Friday, January 14, 2011

Threes

Events happen in threes, right? So depending on how it's counted, we're either one above or two below the pattern at the moment.

Thing #1: The big truck died on Wednesday night - finger's crossed it just needs new batteries, but jumping didn't get it started, we'll get them swapped this afternoon.

Thing #2: T's been sick all week with some sort of stomach bug that started last weekend (which is why the truck is still sitting at work, since I didn't get home until last night). Doc couldn't see him yesterday, so he ended up in the emergency room where they kept him for four hours, x-rays and blood, then sent him home with the (at least positive) news that he probably has a stomach virus, to avoid dairy until he feels better, and to keep doing whatever else he's been doing. It should go away eventually.

Thing #3: The tractor at the farm died. Possibly the battery, maybe the fuel gelled. No word on that yet - I headed directly there last night to feed since T was still being held hostage by the ER folks. The horses should be getting a new bale today, but I'm guessing that's not in the cards. Thankfully the big rounds are easily accessible, only about 30 feet away - not 1/2 mile away beyond a tree grove this year - so I can either fork hay over from the closest round bale or feed the "emergency" small squares we put up this fall (in case the tractor died).

Thing #4: The blazer is also in the shop - it's been dying at idle when warm. Idle sensor, fuel pump going, a tank of bad gas, or something else entirely - I know which one I'm hoping it is! I want it off my thing list!

I dropped T off at work in his old Ranger - which kept wanting to die on me and there was this slightly scorched smell when I got home... thing #5? Nah, I'm not going to count that - I know the Ranger's seen better years. Sigh....

On the counting blessings side, the horses were fat and fluffy and in high spirits last night, the cats are fine, I haven't managed to come down with whatever bug T's fighting off. I guess in the grand scheme of things, since T's on the mend the rest count as minor nuisances. Still, I'm crossing my fingers - once I'm done typing - that we're done with "things" for a while!

2 comments:

Tammy Vasa said...

Another thing not to like about winter -- the THINGS it reeks havoc on! If you so much as blow air less than 30 degrees on our diesel truck, it refuses to start. The bugger has to be plugged in ALWAYS, it seems. (on list, new truck -- too bad there is no budget for it). Our tractor gelled the other day, too, but did see him out on it this AM, so must have got it going again.


Hope things improve for you and it is the best case scenario for all your equipment. And thank goodness for emergency small bales!

SunnySD said...

Yeah... I love the diesel (although not the price of filling it lately) and we've been pretty spoiled that it's been so reliable even with the cold. But we didn't replace the batteries this fall when we should have - it just kept getting pushed back. Not too smart, in hind sight - LOL!

Stay warm down there :)