Tractor repairs, shopping, watering

Saturday morning, I took the tractor and started to brush hog the barn lot. Mama and I have been talking about getting it done for a while now. It seemed like a good morning to start. I knew I did not have much time to devote to the mowing because of a lot of other pressing issues at the farm, but that amount of time would be well spent if I just got a good start. I mowed for about twenty minutes when the tractor safety switch alarm sounded, and it died. I was at the very far side of the farm when that happened. I tried a couple things and then went to the house for a crowbar to help me disconnect the attachment on the front of the tractor so that Mama could help me tow it back to the house. That worked out better than ni had thought it would. Once we were there, I started to troubleshoot the issue. In about a half hour I started working with the safety switch on the seat. When I disconnected that switch it looked pretty dirty, so I cleaned the contacts thoroughly, reinserted the plug and was able to start the tractor once again. So, the two hours I allotted for mowing was used mostly to work on the tractor, but it is functional now.

One of the things I needed to do Saturday was to return the wiring harness and get that money back on the card. I was a little concerned because I was told that if I opened the package, I could not return it. The package was a clear package like a shirt would come in was not strongly sealed and had come open a little just by the way the package had been handled. When I got cleaned up and changed Mama and I headed to the dealer. They closed at noon Saturday and I wanted to get the part into their hands as soon as possible. The guy working the counter looked the harness over very carefully and then issued the refund. Praise the Lord.

Mama and I then headed to Academy to look at a pellet grill we had seen in an ad sent to the house. We have been looking for a grill for months and have not felt like it was the right time to get one until recently. When we got to Academy and found the grill we were interested in, we were not sold on it once we were able to look it over thoroughly. However, they did have another one for a little bit more that did impress us. We took a lot of time to evaluate the two grills and settled on the Pit Boss 1000sc2. It is huge compared to the grill we have borrowed from Bro Zach. It has a window on the lid, which I really like. When Mama and I selected the grill and talked to the staff about getting one, we had the option of getting the assembled grill or the boxed, unassembled one. Since we were in the Sequoia, we chose the unassembled one. Though I do not think we could have done otherwise, I regretted that choice late that evening.

When I started on the assembly, I read the instructions – which were very brief – before I got started. It was not until I was attaching the grill to the stand that I realized I had not followed the instructions exactly. I had to completely disassemble what I had put together in order to get each leg positioned exactly as needed. Even still I struggled to make sense of what I was being shown. I did, however, finally get the thing put together. The only casualty was a caster that collapsed as Mama and I were standing the grill up once the cabinet base had been attached. She will call their customer service this morning to see if we can get that replaced.

Once it was assembled, I ran it through a couple temperatures to see how well it could control the temperature based on the selection, and to burn off the oil that was on the parts to protect them from rusting as it was being boxed to be shipped. Now it is ready for service – which will begin tonight. It is set up a bit differently than the smaller grill so I will have to learn it’s hot spots, but that should come quickly.

With Summer dryness upon us I have had to start watering the plants every evening. Generally, just before dark. It takes me about thirty to forty minutes to get to all the plants and make sure they get sufficient water. I do not know if some of the plants we have in the garden will make it, but I will give them a fighting chance. The plants in the raised bed are faring better than those in the ground – by far. I have told Mama that I do not know if it is worth the effort for the little we receive in return, but I am not ready to give up just yet.

As for the peaches, they are about to ripen. Probably this weekend we will begin picking them. I picked one that was not quite ripe Friday evening. Thought it was a little hard, the flavor was amazing.

Mama is excited about that success.