Tractor Parts

It snowed yesterday. And the window leaked, so now my sleeping bag is wet.

Today’s Exploit:

We got a tractor. 

A small tractor that is not much bigger than the lawn mower, but it has 4 wheel drive and lots of attachments.

H is really excited.

Except the first thing he did when we got it home was to break the clutch.

So he spent the day under the tractor trying to fix the broken part, only to find that it was fixed incorrectly last time and needs a whole new mechanism.

So he decided to work without it. It just means that he can’t back up or change gears very easily.

Then he spent a day driving to a used tractor dealership to find spare parts, only to arrive after they closed (on a Saturday) and had to come back empty handed.

He messed with it a bit more, but was unable to rig a solution.

So he gave up for a minute and went back to making circles in my garden, to level out the ground.

He started going along the fence, when…

A tie rod slipped and he crashed into the fence.

He had to spend about 4.6328 minutes getting untangled.

Not pleased…

He got of the tractor and stomped over to his truck. I’m pretty sure he would have killed the tractor with some large blunt instrument if I hadn’t intervened and made him drink some tea.

He was mad enough he wouldn’t even give me a hug.

And I spent the whole time trying not to laugh.

Loki Says Hi

I have been getting up to do a yoga/stretches/other workout every morning since I switched to days. That’s a full week! Yay.

Today’s Exploit:

This is Loki:

He says Hi.

I also call him Shivers because he shakes when he wants attention, especially if he knows someone is watching him.

He likes to sleep under my chair where I can pet him with my feet (which his owner says he doesn’t like), or run him over if I don’t know he’s there. 

Summer Fun

Paddling on the San Marcos river

The Challenge

This was December, but it looks Valentine-ish.

Today’s Exploit:

In the spirit of making new resolutions, last month, I came up with a challenge for my sister.

She has been trying to get more fit with swimming and running and being attacked by her pets. So I decided that I would give her a bit more motivation to keep doing those things, and maybe fighting back when the pets attack.

My challenge - 

Task: Hike 7 miles

Duration: 4 hours

Terrain: Mountains

Caveat: Carry a 25-30 lb pack

Deadline: End of June

If she wins the challenge she gets a prize, like a new pair of hiking shoes, or a weekend getaway, or a massage.

If she doesn’t make it I get to come up with something dreadful that she has to do for me. Like clean all my toilets, or smell H’s socks, or give me all her peaches from her awesome peach tree. 

Anyway, she had a total of six months to get going on this, and so far she has swum a lot and made 1 running goal (of 2) and gotten attacked by the super-excitable Eda. 

I think she’d better get ready to give me head massages every time she visits for 2 years.