BROKE IT
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Poor Aunty Del awaits. Every evening she comes in to sleep in the pen we call the Black Hole of Calcutta. It is comfortable and warm. Full of straw. No drafts. Dark but cozy. It is the waiting room for the milking cows as well as the maternity room for the cows when it is cold. It is cold and blowing lately.
She is such a long cow and tall. Her teats are disappearing into buttons as her udder fills. Now I remember why I fed her last calf. Hopefully, this one can drink from her mother as I did not want to milk all winter.
Under this strange pile below is Wai. He puts his head down and burrows so deep that the blanket on top stays in place for the whole night. I will bring in the big round fish bowl today – John is off work so he can help me. I cannot lift it by myself. But I am betting he will ignore it.
Bobby calf peering around the corner watching Tima eat the calf’s dinner. That pig. Tima and Tane have decided they don’t like the colander that is called the Tin Shack anymore. And back they have come into the barn and taken over the sunroom again – poor Calf. They all watch each other to see who lies down first then they arrange themselves in accordance. The pigs sleep cuddled together. The calf just to the side. And so they sleep.
I very, very slowly drove the tractor straight into the barn door yesterday. The accelerator simply stuck. It was quite shocking really. I have no idea why this happened. If my clown pants had caught it would have pulled up not down. Usually, when you lift your foot off the pedal it stops with a jolt. This time it did not. And there is no way to take this tractor out of gear. You push one pedal to go forward and another pedal to go back. And have a handle that is pushed up with your hand to increase speed. After the initial jolt of confusion, I pumped the reverse pedal and the tractor lurched to a stopped before it drove right into WaiWai’s pen. It stopped just short of his pen walls.
Someone was furious with me. But I hope that same someone will find a way to repair the door I broke. I will need to be shutting that big door very soon.
Have a lovely day.
Love celi
WEATHER:
Tuesday 10/31 0% / 0 in
Sunshine in the morning followed by cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 43F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
Tuesday Night 10/31 0% / 0 in
Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 31F. Winds light and variable.
Sun
7:22 am 5:49 pm
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 87% visible 4:14 pm 3:05 am
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36 Comments on “BROKE IT”
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Perhaps Someone needs to take a look at the suddenly independent-minded tractor before anything else, or you might find yourself driving straight into something else…
Ditto!
I’ll see that ditto, and up it one.
But you SEE!!! It was not the tractors fault – oh mercy no !
The hell “it wasn’t the tractor’s fault”. Could’ve been a LOT worse too; could’ve been the frame or one of the support beams instead of just the door! Also lucky you or some of the animals weren’t hurt!):):
So “Cleanup, aisle five! Oh, and bring along that oil can while you’re at it, will ya!?”
But of course it wasn’t the tractor – couldn’t be, if it was we wimmin folk wouldn’t have need of such broad shoulders!
Ay-uh; none ‘o them shoulder pads needed here, by gar…
I bet Wai loves the barn now!
I had the same thing happen to me with the accelerator in a VW Beetle. I think it’s a spring that is loosing its tautness. I tied a piece of string to the peddle so that I could take the car to the mechanic without crashing.
I love beetles! I had a VW Combi for a long time when the kids were little
They are fantastic cars!
I briefly researched the sticking accelerator issue, and found it to be fairly common in hydrostatic transmissions – which is what our tractor is. It seems to be more of a problem moving forward than in reverse. In a few YouTube videos I checked out most problems were easily fixed with proper lubrication. I’m going to have FD check to make sure all points are well lubricated on our tractor. There were several good videos on this, but the one I found most helpful was, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxjsaKeXCw
I can feel winter approaching quickly in your area. Hopefully, everything will be ready when it hits!
Google is a useful tool. And of course, this has already been discussed. The tractor is due for its yearly journey to John’s workshop so we will see. Not my department- all I can hope is that it sticks when HE is driving it then it will dealt with.
One would assume the damage to the barn would be all the evidence required… ?
Wai would have been really grumpy if a tractor ended up in his bed 😉
So he would
Oops! I nearly ran Big Man over the other day when he was topping up the oil in the car and told me to start the engine. I was perched with my legs outside the car (so my feet weren’t near the brake) and the silly man had forgotten that he had parked it and left it in first gear. Of course, when I started the engine it leapt forward. Luckily he managed to leap aside or it could have been pretty horrendous 😢
Merciful heaven – that was a near miss.. literally.
Oh My. If it isn’t one thing it’s another. I hope both the door and tractor get fixed without too much bother or cost.
Oh the tractor is perfectly fine – built like a tank that thing
Good
We have a lot of somebodys and nobodys around here as well!!! 🙂
It’s not like you intended to make more work for yourselves. It’s a good thing only the door was broken. Great photos today, BTW. Glad you will have some help today, grumpy or not. 🙂
Thankfully no one was hurt. The door post is repairable (wish I could talk spouse into a short road trip – he’s a good carpenter and great reusing available materials without purchasing new unless no choice). Yes, get that blasted tractor seen to first so nothing else untoward happens. Poor Wai, he must have thought a monster was coming to get him.
Oh my goodness- take care! And that naughty pig Tima eating Bobby’s food.
Ha it’s always your fault! 😂
Injustice makes me see red—here, there (especially) and everywhere. Someones eating someone else’s food; someone mad at someone else whose fault it wasn’t!
I sure wish I could connect with Instagram. I think those two together are so charming! Does the poor tall calf who had his breakfast stolen cuddle with Rainbow and Inky–or is that a No-No?
He will steal milk from
Their mothers. So that is a no no
Cecilia, on the writer’s almanac today is a poem by Maxine Kumin, “Why There Will Always Be Thistles” you might enjoy. I recall your talking about thistles!
Sorry to hear about the broken door and the tractor issue. I don’t enjoy using our big John Deere, I almost squashed my husband flat one year when I fumbled with the forward and reverse lever and didn’t get the clutch in fast enough. Those things are unstoppable in low gear. They just keep chugging along…
Ooh I got that sinking feeling in my stomach while reading about the tractor and your successful manoeuvre to reverse it. Glad no one was hurt, aside from the door!
MEN!
Harrumph!
also… weather forecast… I love the description of the moon as ‘waxing gibbous’. It’s just so… so… sigh.
Ps also -could your lovely computer expert geeky girl (gods bless them all) please give us a ‘like’ button on comments?
XO
Is that Mulberry I see growing at the base of your (rope ladder?)
goodpost
Oh dear Celi .. tractor troubles. I knew that was Wai under that blanket ..