple hours.

First I went to Do it Best and picked up more lights--my light kit needed the expanding. That was throughly demonstrated at Mr. Arthur's interview.

From there I went up to the local golf cart place and picked up the battery I was expecting. The fellow called this morning and said it was finally in. When I got there we had some small talk while I paid for it and he offered to carry the thing out for me. You'd be proud of me, I remembered to let him be a gentleman! I did have to man-handle it by myself once I got home, but that wasn't too much of a problem.

Then I went to Smith's. The cows had wiped out the mineral I got not all that long ago. Today I got five bags instead of four because Snip needed some too. I poured one sack into the trough in the heifer patch. Once he found it he stood there and ate--even after I brought his feed out. I knew he needed it...

I also bought the rascal another halter. This one is blue...I actually had the brains enough to look on the old one before I went in (I had it in the truck with me) and see if it had any size markings--it did 800-1,100 lbs. The Weaver brand has their halters color-coded and blue is the 800-1,100 lb range. Anyway, I guess his tack will match better...at least on his face :)

Oh, and the $3 splurge purchase...I bought some leather heel-straps for my spurs. I've replaced the parachute chord on the right one at least twice now and I'm tired of my spurs flapping. (I paid cash on that Daddy...)

As I was leaving Smith's I looked out the window and some lady sitting in a blue pick-up truck waved at me. I took another look, grinned, and waved back. It was Bunny! Small world (ahem...more like small town...)

From there I went to Murphy's and filled up the gas tank. It was about half-empty. Then I swung by our place--I swiped the gun-cleaning kit that an Army buddy of Daddy's gave him for Christmas one year. I also remembered to pick up some beets :)

I came home and put the mineral out. After that I put the battery into the golf cart. After that I...fed the critters...I think. It looked like it was going to rain and it did, so I wanted to get that taken care of before the rain hit.

I went in and cleaned the guns. I was disappointed to find that the tip I needed was broken! Plastic junk... Anyway, I managed. I was finishing up on the rifle when I looked out the window..."Hey, Savannah! There is somebody in a blue pick-up sitting out there." It was some ladies from Granddaddy's church. They came in and we all had an nice visit.

As soon as they left we ate dinner (Granddaddy had already eaten). Even though it was kind of early, we ate because I was supremely ready :)

Tomorrow the plan has something to do with mowers and tractors...I'll leave you to muse on that...and wait for the tales that hopefully I will have to tell tomorrow ;)

My ears are still closed up and I'm kind of stuffy...but I think I'm pretty much over my cold.

I spent the majority of my down time tapping on the keyboard of my 'antique' laptop...I like the keys on that thing. That's right--I'm working on another story. This time it is in script form and it's a Western. A rather large cast--the main characters belonging to two families--the James' (7 people) and the Burke's (also 7 people).  Naturally, with that many characters some of them are less prominant than others, but they all have their own personalities. There is danger, fun, adventure, and even some intrigue...

Oh yeah, I forgot that at the very beginning of my cold, I finished typing up what is provisionally titled Zeke's Gun...It's a Western, too--of sorts. It starts in 1941! The story was prompted by Uncle Pat's old rusty revolver that we found in a box in the garage.

Butch showed up and we went out to lunch...The place was packed! All the locals eat there--you can tell :) When we came home, we plinked for a while...UNTIL that is, Snip decided he was going to come over and see what we were doing--the result? Take a look...

It was hilarious the way he went to where a bullet had kicked up dirt and lipped around. I think he thought some feed had landed there! That was before he came and stared at us over the fence.

Have I mentioned at some point that he broke his halter? Well, he did. I'm going to get him another one soon enough.

I tried shooting that thing too, but I didn't do so great...I don't like scopes near as well as I do iron sights.

Aim small, miss small...