Thankful to complain about this November rain.

Been one of those forgettable Thanksgiving weekends.  Thanksgiving day we lose the belt on the car as we are pulling into my in-laws.  Thankfully we were not heading up to see my older brother in the Chicago suburbs as the problem was a bad pulley that had to be replaced.  Imagine doing that on 8 lanes of interstate. 
Spent half of Black Friday waiting on the part to come in.  The other half was spent on installation.
Sara spiked a fever that night and spent Saturday sleeping.  We did get the tree up. 
And now here it is 7:00 am Sunday morning with a nice cold November rain.

Not another turkey

The rain slickened up the ground.  One of my neighbors hired hands found that out the hard way.  They were trying to finish picking corn a few days ago when it happened.  The hired man pulled the truck into the field and saw he was sinking in a little.  He whipped over onto drier ground and planned on heading out a different way than he came in.  Unfortunately he was heading over end rows.  End rows tend to be tricky because the trash from the picked corn is usually heavier than other places.  That proved to be the case here and it wasn't a big spot.  With both drive axles so close together, a slick area not much bigger than your kitchen table is large enough to lose traction.  It does not have to be deep either, once the smooth wheels spin you better pull your cellphone. 

   Luckily my neighbor has a CaseIH MX305 that was able to yank that truck right out of the field.  Check out the details on TractorData.  Due to legal constraints (for the web pics, I did not take any of my own) I do not have any pictures to post.

The Firing Order for John Deere A: 1 - 2

How is that for informational?  A two-cylinder engine has a firing order of the number 1 cylinder first and then the number two cylinder.  How complicated is that?

I mention this because I pulled the fuel tanks (the A has a 14 gallon main tank and a 1 gallon auxiliary tank that piggy backs on the big tank) last week and was looking up repair tips.  It never occurred to me to ask about the firing order but in all dead pan honesty a blogger/poster pointed it out: 1 - 2. Makes me want to roll on the floor with laughter.

As for the tanks - when I drained the fuel for the winter globs of rust came out of the fuel line.  So I pulled the fuel lines off of both tanks and tried to blow air through them.  Nothing except that heavy headed feeling you get from an industrial strength balloon.  The fuel lines are copper so the rust had to come from the tanks.  There are methods of sealing old tanks to prevent rust-thru.  I am going to be exploring those methods in the next few weeks.

1 - 2.

Still yeech

Been two weeks now.  Still hurts when I sit for extended periods.  Incision pains are gone.  Just not right yet.

Turning 40

I turned 40 on Saturday.  I had hernia repair surgery on Monday.  Yuck.