The Things I Do For My Cats

Curley is thrilled to be going to the vet

We survived the annual trip to the vet. And unlike last year, I got all three cats caught and crated in short order.

I call these guys the most spoiled barn cats in the county. Seriously, how often do people catch and take their barn cats in for annual exams and shots?

The good news:

• No humans were harmed in the day's events.
• Curley made it almost half-way to the vet's office before her stress-induced diarrhea appeared. Usually that happens in the first five minutes of the trip, but this time I only had to smell it for 20 minutes!
• We skipped the fecal floats and just assumed they have worms because they are outdoor cats. The cats probably don't realize what bullet they dodged by skipping that part of the exam.

The bad news:

• We assumed they have worms because they are outdoor cats. I was sent home with three doses of a new topical deworming product. 
• Two days later the cats hated me again.
• Curley made it half-way home before presenting me with another gastrointestinal gift. (Normally the return trip is incident free.)

Just doing my part helping to keep the local vet clinics operating in the black. And maintaining the most spoiled barn cats in the county.

How to fix a tractor...

... when your mechanic is 930 miles away. Ten easy steps!

The tractor has been giving me some grief the last couple months. Difficult to start, acting like it's running out of gas after about 15 minutes. I'd only get a fraction of the work done I needed to because I wanted to get it back to the barn before it died.

Step 1. Call Dad. It was his tractor to begin with, though it was a resale project for him. And he's been working on old Farmalls for most of his life. I describe the problem, he asks questions, we start narrowing the possibilities. Need to examine at the distributor, but I can never get my "consultant" on the phone at a time that I am home with the tractor in front of me.

Nope, not the distributor.

Step 2. Half dozen phone calls later we rule out problems with the distributor. No one has touched the choke.Topped off radiator with distilled water.

Step 3. Debate gas quality. About a week later (today), drain gas tank. Contemplate removing the fuel trap because of the sediment swirling around but get talked out of it because there is not a dealer within two hours should I need to replace the gasket. Check oil level.

2.5 gallons of questionable gas.With some residual paint from the fence project.

Step 4. Run to town and get two gallons of premium gas. Cry at the price.

Step 5. Fill up the tractor. Start tractor. Let it idle while I pick up some trash in the ditch. Make three passes mowing along the road before the tractor starts trying to die again. Get it out on the level and it recovers. Did the angle dislodge more crud?

Step 6. Hook up drag and work on harrowing the manure that I've spread around the west pasture. Tractor starts dying. Put it out of gear, grab the cell to call Dad, but the tractor recovers as the phone goes to voice mail. Disconnect drag (overworked?) and start mowing. Tractor makes two rounds before dying under the shade trees. Sounds like it ran out of gas, but there is still plenty in the tank. Call Dad.

Step 7. Try starting again. Maybe it's a bad coil. Let it sit a few hours before trying again. Need to use the choke to not only start but keep it going for the 50 yard distance back to the shed. Tractor dies when I close the choke but at least it is back in the shed. Call Dad.

Choke on the left, "on button" in the middle, starter on the right

Step 8. With the phone on speaker Dad talks me through shutting off the fuel line, disconnect it (second time today), and remove the L-shaped fitting from the carburetor. Cleaned out the filter with the air compressor though it takes several rounds of swishing the filter in the old gas (from earlier - and about the only thing it's still good for) and blowing it out with the air compressor. Impressive how much crap was in there.

Very tricky to get all of those brass fittings separated and then put back together.

Step 9. Call Dad back. Put everything back together very carefully, because apparently it can be easy to strip the threads on brass fittings. Open up the fuel line again, check for leaks. Everything is dry.

No leaks at this end! (but still a bunch of crap in the trap)

Step 10. Try starting. Try with the choke open. Check if the carburetor is getting gas. Close the choke. Throw the throttle 3/4 open and try one more time. Tractor starts with great gusto, smoke pours out of the muffler, soon it's purring like you would expect of a 1952 farm tractor. Back it off to 1/4 throttle so I can hear Dad on the phone, who says I may have to do this every few months. Let it run a few more minutes while I go find soap and water to wash the gas off my hands.

And now it's dark, so I'm going to have wait until morning to take it out for a spin and confirm that the last three weeks of grief were all due to a small 1-inch long in-line filter.

I still smell like gas. I'm heading to the shower.

The New Normal

Did I mention I got a second horse? I guess technically it's a third horse because the boarder has been here so long I consider her to be one of mine, but regardless there are now three horses in the pasture.

Except for this weekend, when there were three horses in my back yard.

Rain has been lacking as of late, so I opened the pasture gates and let the horses graze in the back yard while I was digging in the garden. The grass is always greener over the septic field, right?

The new horse has forced a change with the morning routine. Before if I had horses to feed in the morning I would bring them in, dump the feed, and head back into the house for breakfast/shower/etc. But the new horse is a cribber, meaning as soon as he is done eating he bites down on the top of the stall door and gulps air. He's done it for well over 15 years so I'm not about to try and stop him but he is starting to mangle the metal trim on the stall door (trim which is in place so horses don't chew down the wooden stall doors to begin with).

So the new morning routine goes something like this: let the dog out, feed the barn cats, dump feed in two of the three stalls, bring in the two horses getting feed, spend the next ten minutes watering the garden or filling bird feeders, and kick the horses back out as soon as I hear the cribber start his characteristic "grunt" as he appeases his addiction. I've set up several spots in the pasture where he can do his routine with minimal damage to the fence and barn.

The accommodations I make for my animals...